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  1. This is simply not true Yes, there is no innovation or originality left in pop/rock music. The Edge can be credited with creating his own distinct guitar sound but at this stage, in rock music, its all getting very monotous. But when you consider music as a whole, I think that credit is owed to some fantastic and groundbreaking composers of Jazz and Comptempary music who continue to innovate.
  2. Sure, there's some artists who continue to innovate and excite. But the majority of rock, pop, R 'n B music sounds the same now; I'm getting bored with ''music''. It's time to come up with a new term for it.

    Music to young people nowadays is made up of two things:

    1) being louder than the competition, in the mastering process, also known as the loudness war
    2) maybe having the music with beats that drown out the vocals
  3. Originally posted by drewhiggins:

    1) being louder than the competition, in the mastering process, also known as the loudness war
    2) maybe having the music with beats that drown out the vocals


    that's exactly what I hate and that's exactly why other kids at school think I'm crazy
  4. I spew at current music. Everybody listens to onedayfly music and Hiphop, R&B and who the fuck it's called. Only on classic rock stations they play decent and great stuff, but on the 'trendy' stations they play tunes, no music in my opinion.


  5. People think I'm mad, and then I mention the Red Hot Chili Pepper's Californication. It is, one of the loudest and most distorted albums in music history due to crap mastering. Even the fans, who couldn't care less, complained and are asking for the album to be reissued.


    Here's something interesting:

    Oasis' What's The Story Morning Glory from 1995 achieves -8 dBFS. That may not be rare now, but it was back in 1995. That means it's a god damned loud album, due to mastering yet again. Iggy Pop and The Stooges remixed and remastered Raw Power from 1973. It is the loudest rock album ever recorded, achieving -4 dBFS in some places. Why artists and the labels have to do this, is beyond me.

    This is all due to iPods, and the MP3 age (damn Napster). They have an algorithm built in called a finaliser. Not an equaliser, but finaliser. It finalises the sound level, or you might know it better as a sound check. That's designed to lower the volume but keep the sound levels consistent. However, with people ripping their CDs (hopefully none of the following above or below) at 128Kbps through iTunes, Windows Media Player etc, which use terribly outdated MP3 encoding software - iTunes is up to five years old, I don't even know what WMP is using - it still sounds crap.

    An MP3 might be 80% smaller than a FLAC (anywhere upwards of 350Kbps) or 85% smaller than a WAV file (1411Kbps), but all the goodness of the sound is thrown away! I've bought albums, quite recently and the songs are mastered so badly, I cannot listen to it. This is an album from 1982, remastered for 2006.



    And that's not all. Loud albums recorded include:

    Christina Aguliera - Back To Basics
    Lily Allen - Alright, Still
    The Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
    Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full
    Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
    Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
    Led Zepellin - Mothership
    Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High




    Where does U2 fit in all of this? Presenting The Joshua Tree sound levels. Look!



    Above: Original recording, 1987 - With or Without You (excellent)

    Below: Remastered recording, 2007 - With or Without You (very good)







    But wait...there's more.


    Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (good) (1991








    The Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor (very bad) (2006)




    So looking at this one above, in particular, it never comes down from heavy distortion.
  6. Funny you mention RHCP: Californication It's one of the worst sounding albums ever for sure. The music is good, but the recording process had some big flaws. Assurance for a good headache.
  7. Erm...I almost understood what you said, Drew
  8. Originally posted by drewhiggins:[..]

    People think I'm mad, and then I mention the Red Hot Chili Pepper's Californication. It is, one of the loudest and most distorted albums in music history due to crap mastering. Even the fans, who couldn't care less, complained and are asking for the album to be reissued.


    Here's something interesting:

    Oasis' What's The Story Morning Glory from 1995 achieves -8 dBFS. That may not be rare now, but it was back in 1995. That means it's a god damned loud album, due to mastering yet again. Iggy Pop and The Stooges remixed and remastered Raw Power from 1973. It is the loudest rock album ever recorded, achieving -4 dBFS in some places. Why artists and the labels have to do this, is beyond me.

    This is all due to iPods, and the MP3 age (damn Napster). They have an algorithm built in called a finaliser. Not an equaliser, but finaliser. It finalises the sound level, or you might know it better as a sound check. That's designed to lower the volume but keep the sound levels consistent. However, with people ripping their CDs (hopefully none of the following above or below) at 128Kbps through iTunes, Windows Media Player etc, which use terribly outdated MP3 encoding software - iTunes is up to five years old, I don't even know what WMP is using - it still sounds crap.

    An MP3 might be 80% smaller than a FLAC (anywhere upwards of 350Kbps) or 85% smaller than a WAV file (1411Kbps), but all the goodness of the sound is thrown away! I've bought albums, quite recently and the songs are mastered so badly, I cannot listen to it. This is an album from 1982, remastered for 2006.



    And that's not all. Loud albums recorded include:

    Christina Aguliera - Back To Basics
    Lily Allen - Alright, Still
    The Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
    Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full
    Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
    Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
    Led Zepellin - Mothership
    Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High




    Where does U2 fit in all of this? Presenting The Joshua Tree sound levels. Look!

    [image]

    Above: Original recording, 1987 - With or Without You (excellent)

    Below: Remastered recording, 2007 - With or Without You (very good)

    [image]





    But wait...there's more.


    Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (good) (1991

    [image]






    The Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor (very bad) (2006)

    [image]


    So looking at this one above, in particular, it never comes down from heavy distortion.


    didn't i post something similar before?
  9. I also think that The Killers albums (especially Sam's Town) are also way too loud, because when listening to it trough earphones my ears get tired very fast and sometimes headache comes in.

    That makes me sad because they're one of my favorite bands. Luckily U2 and The National aren't to loud. : ))
  10. Originally posted by Yogi:I also think that The Killers albums (especially Sam's Town) are also way too loud, because when listening to it trough earphones my ears get tired very fast and sometimes headache comes in.

    That makes me sad because they're one of my favorite bands. Luckily U2 and The National aren't to loud. : ))


    Why don't you just turn down the volume on whatever your listening to it through? In my opinion I didn't like Sam's Town much. Compared to Sawdust and Hot Fuss I didn't think it was that great.
  11. Originally posted by Yogi:I also think that The Killers albums (especially Sam's Town) are also way too loud, because when listening to it trough earphones my ears get tired very fast and sometimes headache comes in.

    That makes me sad because they're one of my favorite bands. Luckily U2 and The National aren't to loud. : ))


    I like Sam's Town because it is loud and U2 certainly is LOUD. see them live (or have you?) but I know you are referring to cds
  12. Originally posted by thefly07:[..]

    I like Sam's Town because it is loud and U2 certainly is LOUD. see them live (or have you?) but I know you are referring to cds


    The loudness of the performance is fine. The mastering is the issue. Those diagrams are taken from the same RS article you got it from originally.
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U2start is run by fans for fans. Help us reduce personal costs. Consider to make a donation to support us.
U2start is run by fans for fans. Help us reduce personal costs. Consider to make a donation to support us.