Death by Production

[DJBonoBobo]

Another pretty interesting case is "As the palaces burn" by Lamb of God. The original production went completely wrong due to technical problems (incompatibilities between different systems) and they had to work hard to get an almost acceptable sound out of completely f****d up material. For example they had to use a trigger software to replace the original kickdrum with something you could hear in the mix. It makes the original album very hard to enjoy, although i think it´s their best.

Fortunately they made a "10th anniversary" version which says "remixed and remastered" but it was more like a restauration from the original files. For example, now you can hear the original bass drum and how it was intended originally:

PS: I find it interesting it took them 10 years to fix the album, and even more, that it was their breakthrough despite the crappy sound.

 

[danadam]

Many songs of Feist are ruined for me because of ridicilous lo-fi effects on her beautiful voice. Terrible!

Huh, 8 dB below target, that is not something I see often:

 

[Don Hills]

Metallica has a couple of infamous albums with productions issues.
...
Then speaking of trash ... the snare sound on "St. Anger" sounded like a trash can ...

My copy of "St. Anger" came with a second CD containing the album recorded in their practice room during rehearsals. I only listen to the rehearsal version.

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

My ripped CD version (which is what I listened to before I posted) looks different in audacity, I cannot find any of those flat spots.

Perhaps a remaster? I'd have to ask my friend for the CD-ID but the distortion is clearly audible from the original CD, so it has not been introduced in the ripping process.

Keep in mind, the track I analyzed was not "Hey now" but "Strong", as the distortions are more obvious on that one.

 

[Soniclife]

Perhaps a remaster? I'd have to ask my friend for the CD-ID but the distortion is clearly audible from the original CD, so it has not been introduced in the ripping process.

There are a lot of people complaining about this online so bad rip does not seem likely, I have a vague memory this has been discussed here before.

 

[Mnyb]

From the youtube-comments (not me): "This way this album is produced is so ingenious. (...). It's beautiful to me, like a lullaby within black metal, if that makes sense. Everything from the production to the composition to the songwriting borders on perfection,(...)"

So it seems the production is intentional, but it has the consequence that I have not managed to listen through the whole album once, although i like other albums of this band.

Another excerpt from youtbe-comments: "This piece of art will get to the people who deserve it."

What do you think?

It sounds wrong like some HF hash smeared all over the track ? or some intentional imaging aliasing effect applied reminds me of some overdriven PA echo in large arenas . Or have they driven the whole track to clipping then filtered out the highest resulting overtones and then mixed it in with the track again ? Could imagine it as a movie Fx on the soundtrack of horror movie when the demons arrive ....

 

[Robonaut]

Love the Smiths, to me although they are not great recordings, typical 80s indie lable standard, but they sound better on better systems, and I can turn the volume up without wincing, so they are way better to my ears than yours it seems. I expect the line between poor recording and unlistenable is a personal one.

I was just listening to "The Queen is Dead" for the first time in a *long* time and thinking how garbage the production on it was. (I agree that it's not "unlistenable", though.)

It's not just the period, either, because other indie rock from roughly the same time (The House of Love, The Wild Swans) sounds fantastic.

Anyway, for something really heinous sounding, listen to just about anything from Out of Line records. I *love* some of the bands they have, but I can only listen to most of it in the car because it is so ridiculously overcompressed.

 

[Soniclife]

because other indie rock from roughly the same time (The House of Love

Which house of love record? Their first album sound poor to me, sadly, as it's the only one I listen to.

 

[Robonaut]

Which house of love record? Their first album sound poor to me, sadly, as it's the only one I listen to.

The self-titled one...

...okay, that was a small joke because they have, like, three self-titled albums.

But this is the one I was referring to:

 

[Haflermichi]

It is terrible. Its everything awful in 80s pop productions, with none of the charm.

Again, let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
All Mirrors is an amazing "song". And I'm not about to "not" listen to it because the production is screwed.
When it's purposely bad it is a shame. But sometimes you just can't have the best of both worlds.

That's not a good enough reason for me to accept nothing.

 

[LightninBoy]

Again, let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
All Mirrors is an amazing "song". And I'm not about to "not" listen to it because the production is screwed.
When it's purposely bad it is a shame. But sometimes you just can't have the best of both worlds.

That's not a good enough reason for me to accept nothing.

Well, it says a lot about the song and the performance if it can cut through that production and still grab you. I can't get past the shoddy production, but that's a "me" problem.

 

[TonioRoffo]

I see all your puny attempts at showing bad mastering. I raise you this: The absolute king of crappy mastering that is Ed Sheeran's Divide album.

Please explain me how you can listen to this on *any* device.

Clipping, no breathing room, bassdrum is blown to bits, voice audibly distorting. Oh, and this also happens on the Vinyl version (copy/paste job) and the HDtracks 44/24 release.

This is nearly DC output in places, play this reasonably loud on any system and you'll fry your tweeters, surely.

