Metallica 2015 Remasters of Kill 'Em All and Ride the Lightning*

Not to be a jerk, but everything I've heard Howie Weinberg ever master is a brickwalled mess. Example: The Smashing Pumpkins reissues.

 

There's now a free 14-track sampler at 320kbps. DR is in the 7-9 range.

Also, unboxing video of the deluxe Kill set:

 

Has to be said, that is a fine looking box set. Hopefully the audio will measure up.

Grabbed the sampler download but can't listen until lunchtime as I'm at work - whlist I'm unlikely to spring for the admittedly lovely boxset (Puppets might be a different matter), the hi-res deluxe might well beckon.

Appreciate the heads up, both for the download and the video.

 

Just downloaded the sampler and listening now. To be honest I can't tell a difference between the actual studio tracks and the tracks listed as rough mix???

Bass is more up front and defined which is nice to hear, but I'm still bummed about the DR value. Considering the original CD's and how good they sound, even if they have less bass, they are still crankable and sound good.

I just don't think these sets are going to be the great sounding sets we hope them to be. Perhaps the vinyl will, but if Howie's past work is anything to go by, I would think not.

Nice to have the sampler though, thanks for posting that link.

 

It's so funny but every time I hear "Bells" live, the effect that Cliff had on his bass for the intro always sounded like Jamaican steel drums (Steelpans) to me LOL

Now when I hear that I can't get that image out of my mind that there is a Jamaican steel drum player up there with them LOL. Does anyone else hear that?

 

I asked on Facebook about the vinyl mastering; no answer.

 

Is there stand-alone vinyl being released, or only part of the box set?

 

I asked for clarification on that, too. I was hoping for an answer by now, as once the post with Hetfield's video was put up, the Metallica FB admin was answering questions.

 

I believe the vinyl 'LP's' are being sold alone. You have to buy the box set to get the unreleased stuff.

But again, if the CD's/LP's are compressed/brickwalled, then the WB 45 RPM editions will have to be it for me.
the beave

 

As of now, there are just 180G stand alone versions of the regular albums...

 

It will be possible to buy the regular CD and vinyl editions. Amazon currently has both up for pre-order. There was word that the CD version could contain one bonus CD, but what was contained was not known. Now it seems this will not be the case.

I really like the way Zeppelin did it with their reissues, if you wanted to buy the box you did, but if you didn't, you could still get the bonus content in the deluxe CD or vinyl edition. Hell they even had the regular CD and vinyl edition with no bonus content if you liked, and having choices is a good thing.

 

These remasters are today's Popmarket "deal" in various packages/bundles. Not much of a deal if you've been following this thread and those that have been posting the prices at various online options. They are noted as pre-orders and that they will ship the week of 4/11.

 

I'm really disappointed that they "cheaped out" on the artwork for the live LP's/CD's, they couldn't find some decent artwork or killer live shots??

 

The 2 LP's can be pre ordered from deep discount for $30.24 shipped.
with NOJOKE code.

 

I think the NOJOKE coupon has expired.

 

Good find, thanks for posting! Glad there are stand-alone LP's being released.

 

I agree on the LP's, but with the crappy slipcases for the Cd's, it doesn't matter as the cd's won't be stored in them anyway. If they came in jewel cases I'd agree and want some cool artwork.

 

You're right, these rough mixes don't sound any different, just more hiss and lesser quality. It was disappointing enough to have rough mixes instead of demos, and now it sounds like these rough mixes aren't even different.

 

That is NO JOKE

 

Sounds to me like Howie did the digital remastering and then Chris used that as the source to cut the vinyl. Why else would Howie's name be credited under the vinyl entries? I honestly don't care as I'm not buying them anyway, but for anyone who does care, I'd try to get confirmation before buying. So far, it's not real clear what's going on with the vinyl.

 

Here is "Creeping Death" and "The Four Horsemen" album versions from the sampler (which is presumed to be the same as the CDs). I don't know why they would take such a different approach to the mastering between the two albums. If I turn on "show clipping", "Creeping Death" turns almost entirely red. No clipping on KEA as there is headroom. Still looks compressed and there's definitely been limiting, but at least it's not slammed to the wall and clipping. Whatever progress we thought was gained with the KEA mastering has been wiped away with the RTL, it seems.

 

Hopefully the vinyl doesn't suck like that

 

Yes, Always being a casual Zeppelin fan and never really listening to their albums I decided to take their reissue campaign as an opportunity to listen to all of them. Since I was only interesting in getting to know the albums I chose the single disc versions with no bonus tracks. They were fairly cheap too.

 

Lars now doing the unboxing for "Ride The Lightning":

 

Damn, that these are so expensive here. Where would be the cheapest place to order in Europe?