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  1. I know, I know - we're getting way off topic now. But since this topic seems finished by now anyway we can maybe just go on here where we are now.

    I don't really understand why these albums contain digital clipping - even at mindlessly loud desired volume this wouldn't be neccessary. You'd just have to use some hard digital limiting before you raise the volume to the desired abnormal level. It would be deafening loud, it would have almost no more dynamics left, but it would at least not clip.

    If you have an audio editor with dynamics processing, try just for fun: Open any audio track, use hard limiting at -12db, then normalize the volume to 99%. Voila - you just raised the volume to 400%. You eliminated almost all dynamics but you don't get digital clipping.

    Sorry, I just don't get it. Probably Rubin has bad days when he wants digital clipping on purpose.

    But he's not always this way. I'd like to hear a Rubin- produced U2 CD. Three reasons? First he's a great inspirer, encourager and advisor. Second - he's a great sonic reducer and sparse effect user - which could lead U2 to the stripped down rock record that ATYCLB and HTDAAB weren't. Third - he already produced two U2 songs with great result, without overly brick- walled mastering and without digital clipping.

    Maybe Rubin should try a remix of POP - that would be truly interesting.

    Alex
  2. Originally posted by u2lover:
    1. Mofo (house version)
    2. I Will Follow (techno version, make it sound like The Chemical Brothers)
    3. Discotheque (alternative lyrics, add more drum loop like during vertigo tour version)
    4. Do You Feel Love (hip hop version)
    5. Staring At The Sun (Featuring Will.i.am )
    6. Last Night On Earth (Featuring Will.i.am )
    7. NEW SONG (leftover from NLOTH session)
    8. NEW SONG (leftover from NLOTH session)
    9. NEW SONG (leftover from NLOTH session)
    10. Gone (Featuring Kylie Minogue)
    11. Please (Featuring Madonna)


    Is this a joke?
  4. Originally posted by Alex:I know, I know - we're getting way off topic now. But since this topic seems finished by now anyway we can maybe just go on here where we are now.

    I don't really understand why these albums contain digital clipping - even at mindlessly loud desired volume this wouldn't be neccessary. You'd just have to use some hard digital limiting before you raise the volume to the desired abnormal level. It would be deafening loud, it would have almost no more dynamics left, but it would at least not clip.

    If you have an audio editor with dynamics processing, try just for fun: Open any audio track, use hard limiting at -12db, then normalize the volume to 99%. Voila - you just raised the volume to 400%. You eliminated almost all dynamics but you don't get digital clipping.

    Sorry, I just don't get it. Probably Rubin has bad days when he wants digital clipping on purpose.

    But he's not always this way. I'd like to hear a Rubin- produced U2 CD. Three reasons? First he's a great inspirer, encourager and advisor. Second - he's a great sonic reducer and sparse effect user - which could lead U2 to the stripped down rock record that ATYCLB and HTDAAB weren't. Third - he already produced two U2 songs with great result, without overly brick- walled mastering and without digital clipping.

    Maybe Rubin should try a remix of POP - that would be truly interesting.

    Alex


    I wouln't want to see a rubin u2 cd. I disliked his results with weezer, although audioslave was alright. U2, the band, are most likely done with a stripped down sound, especially
    after 7 years of it, 2000-2007. I wouldn't want U2 to do anything they wouldn't want to do. In terms of their carreer, we can expect them to be around for ten more years, so they might want a rubin album, but it seems like they were unsatisfied with previous efforts, and chose eno/lanois/lillywhite for a reason, sonic exploration.
  5. I wouldn't rule out a possible return to some of the Rubin material in the future, Bono said somewhere that although they scrapped them for this album that they could revisit the material at some time in the future.
    Although Bono said that they would be releasing another album within the year that came out of the sessions for no line, so i'm not sure if that relates to only the stuff they did with Eno/Laonis or some of the earlier stuff with Rubin
  6. I did it. After some tweaking I found a sequence that improved the album for me a lot.

