When Sound Quality Negatively Affects Your Enjoyment of An Album

I'm having this problem right now with Doro's 'Fover Warriors, Forever United' which was released today. It's heavily compressed, with the drums really suffering. They sound quite flat and lifeless. The guitars sound fizzy and lack warmth. Doro's vocals are sibilant. Strangely, there are some songs that sound considerably better than others. I don't expect audiophile quality from a modern hard rock/metal album but this is very inconsistent indeed. It's a double, 25-song release and I like quite a few of the songs but getting past poor sound quality is getting increasingly difficult as I continue to embark on my audiophile journey.

 

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Crushed to death by Vlado Meller. It has many musical elements in its expensive production that are unlistenable. DR value of 4. While I would still think it's just an okay album, it would still be more enjoyable.

 

A standout for me in this area is the original mix of Yes's Close To the Edge; while the actual sound quality isn't awful, the mix really faulters in certain areas...the church organ during the 'I get up, I get down" actually crackled...and the final portion of the 'song" is a complete, cluttered mess. I love the album and was looking very forward to Steven Wilson's remix; thankfully, while not "perfect", it overall did not disappoint.

 

As much as good sound quality enhances music for me, if there is no good sounding edition of an album or song, I’m not going to let that ruin or hamper my enjoyment of it. Good music shouldn’t be avoided because there’s no good sounding edition in existence.

 

As I got older and could afford better sound systems I found that some albums that I really like sound horrible. But I still like them. Certainly hesitate to put on my Grado headphones on an album where the sound is bad. I find that when I do that I don’t enjoy the album near as much.

 

I've been listening to a lot of classic jazz recently -- the meticlulously recorded Rudy Van Gelder stuff that sounds rich and open. That makes it particularly difficult to listen to just about any rock album recorded in the last 30 years. It's like going from FM to AM radio.

 

I've been training to be an audio engineer (mixing and mastering) and recently turned professional so have extremely developed ears, as well as an increasingly clear idea of what I personally think sounds good. It messes with your head as it's really difficult to compartmentalise myself when it comes to being a listener or engineer. It's pretty much impossible.

 

Had two cd versions of Christine McVie's 1984 self titled album and I found I only liked the sound of the LP so I kept a cd for car listening.

 

My threshold is pretty high, but sometimes crappy production values can be a bit much for me. I'll generally attempt

vinyl....or perhaps a little clipfix and manual EQ'ing to stem the ear bleeding a bit.

 

Navigating between naturalistic acoustic hi-fi music and more processed, scrunched-up pop, rock, hip-hop etc can be jarring and challenging, but I don’t want fussy comfort-zone audiophile values to steer me away from great music.

When audiophile exclusivity tempts me I like to recall that 98% of the music I listened to for the first 18+ years of my life was played on an AM transistor radio and then a cheap suitcase record player, and no period of my musical life has surpassed the pleasure and emotional joy I experienced during that time.

 

As a punk fan, I've hardly allowed audio considerations stand in the way of listening, that's for sure.

Still, it's frustrating to hear compressed, airless, overly loud rock recordings when there's ample proof that you can create powerful rock records with open, airy production. The Stones, the Who and Zep are obvious examples.

But yeah, you can only take what you're given. Won't stop me from listening.

 

Queen II. It's my favourite Queen album but i rarely listen to it because it hasn't any guts to it, nowhere near enough bass. Tinny.

 

Megadeth - Dystopia

As good as this album is I can’t listen to it due to the sound quality. I have heard albums that were more compressed that didn’t sound as bad as Dystopia. I don’t think I have heard a CD clip that much ever.

 

Crushed rap albums still sound okay, but crushed rock and metal albums are completely unlistenable.

 

Baroness, the Purple album is a distorted, loud, muddy mess. It's a shame because the songs are incredible and there so many intricate details in the music that cant be properly heard. This is just crappy YouTube audio, but imagine this song with a nice crystal clear mix? I hope someday it will receive the treatment it truly deserves.

 

Exactly. If the music is connecting with me, 'bad sound' is the least of my worries. Sometimes it's even part of the appeal: sure, "Wild Eyes" by the Vivian Girls sounds like it was recorded from the next room while the band played at the bottom of an empty swimming pool, but that doesn't make it any less awesome.

 

Oasis - "What's The Story Morning Glory"
While I can still listen and enjoy it, I actually get fatigued after about 7 songs.
I remember when I bought it upon release, I could never figure out why I'd feel that way! I figured It must have been the guitar tones -All distortion, no real dynamics. It wasn't until I came here in 2007 I found out I wasn't crazy! Compressed to ridiculous degree - DURING TRACKING!

Still love it though!

 

The vinyl's not bad, but cds for modern metal are often pretty lousy. Agreed that it's a strong album.

 

Bad sound always affect my enjoyment, but it's a matter of degree. I have yet to encounter and album of music I like recorded so badly I wouldn't keep listening to it.

Bad masterings can be redone; bad source tapes can't.

 

Toto XIV. I like the songs but I can't listen to the album. Has to be the worst example of squashed/brickwalled/compressed sound. It's painful to listen to.

 

Oowee yes indeed! I tried to get into this and couldn’t get past a few songs. Their style does not suit a crushed mastering approach.

I have a theory that the reason popular music has become a lot more sparse is because you can get away with the lack of dynamics a lot longer if there isn’t as much happening on the track. A subconscious reaction to the loudness wars?

 

I hated MFSL's INXS Kick so much (after pining for it for months) that I immediately sought out an original press and sold off the "higher fidelity" copy. It's such an open recording, and nearly every peak was accompanied by unreasonable sibilance. I emailed Mobile Fidelity and they basically said "Sorry you didn't care for it."

The recent 2LP repress is very nice. Still have that OG press, though. I'm not sure what MFSL was thinking with their pressing. Extra crispy.

 

Agreed. Depressing isn't it? I hoped it might just be the pressing I have, which isn't a first, but I've tried several others and its still bassless. Haven't found a first to compare though.
Other LP's runied by the (lack of) sound quality:

Florance and the Machine - Lungs - flat, hard and painfully digital.

Oasis - Definitely Maybe - sounds like Oasis.
In other words, doing their level best to sound like She's a Woman / Rain / I Am The Walrus Beatles, without the panache or producer to carry it off, and runing some pretty good tunes in the process.

 

Tommy - The Who; sound is so flat & lifeless!

 

This forum has its ups and downs for me, because sometimes you guys like to ruin albums for me haha!

ELO - Time is one of my favorite albums ever, and I never had a problem with it until you guys mentioned it was compressed hard. Now all I hear is the compression and I pray that Jeff releases the unmastered acetate one day...