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  1. 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
  2. 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.
  3. Originally posted by drewhiggins:[..]

    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.


    i don't even understand those diagrams lol


  4. The higher the lines constantly are, the worse the mastering (and the loudness) is.
  5. Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:[..]

    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.


    You can't fix mastered loudness with turning down the volume.

  6. 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.


    Some of it is truly awful. It's one reason I bought an MP3 player and continue to buy CDs released in 1975. Actually, if you want a brilliant song, try and look for Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick. The live performances of it are almost 12 minutes long - with a killer guitar solo - and the studio version is almost 45 minutes long.

    What exactly is onedayfly music?



    Yogi is right; because the distortion is always there. The only way to fix mastered loudness is with the original master tapes, as is the case with the four remasters and other album remasters. But the tapes may be in such terrible condition, from many years of exposure to dust, light and whatever else, that it's an effect you cannot remove even with the best industry tools (ProTools).

    Quite simply, if the mastering problems are evident on the original source (CD), then volume won't fix it. You can't polish a turd. I think the industry should start putting labels on the album covers for warnings of excessive loudness - they do it for copy-protection warnings and FBI anti-piracy warnings, why not start doing it for excessive loudness?

    One thing I get annoyed about on recent releases is the ''Essing'' effect - when you're listening to something, if the singer pronounces "She sells seashells by the seashore", you hear heavy emphasis on the S parts. ProTools, and even free and open-source software always have plug-ins and options to remove it, so why don't producers and sound engineers make use of it? It may not sound natural, but it will save listeners from getting an earache.


    ProTools is below, if anyone wants to see what it looks like. It is a fantastic app...possibly the best multimedia tool available today.

  7. Originally posted by drewhiggins:Actually, if you want a brilliant song, try and look for Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick. The live performances of it are almost 12 minutes long - with a killer guitar solo - and the studio version is almost 45 minutes long.
    Do you really meant that Live versions are shorter than Studio one? Or did you miswrote them?
  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.


    Wow.

    They're beautiful.

    Your post is so vibrant...
    definatley my type of post.

    Tally-ho.


  9. Vibrant?

    Originally posted by LikeASongDo you really meant that Live versions are shorter than Studio one? Or did you miswrote them?


    The live versions are shorter than the studio one. 43 minutes and 50 minutes, to be exact. The live performance one I'm talking about is from 1978 - live from Madison Square Gardens. Some performances were 42 minutes, without an intermission.
  10. We want the
    sexyhornytender
    corrblimey
    geta load of that
    hip grinding
    jumpy
    passionate
    orgasmic
    sweaty
    smouldering
    fragrant
    sort of
    KIss Me
    in Wire
    and
    Lemon
    u2/Oakenfield.


    It's gotto be realsexy and sometimes so hot with tantric emotion that the stadium feels like a volcano erupting like Mount Fudgi.
    HHaha..
    And we want dancing lots of it.

    Come on show us your'e apecail moves???
    I wish I could have a go @writing the set-list.
    I want to play.



    ahhh
    Is it much longer...
    ????

    Hey youu wanna be in my band ???

    Is called
    The Elite Secret Society of The Freaky Dancers.
  11. Latest "news" from Lanois:

    "U2 Album Almost Done
    11/11/08 12:12pm
    by Aaron Brophy (CHARTattack)

    U2's next album is almost finished.

    After a show in Parry Sound, Ont. on Saturday, uber-producer and frequent U2 collaborator Daniel Lanois revealed the news to ChartAttack's Andrew Hoshkiw in an interview following his performance at the Charles W. Stockey Centre For The Performing Arts.

    "I'm going to England to finish mixing the U2 record that I'm working on," said Lanois, who plays the tour's final Canadian date at Toronto's Massey Hall on Friday before heading on to Boston for one U.S. show. He'll head to the U.K. after that.

    Word is that U2 have written 50 to 60 new songs for the forthcoming album, which is expected in early 2009.

    Bono has been quoted on u2.com that the record is "our chance for us to defy gravity once again," and that "early next year people will be able to start hearing what we've been doing. We want 2009 to be our year."

    U2's last proper album was 2004's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb."

    http://www.chartattack.com/news/62539/u2-album-almost-done


    Explained a bit more here:

    "Producer Daniel Lanois gives update on new U2 album

    In September, U2 frontman Bono informed fans through the band's website that they would delay plans to release their forthcoming album till 2009. While the news came as a disappointment to fans, the band claims that their latest sessions have brought brought newfound success. Already, the band has worked on fifty-plus songs during sessions across the globe. So when we talked with the band's longtime producer Daniel Lanois last week regarding his upcoming show and in-residency at Berklee College of Music, we had to sneak in a few questions about his work on the forthcoming album from the Irish rockers.

    "We just did two weeks in New York," Lanois informed Boston Music Spotlight. "We mixed in New York for two weeks and that went great. I'm seeing them right after Boston, in fact. I'm going to see them in England and we're going to do another ten days there." A short video clip of the recent sessions is now on U2.com.

    When asked about how he and co-producers Brian Eno and Steve Lillywhite work together, Lanois explained that each brings his own strengths to the studio. "Eno and I very much work together" he said. "In fact, that's probably Eno's most exciting position. He's a great catalyst at the front end of the project, he's a model ingredient, a highly intelligent one, and a non-stop source of sonic surprises."

    "What usually happens then is Eno stops coming by and then I take over and do more of the, you know, take care of the many chores that pile up that don't have anything to do with spontaneous initial moments - vocal comps, remembering the best guitar riff moments," Lanois continues. "I put a lot of time into chores. Lilywhite's involvement historically has been at the back end, so he's coming to help us out with mixes."

    Further describing his own role in the process, Lanois says, "I'm a very committed and dedicated worker and so my constancy, or consistency, is contagious in the room. I'll be there on the front line with the footsoldiers."

    Those footsoldiers, Bono, Edge, Larry Mullen Jr, and Adam Clayton, have made the front lines for this album Morocco, France, and their hometown of Dublin, among other places.

    Meanwhile, Lanois is gearing up for his upcoming appearance in Boston this weekend. Besides performing a rare solo show at the Berklee Performance Center on Sunday, Lanois will serve as an artist-in-residence from November 16 to 18. Stay tuned for a full feature later this week from our interview with Lanois."

    http://www.bostonmusicspotlight.com/article.php?id=1626
  12. ^^ Great. Great great great. Thanks for that Nicole!

    @ Victoria: WTF!? lol lets try ot keep this to a discussion of U2 lol
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.