Worst mastering you've ever heard?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Spaceboy, Jun 16, 2007.

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  1. driverdrummer

    driverdrummer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Irmo, SC
    Lady Gaga-Born This Way, Foo Fighters-Wasting Light, Smashing Pumpkins-Machina, Depeche Mode-Playing the Angel, The Cure-The Cure, REM-Collapse into Now, Katy Perry-Teenage Dream
     
  2. Mirrorblade.1

    Mirrorblade.1 Forum Resident

    Mr Mister Pull 2010 remaster
    every song has same loudness?:cry:
    At least I have original 89 demo.:winkgrin:
     
  3. ATSMUSIC

    ATSMUSIC Senior Member

    Location:
    MD, USA
    The Genesis SACDs were pretty darn bad.
     
  4. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Thanks for saving me 20 bucks, I have all the studio albums but was thinking about grabbing this :cheers:
     
  5. npc210

    npc210 Forum Resident

    The Cars' Move Like This sounds horrible. So so loud.
     
  6. Plan9

    Plan9 Mastering Engineer

    Location:
    Toulouse, France
    Now that's a special kind of awful, but I think it was recorded and mixed that way.
     
  7. bibijeebies

    bibijeebies vinyl hairline spotter

    Location:
    Amstelveen (NL)
    To me it is funny that especially older artists that are making come back albums or are looking for their place in today's music market (whatever is left of that these days) fall prey to brickwalling and massive compression: we over here are really totally not where it's at! You have to be LOUD to be heard...
    a lot of artists do not listen at home to music anymore, just in the car (to approve the final mix/release) or in the studio maybe, but certainly not at home in a comfortable armchair with a nice espresso or a good glass of wine....
     
  8. bluenote

    bluenote Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    Really? I think it sounds just fine. What exactly is wrong with it?
     
  9. *Zod*

    *Zod* Forum Resident

    Location:
    New England
    for me original 80's Yes 90125 is bad, though many folks disagree with me on this board
     
  10. VinylNutz

    VinylNutz Active Member

    Wasting Light is much better on LP cut at 45 rpm. I take it your referring to the CD.
     
  11. ricks

    ricks Senior Member

    Location:
    127.0.0.1:443
    :sigh:

    I wish every CD sounded at least that good. If that was anywhere near the worst mastering ever heard then this world would be in a state of sonic utopia.


    You want worst? Hows about these of the top of my head that are un-listenable to my ears:

    - Alan Parsons Tales Of Mystery And Imagination Deluxe Edition - courtesy of amateur hack supreme Dave Donnelly

    - Springsteen Magic (Vinyl though is almost tolerable)

    - Susan Enan Plain Song - gentle but great music, fatally wrecked by Jon (Gh)Astley. Why Mr Astely WHY!

    - Van Halen I,II,WACF, 1984 Remasters - HDCD decoded or not these to me are the sonic equivalent of thinly squashed excrement.

    - Dio Holy Diver - Rock Candy Remaster - dynamically dead, bloated unfocused lows, truly vile sounding.

    - Pete Townsend Lifehouse Chronicles on Eelpie - sonics-wise brutally murdered yet again by Jon (Gh)Astley. Why Mr Astely WHY!. I still harbor great sadness, disappointment and anger over this one. At least some of the material is available in listenable form on ROIO's

    - Tangerine Dream Poland Esoteric Remaster - The last thing this already cold sounding recording needed was gobs of Noise Reduction and Dynamics squashing. Dead 50 feet underwater type sound. I don't care how nice the linear notes are, a waste of money.
     
  12. numanoid

    numanoid Forum Resident

    Location:
    Valparaiso, IN
    Almost everything from the indie rock community in the 90's. All of the production is really, REALLY thin!
     
  13. yesstiles

    yesstiles Senior Member

    1994 definitive edition remaster

    Genesis "Trespass"
     
  14. TVC15

    TVC15 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Agreed! Hated they destroyed it like that.
     
  15. TVC15

    TVC15 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    The recent Duran Duran remasters are horrible.
     
  16. peteneatneat

    peteneatneat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Liverpool UK
    Whilst not being someone who is obsessed with compression/limiting (it's fine if used sparingly), I found the last Beastie Boys album so severely brickwalled that I deleted my entire download after listening about only 3 songs. It's a real shame as I am a big fan. I challenge anybody to find a louder CD.
     
  17. Tristero

    Tristero In possession of the future tense

    Location:
    MI
    I recently heard the reissue of the first Jesus & Mary Chain album and it was almost unlistenable, the aural equivalent of a migraine headache. Though it seems as we now have better options for a lot of the classic rock from the 60's and 70's, much of the great music from the punk/post-punk era has really been spoiled due to poor remastering.
     
  18. theseer2

    theseer2 Formerly foghorn2

    Location:
    Las Vegas, NV, USA
    Big Country- Steeltown
     
  19. bibijeebies

    bibijeebies vinyl hairline spotter

    Location:
    Amstelveen (NL)
    but why expect something from a remaster these days?
    the artist doesn't care so why should you?
    they are deaf and do not listen at home anyway
    only Neil Young cares...and his NYA series sound almost analog
    seriously, how many copies extra do you sell because of this wonderful sound?
     
  20. GowG

    GowG Forum Resident

    Location:
    Czech republic
    Ultra no-noised ****
     
  21. Tristero

    Tristero In possession of the future tense

    Location:
    MI
    Well, there's a lot of truth to this--I'm continually surprised by how little some artists seem to care about how their work is represented these days from an audio perspective. And yet, I think we have seen some progress in recent years. Most people think that the Beatles did a mighty fine job with their 2009 reissues, particularly the mono set. Classic bands like the Kinks, King Crimson and Jethro Tull (to name just a few examples off the top of my head, along with Neil Young who has always been a vocal advocate in this regard) have gone out of their way to release high quality products in recent years and they've been properly celebrated for it on sites like this. Even contemporary artists like P.J. Harvey and Field Music have paid heed to complaints about the 'loudness wars' and responded accordingly on more recent releases.

    The lesson? Keep complaining loudly, vote with your dollar and maybe more artists and industry types will pay attention.
     
  22. Plan9

    Plan9 Mastering Engineer

    Location:
    Toulouse, France
    I agree. More and more artists care for sound quality. IME, most of them are independants.
     
  23. Jerquee

    Jerquee Take this, brother, may it serve you well.

    Location:
    New York
    +1 This is a total abomination.

    Repeated instances of ugly vocal distortion across the record? I just don't understand why the mastering engineer and the record company robots weren't humiliated out of their jobs permanently. They ruined a great record.

     
  24. skisdlimit

    skisdlimit Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bellevue, WA
    If you're talking about the deluxe editions from 2009 and 2010, then I believe the debut and Seven and the Ragged Tiger are generally considered the worst of that series (all of the 2001s were indeed horrible). :thumbsdn:

    I recently acquired the 2-CD limited edition of Rio mastered by Steve Rooke, and it's actually pretty good but still not quite as smooth as the original 80s CD. My understanding is that the deluxe for Arcadia's So Red the Rose is also a keeper. :thumbsup:
     
  25. dconsmack

    dconsmack Senior Member

    Location:
    Las Vegas, NV USA
    Van Halen - A Different Kind Of Truth
    It's so loud I can't hear anything.
     
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