Albums ruined by brick-walling

I do not know about ruined because I will always love the music on the album too much to not listen to it, but 10,000 Days by Tool has so much audible clipping that it is incredible.

 

That's a little harsh. You have to look at when he said that. I'm sure that's what he thought at the time, but then things change. Pro-Tools got better? It became the only way they could responsibly record the record from a financial standpoint? Both? Who knows. I'm sure he wasn't 'lying'.

 

By the way, whenever I go through a thread like this, it gives me the desire to run home and put on a good 70s LP mastered by Wally Traugott.

 

I don't think Van Halen had budgetary/money issues when recording A Different Kind Of Truth. David Lee Roth didn't feel comfortable recording at 5150, which still has analog tape recorders, I don't blame him as 5150 is "Van Halen territory", so they went to Henson Studios (former A&M studios if I'm not mistaken) and recorded the album just like anybody else, digitally, using ProTools and mixed and mastered compressed and brickwalled to death. They knew the album was going to sell well so they could have tracked it to analog and mix it to analog or digital, whatever they want, they have the money to do so. Lesser acts are making full analog recordings this days.
With A Different Kind Of Truth they did a great album absolutely ruined by its sound quality. The double LP set sounds a bit better, but just that, a little bit.

 

The Kinks "Anthology" box is the most offensive brickwalled release I've heard in a long time. Just horrible sound. But people here love it anyway. Go figure.

 

I listen to it either on vinyl records or ripped to FLAC at its native resolution and then converted to double rate DSD that tames the album a little and makes it more listenable.

 

Good to know

 

Pretty much anything that's produced by Dave Fridmann since about 2000, including this, the Lips, MGMT and countless other loudness war crimes. Sadly, he's been very much in demand as a producer for the indie scene for some time. If he didn't go for the super extreme compression all the time, I'd be a fan.

 

i so agree. Why are those responsible for such great music allow it to be wrecked in this way. Great shame

 

"Tear down the brickwall"

 

Yeah the Floyd reissues were done well. I'm not saying they're the 'be all end all' but for modern remasters/reissues they were a pleasant surprise. For me, anyway.

 

Holy ****

Dan and I are fb friends. Ill show this to him, with your permission.

 

The LPs sound amazing.

 

The Black Crowes - By Your Side
Stone Temple Pilots - No. 4 (MOV Lp is much improved)

 

Buzzcocks - Buzzcocks
Ramones - ¡Adios Amigos! (LP sounds great)
Social Distortion - Sex, Love And Rock'n'Roll

 

E. Costello's When I was Cruel is always a main example for me when I explain brickwall mastering to friends. DR=5 !

 

Megadeth - Dystopia

 

a sad disease of the mp3 generation ... hopefully it will be rethought soon

 

The White Stripes - The White Stripes
The White Stripes - De Stijl
The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
The White Stripes - Elephant
The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
The White Stripes - Icky Thump

The cd’s really need to be remastered.

 

Many albums released in the past couple of decades are made to sound best on cheap, lo-fl equipment.

Just the other day, I listened to Definitely Maybe on a cheap-o, portable CD player, and it actually sounded good. And it was the 2014 remaster, for which they achieved the miraculous feat of making it sound even more squashed than the original.

Btw, I was using a cheap player because I was doing some decorating. My hi-fi was disconnected and safely stored under dustsheets.

 

Spoon "They Want My Soul" is the worst one in my entire 2000+ CD collection. Too bad because they are a good band with some great songs - most of their stuff is pretty heavily brickwalled, but this one is rendered virtually unlistenable at any volume.

 

An album that was NOT “ruined by brick-walling”, but actually requires it -

Pink Floyd “The Wall”

 

Worst sounding CDs I've listened to recently:

Genesis-And Then There Were Three 2007/08
Yes-Tormato expanded remaster
Supertramp-Even In The Quietest Moments 2002

 

I really hope so, but I blame the record labels and the people who call the shots for artists more than anything. An artist needs to gain the rights to their music or, in the words of Björk, ”Declare independence!”

 

Saw them on the Dm tour. One of the worst shows I've seen.