Good music (I know, subjective matter) but I can't stand listening to the album.

PS. This broke all the streaming records back in the days, so my conclusion is that most humans don't have ears anymore.

 

[Soniclife]

I see all your puny attempts at showing bad mastering. I raise you this: The absolute king of crappy mastering that is Ed Sheeran's Divide album.

Please explain me how you can listen to this on *any* device.

Clipping, no breathing room, bassdrum is blown to bits, voice audibly distorting. Oh, and this also happens on the Vinyl version (copy/paste job) and the HDtracks 44/24 release.

This is nearly DC output in places, play this reasonably loud on any system and you'll fry your tweeters, surely.

Good music (I know, subjective matter) but I can't stand listening to the album.

PS. This broke all the streaming records back in the days, so my conclusion is that most humans don't have ears anymore.

That is diabolical, you obviously need large recording budgets to really mess things up.

 

[Koeitje]

I see all your puny attempts at showing bad mastering. I raise you this: The absolute king of crappy mastering that is Ed Sheeran's Divide album.

Please explain me how you can listen to this on *any* device.

Clipping, no breathing room, bassdrum is blown to bits, voice audibly distorting. Oh, and this also happens on the Vinyl version (copy/paste job) and the HDtracks 44/24 release.

This is nearly DC output in places, play this reasonably loud on any system and you'll fry your tweeters, surely.

Good music (I know, subjective matter) but I can't stand listening to the album.

PS. This broke all the streaming records back in the days, so my conclusion is that most humans don't have ears anymore.

Is that distortion in his voice the clipping? Its sounds shit, but I'm not good enough of a listener to know what causes what problem.

 

[Mnyb]

I see all your puny attempts at showing bad mastering. I raise you this: The absolute king of crappy mastering that is Ed Sheeran's Divide album.

Please explain me how you can listen to this on *any* device.

Clipping, no breathing room, bassdrum is blown to bits, voice audibly distorting. Oh, and this also happens on the Vinyl version (copy/paste job) and the HDtracks 44/24 release.

This is nearly DC output in places, play this reasonably loud on any system and you'll fry your tweeters, surely.

Good music (I know, subjective matter) but I can't stand listening to the album.

PS. This broke all the streaming records back in the days, so my conclusion is that most humans don't have ears anymore.

wow it sound like replayed trough bad gym PA while i excercise

 

[Helicopter]

I see all your puny attempts at showing bad mastering. I raise you this: The absolute king of crappy mastering that is Ed Sheeran's Divide album.

Please explain me how you can listen to this on *any* device.

Clipping, no breathing room, bassdrum is blown to bits, voice audibly distorting. Oh, and this also happens on the Vinyl version (copy/paste job) and the HDtracks 44/24 release.

This is nearly DC output in places, play this reasonably loud on any system and you'll fry your tweeters, surely.

Good music (I know, subjective matter) but I can't stand listening to the album.

PS. This broke all the streaming records back in the days, so my conclusion is that most humans don't have ears anymore.

This is my favorite example in the thread. It is obviously a mistake and not an artistic choice, and it is extreme.

 

[Pennyless Audiophile]

I see all your puny attempts at showing bad mastering. I raise you this: The absolute king of crappy mastering that is Ed Sheeran's Divide album.

Please explain me how you can listen to this on *any* device.

Clipping, no breathing room, bassdrum is blown to bits, voice audibly distorting. Oh, and this also happens on the Vinyl version (copy/paste job) and the HDtracks 44/24 release.

This is nearly DC output in places, play this reasonably loud on any system and you'll fry your tweeters, surely.

Good music (I know, subjective matter) but I can't stand listening to the album.

PS. This broke all the streaming records back in the days, so my conclusion is that most humans don't have ears anymore.

I missed this. This sounds ... even through my laptop speakers.

 

[Jimshoe]

Anything by Muse. I hear their songs on the radio or TV and really like some of them. But when I listen on my system the complete lack of dynamics through savage compression and 'loud' mastering renders them unlistenable to me.

 

[RHO]

Metallica has a couple of infamous albums with productions issues. First was "And Justice for All" where they basically removed the bass guitar from the mix. Yes, it was artistic choice. But even in high school I knew it was a bad choice that sounded like trash ...

Then speaking of trash ... the snare sound on "St. Anger" sounded like a trash can ...

Death magnetic wasn't any better. That could've been a very good album if they didn't make it clip like crazy. It's so compressed it just hard to listen to.
The absence of the bass in And justice is a damn shame, but at least it still sound kinda decent. It does sound like trash. Isn't that what they were going for? (as a trash metal band you would think it is.)

 

[Soniclife]

This is my favorite example in the thread. It is obviously a mistake and not an artistic choice, and it is extreme.

I disagree, this sounds deliberate, it's a severe loudness war casualty. It might not have been the artist that chose it, but someone in the production chain thought this was a good idea.