Shoutbox

First off I think it's an amazing album, and bet it'll be a great live show whenever it is I see them perform next.

Some of you may know the current stigma and issues surrounding it's release, some not so I'll quickly explain.

Metallica released the album on CD, Vinyl, Digital Download and as a Content Pack for Guitar Hero 3.

People were argueing that the mastering is a bit whack on the release having no to little bass guitar present and dynamic range limited and distorted etc
People then ran the retail tracks through a spectrum analyser and discovered that the whole release had been 'clipped' or 'brickwalled', this basically is a process where the volume of a release is increased and then the ends of the waveforms are chopped off in order to sounder 'louder' and stick out on radio play etc, however removing the dynamic range of everything instrumental usually

People then noticed that the Guitar Hero 3 release sounded better than the retail CD, the songs were extracted from GH3 and also ran through a spectrum analyser and were discovered to still have all their dynamic range in tact with little difference to the retail releases.

A good video/sound comparison can be found here (watch in high quality if you can) -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRyIACDCc1I&eurl

Since then many petitions and news sites have documented the changes and are asking for a reason as it why the retail release is of such poor 'quality' as of yet Metallica have not issued a statement as to the reasons and differences. As well as torrent and audio communities creating their own remastered mixes from the GH3 extracted audio files.

What's your opinions on this matter, I've listened to the retail, 1 GH3 remastered version of the album, and a mix of 'Broken Beat and Scarred' by a 'Mystery Producer' and you can really tell the difference between them quality and sound wise with the retail being the worst I'm hoping that the GH3 format is fully cracked and each audio layer extracted in full audio perfection and recreated with the full dynamic range.

So yeah, your opinions?

nile your the splitting image of some ppl i know,
i'm not a massive fan of Metallica but my gf enjoys the new one therefore i have to like it

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Originally posted by Jarrod
nile your the splitting image of some ppl i know,
i'm not a massive fan of Metallica but my gf enjoys the new one therefore i have to like it

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Errm thanks I guess

But really I wasn't addressing whether you like the album musically or not, it's more the whole waveform issue and if you think it's acceptable to sell this jacked up, capped off, distorted version to consumers at full price or full dynamic quality as it was recorded and mixed? This is why some people have their faith in Vinyl because it was never fucked about with digitally, except the irony is the vinyl is exactly the same as it's been recorded digitally then exported to analogue (then some people import it back from vinyl to their computers yeah.... all with potential of losing quality along the way)

I saw that, so i got the GH3 version... its much better. I was going to buy the vinyl, but I was not able to find it, and the album sucks, so i'm not going to look for it anymore.

Without listening to the tracks, one thing I will state is that recording studios generally do this a lot, especially for pop-type groups where you don't really need to worry about the tune all that much.

Kinda sucks that they do though.

There are also two versions of Suicide and Redemption.  One with J.H. on the end of the name and one with K.H. on the end.  I'm assuming this has to do with the solos.  One by James Hetfield, and one by Kirk Hammet.

I have the GH version, still think it lacks oomph though. Needs more bass. It's all really subdued and meh. Drums are like barely there in most songs.

You should care more about the music and less about the quality. The human auditory cortex can't even process the differences between various degrees of audio quality and compression, or detect slight changes in the audio waveform of a song.

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Originally posted by mezzanine
The human auditory cortex can't even process the differences between various degrees of audio quality and compression, or detect slight changes in the audio waveform of a song.

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True. But we're not talking about slight changes here. We are talking about major fuckups which mess with the music. Just listen to the youtube clip Nile linked. Even while that is in crappy youtube quality you can clearly hear the drums are much richer in the GH3 version.

The waveform will tell you why, it totally lacks dynamic. This happens to a lot of audio CDs and there is no good reason why they mess with the music like this.

I think it's insane that people who want to pay a decent amount of money for an album (while downloading is so easy these days) can't even listen to it in the intended quality. Caring about the quality of the sound = caring about the music, certainly when you can hear the difference in a blind test.

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Originally posted by vaccination
It's all really subdued

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AND QUICKLY HE'S SUBDUED
THIS FIGHT HE CANNOT WIN
THE YOUNG BOY LEARNS THE RULES