This is the same guy that helped mix AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

Douche to the muthafarkin' Nozz

we wanted to roll with Rick's vision of how Metallica would sound.

What a cop out. I'd expect that sort of shiat from some pop starlet who's sound is 99% in the hands of her producer. A rock band should have a little more interest/control over that sort of thing.

Guy Innagorillasuit: we wanted to roll with Rick's vision of how Metallica would sound.

What a cop out. I'd expect that sort of shiat from some pop starlet who's sound is 99% in the hands of her producer. A rock band should have a little more interest/control over that sort of thing.

You take a band that still has some industry clout but is well past its glory days, and the label starts saying "you really need to do whatever this guy says."

And it's the guy who took RHCP from "black eyed blonde" to "Under the bridge"- completely changing the band.

I don't like what Metallica sounds like on any CD. Guess what? I don't buy them. No problem.

Oh, look, it's Lars Ulrich. The guy who doesn't know shiat but is amazingly never, ever, ever wrong about anything.

Finally heard the whole CD last weekend. I thought it was sounded OK, but that could have been the 12 Natty Light keg beers I drank talking.

/Heavy metal vomit parties FTW

Apparently Lars fails to realize mixing by 2008 standards means making the mix so tinny and loud that it sounds great on $10 earbuds for mp3 players.

iammatt: Apparently Lars fails to realize mixing by 2008 standards means making the mix so tinny and loud that it sounds great on $10 earbuds for mp3 players.

But he just listened to it in his car(!) and it sounds great!

iammatt: Apparently Lars fails to realize mixing by 2008 standards means making the mix so tinny and loud that it sounds great on $10 earbuds for mp3 players.

This.

For better or worse (probably worse) the music industry is tailoring everything for the iPod/streaming/ringtone crowd.

A CD produced by a major label heavyweight like Rubin and engineered in a top-notch studio for over a year should not have so much clipping! I can understand it on a self-produced disc, but not this. And yes, Lars is a douche.

/still like the tunes, though

I like how he thinks the mix on Justice has somehow magically become non-crap over the years.

Lars probably downloaded his mp3 versions to listen in his car from Bittorrent.

Kodiak Attack: A CD produced by a major label heavyweight like Rubin and engineered in a top-notch studio for over a year should not have so much clipping!
/still like the tunes, though

Welcome to the Loudness Wars
/ Back to Mono!

"The band's loquacious drummer Lars Ulrich.."

is loquacious latin for douchebag?

gwowen: Welcome to the Loudness Wars
/ Back to Mono!

Oh, I'm well aware of the Loudness War. Doesn't mean I have to like it. I know it's because of the radio and catching people's attention and all that, but if people are too lazy to listen for good music, they don't deserve it anyway.

/lazy listening = why Nickelback is so popular

"we wanted to roll with Rick's vision of how Metallica would sound."

So the mixing problem was their version of a Rickroll? I had no idea Lars was so up on memes.

/groooooooooooan

I don't get this, maybe I'm not as "refined" as all the experts we have out there. I love the new album and I haven't liked anything since the Black album. They are back to the killer riffs and thrashing that they had back on Master and Justice. Can't wait to see them live. "End of the line" is a great song, so why didn't they release this as a single? Either way, if you don't like the new album, go listen to some Tickleback, I understand their new album's sound quality is great. Too bad the music sucks.

Imagine the opportunities this opens up for them reselling the same album, remastered properly, over and over and over again.

I like the one single, The Day That Never Comes, up until about the time a normal song ends (about the four minute mark, I usually change the station at that point) when it tries to get "thrashy," (read: really farking shiatty) like their old stuff, but they can't do it anymore, their creativity left shortly after their hair.

Faux Shizzle: Imagine the opportunities this opens up for them reselling the same album, remastered properly, over and over and over again.

Maybe they can get George Luca$ to produce their next album?

the new album is great, people are just whining because their feelings are still hurt from the napster incident.

/get over it

draekken: the new album is great, people are just whining because their feelings are still hurt from the napster incident.

/get over it

great?
GREAT?!?!

And Justice For All was great, Master of Puppets was great. This is.. well.. this is just Metallica's feeble twitch, a muscle spasm, an attempt to show us that they are not 6 feet under yet.

That being said, at least there are no trash cans like St. Anger... they really should burn because of that horrible album.

draekken: the new album is great, people are just whining because their feelings are still hurt from the napster incident.

/get over it

It's ok, Lars. You don't have to hide behind an alt.

Been a fan since Garage Days...... Load, Reload, St. Anger... definite pieces of crap. Death Magnetic is better than those but still not what Metallica used to be.

Great album. shiatty mastering. Rick Rubin is a douche, and Lars needs to get his head out of his ass.

I can't post any more puke pics.....

I don't have a problem with the sound/mixing of DM. I had a MAJOR problem with the sound/mixing of St. Anger. That was Metallica at their worst. Frankly, I'm surprised that they had a good album left in them.


/Still won't see them in concert ever again
//They might play a song from St. Anger
///No way I'm paying money to hear that ever again

InfernalCatfish: Great album. shiatty mastering. Rick Rubin is a douche, and Lars needs to get his head out of his ass.

Lars has never had his head out of his ass, therefore, if you've -ever- condoned his douchebaggery, you're a farking hypocrite now.

If he thought it was good enough to release to CD as it is, why should we think he'd see it any differently after its release?