    1 - Discotheque (New Mix)
    2 - Do you feel loved (cut in after the intro)
    3 - Holy Joe (Garage Mix)
    4 - Gone (New Mix)
    5 - Miami (Snippet)
    6 - Please (Single Version)
    7 - Mofo (Snippet)
    8 - If God will send his Angels (Single Version)
    9 - Staring at the Sun (New Mix)
    10 - Last Night on Earth (Single Version)
    11 - Happiness is a warm Gun (Gun Mix, cut in after the intro)
    12 - The Playboy Mansion
    13 - If you wear that Velvet Dress (cut in after the first half)
    14 - North and South of the River
    15 - Wake up dead Man

    Alex
  7. As much as I agree with U2 that the album definitely sounds unfinished and could/should have been better, we can't turn back time. The "new mixes" were pointless to me, as all they seemed to be aiming for with them was to make these tracks more palatable to the ATYCLB dadrock crowd. Only the mix of Gone was superior to the original in my opinion, as the track was rock to begin with and was just given what basically amounted to a "single version"-type spit and polish. From the existing '97 material, all I'd change about POP is Miami - I'd either edit out all of that cringeworthy "Miami, my mammy" stuff or just ditch the track altogether. Oh, and the single version of Last Night On Earth could maybe go on there as the mid-section's better (even though I don't like either track much and wouldn't have had it on there in the first place - one of the album's major problems for me is that U2 seem to be following rather than leading on a few of the songs on POP - LNOE & SATS have more than one eye on Oasis, MOFO is wannabe-Prodigy/Underworld, Velvet Dress is wannabe-Wicked Game etc and the lyrics are a bit crap too, at the very least a big comedown from previous albums). They should have made the album with Eno and Howie B in 95 so that those beautiful moments from Passengers would have been incorporated - plus it may have stood more chance of being a proper follow-up to Zooropa instead of an album that clearly falls between two stools with the band seemingly indecisive whether to move forwards, backwards or sideways.
  8. Originally posted by TheLedge:As much as I agree with U2 that the album definitely sounds unfinished and could/should have been better, we can't turn back time. The "new mixes" were pointless to me, as all they seemed to be aiming for with them was to make these tracks more palatable to the ATYCLB dadrock crowd. Only the mix of Gone was superior to the original in my opinion, as the track was rock to begin with and was just given what basically amounted to a "single version"-type spit and polish. From the existing '97 material, all I'd change about POP is Miami - I'd either edit out all of that cringeworthy "Miami, my mammy" stuff or just ditch the track altogether. Oh, and the single version of Last Night On Earth could maybe go on there as the mid-section's better (even though I don't like either track much and wouldn't have had it on there in the first place - one of the album's major problems for me is that U2 seem to be following rather than leading on a few of the songs on POP - LNOE & SATS have more than one eye on Oasis, MOFO is wannabe-Prodigy/Underworld, Velvet Dress is wannabe-Wicked Game etc and the lyrics are a bit crap too, at the very least a big comedown from previous albums). They should have made the album with Eno and Howie B in 95 so that those beautiful moments from Passengers would have been incorporated - plus it may have stood more chance of being a proper follow-up to Zooropa instead of an album that clearly falls between two stools with the band seemingly indecisive whether to move forwards, backwards or sideways.
    You got plenty of good points up there. I mostly agree with the whole of your post
  9. It's a real frustration for me, POP. I love the first two tracks, even most of MOFO despite it's obvious Underworld/Prodigy wagonjumping, but it's just really hit and miss from that point on for me, though I do really like Playboy Mansion and Please - two songs which actually benefit from some looseness and room to breathe. They should have finished it off in Summer 97 (even if the tour had already started, just stick another single out till the album's done properly) or better still have recorded the whole thing in Summer 95 to begin with while Eno was on board. The biggest annoyance of all was that some of the album's weaker moments (LNOE, IGWSHA) actually turned out to influence the backwards direction of their following albums.
  10. Wake Up Dead Man and Staring At The Sun are top notch also, don't miss them
  11. Apparently, Edge came up with Dead Man's opening line on the way home in his car... makes me wish he'd written the rest of the song AND the rest of the album.
  12. Personally, when Pop gets remastered, I would like to see a 3-CD set. The 1997 original, a present-day (2009?) update (including mixes from the best of compilations and singles, which were better... admit it), then the B-Sides, outtakes and other fun insanity. If they throw in a pro-shot as well, that would be cool, but I'm not hedging my bets.

    What's that you say? You can't release both? Oh, yes you can. Look up Pearl Jam's re-release of Ten and then come back to me.
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