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Wall St. Journal article

Anyone see the WSJ Thursday 9/25 about Metallica's latest cd "Death Magnetic" and how it was mastered for ipod's and was the loudest recording ever? The band wanted it to sound loud through earbuds. The mastering engineer was embarrassed to be associated with the project because we all know that by compressing levels at the mastering stage, the dynamics are completely lost. No subtle cymbals, no strumming guitars. No surprising nuances for audiophiles.Now I realize that Metallica is not exactly marketing to the audiophile set. However, Springsteen's latest cd "Magic" used the same strategy and I thought it sounded like crap.The recordings are designed for low end reproduction and not bringing out the best performance by the artist. If I want a wall of sound, I will crank up my maggies. Comments?
maxnewid

Showing 2 responses by ben_campbell

ben_campbell
1,169 posts
 
I have it but haven't listened to it yet.....will come back with a report
ben_campbell
1,169 posts
 
I listened today and whilst I took a while to adjust (I've not been listening to my main system very much)and it is compressed.Also as stated above Magic by Springsteen is the same, there is no real dynamics and everything is very central.
The contrast when I put on the last Ryan Adam's CD was very clear.In comparison there is very clear seperation and space with a much wider soundstage.
Needless to say neither Springsteen nor Metallica are very relaxing to listen to.
Shame as the music on the new Metallica sounds promising and Magic is a good record
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