Great_Milenko: Faux Shizzle: Imagine the opportunities this opens up for them reselling the same album, remastered properly, over and over and over again.

Maybe they can get George Luca$ to produce their next album?

After hearing the new album(which I do like), I think they should have let Flemming Rassmusen, Rick Ruben, and Bob Rock all three produce it. Then just include all three discs and let us choose. Flemming probably would have done the best job. I'm really disappointed in Ruben, the guy who has always done Slayer.

Timdesuyo: draekken: the new album is great, people are just whining because their feelings are still hurt from the napster incident.

/get over it

It's ok, Lars. You don't have to hide behind an alt.

THIS. Album sucks, Metallica sucks and has sucked for a very long time. Hell, I could have mixed the album better using Adobe Audition...

I heard their new album. Used to be a big fan back in high school. I guess it sounded alright. I just didn't want to listen to anything on the album twice. So I ditched it and used the space to store more Finntroll.

Deathstyle.

gwowen

The most recent album that showed the ridiculousness of this Loudness War bullshiat is Rush's Vapor Trails. There are a bunch of great songs on that album, but the audio is so clipped and overdriven that it is unlistenable. Try listening to Ceiling Unlimited in your car at a decent level. Congrats on the blown speakers.

The production of Vapor Trails has been highly criticized due to the album's 'loud' sound quality. Albums such as this have been mastered so loud that additional digital distortion is added during the production of the CD. The trend, known as the Loudness war, has become very common on modern rock CDs.

As explained by Rip Rowan on the ProRec website, the damaged production is the result of overly-compressed (clipped) audio levels during mastering, though Rush have admitted that there was digital distortion during recording, which also contributed to the damage. Remastering the album would not correct the damage from digital distortion that was introduced during recording, but it could correct the other, more destructive damage that is the result of overly-compressing the audio during mastering.

bethica: "we wanted to roll with Rick's vision of how Metallica would sound."

So the mixing problem was their version of a Rickroll? I had no idea Lars was so up on memes.

/groooooooooooan

more importantly. Metallica doesn't want to have to decide what their sound is...

Guy Innagorillasuit: we wanted to roll with Rick's vision of how Metallica would sound.

What a cop out. I'd expect that sort of shiat from some pop starlet who's sound is 99% in the hands of her producer. A rock band should have a little more interest/control over that sort of thing.

I would agree with your expectations, but the Rolling Stone article from a week or two back said they weren't even present during the mixing sessions.

That article was here BTW:

Link (new window)

I just can't rock out to it. My Klipsch speakers are good with high notes anyway, so I have to keep it down a bit to keep Hetfield from hurting my ears and then I can't rock out to it since his voice is so much louder/tinnier than the instruments.

Not a big Metallica fan here, but the new album sounds fine, and is actually quite good.

There's a problem with Loudness?

DeathByGeekSquad: Lars has never had his head out of his ass, therefore, if you've -ever- condoned his douchebaggery, you're a farking hypocrite now.

Relax. I'm talking about the current subject, about how he's wrong that it was mastered fine. If you want to talk about all the other crap he's been wrong about, I agree with you.

Death Magnetic is a little too loud in places, but I've heard far worse along those lines. Like with Vapor Trails.


Also, the album is quite good. Not a classic or near-classic like the 80's albums, but a very good continuation of the AJFA tradition.

Funny thing is, if they hadn't mastered it so loud, you'd have the very same forums full of people complaining it sounds weak compared to their Slipknot and Trivium albums. I agree it's quite damn loud, but apart from when everything goes to shiat because of the double-kicks, it mostly works.

I've never understood why the blame is always put on headphones listeners - it's on headphones the loudness war is at its most annoying. I don't mind it so much on a stereo, but when you're listening closely on a set of good headphones, it can be horrible.

tarkus1980: Death Magnetic is a little too loud in places...

Getting too old?

sewiusproductions: I like the one single, The Day That Never Comes, up until about the time a normal song ends (about the four minute mark, I usually change the station at that point) when it tries to get "thrashy," (read: really farking shiatty) like their old stuff, but they can't do it anymore, their creativity left shortly after their hair.

Interesting...I work at a small market rock station and we all hated the last half of the song. Made our own edit and it's been pretty popular. No metal heads complaining either.

Wait, I'm new...Let me try that again.

ahem
THIS!

Well I don't care what any of you say, ...And Justice for Jason is easily their best album. Sooo much better with audible bass.

Not relevant but there it is.

This isn't a mixing issue, this is a mastering issue.

danduran:
I've never understood why the blame is always put on headphones listeners - it's on headphones the loudness war is at its most annoying. I don't mind it so much on a stereo, but when you're listening closely on a set of good headphones, it can be horrible.

There's your problem. Listen to it from a low resolution MP3 from your phone on $5 ear buds. I'm sure it will sound fine. It's like a girl whose best feature is distnace.

Yep, count me in the "still bitter about Napster" camp. So, I'm not going to buy this album. Not gonna pirate it, either.

The single that's playing on the airwaves now is pretty uninspiring, IMHO. Like they were going for a "Kill Em All" type sound, but missed the mark...

Arthur the Sandwich Maker: Well I don't care what any of you say, ...And Justice for Jason is easily their best album. Sooo much better with audible bass.

Not relevant but there it is.

I've got to say, I only picked up* ...AJFJ last month, and it blew my mind! Blackened is a whole new song; hell, it's like a whole new album, really! If any of you haven't heard it, it's definitely worth your time.

/* we all know what I mean