Californication RHCP horrible mastering...

[Theron D]

Who the hell mastered this album? It's horrible. I listened to it tonight on my mid grade stereo system, and it just reeks of noticable distortion. The clipping buzzing sound in the center....

What other albums are out there that sound this bad? The loudness wars have got to give, when are things going to turn around???



Theron D

[E-cue]

I heard some of the final mixes pre-mastering. You'd be friggin' amazed at how open and distortion-free they were. If I had mixed those, I'd be VERY p.o.'ed.

[J.B.Horns]

I've asked certain reputable engineers not to compromise fidelity for the sake being louder, and they still come back overcompressed, muddy and shitty. I'm not the greatest mixer, but I know it's supposed to come back from mastering sounding better, not worse. Most of my clients say they want it as loud as possible. I don't get it, in the mixing stage they can be ultra picky about how loud certain things are. "Can you turn down that one one word like one notch". Then it comes back from mastering and the drums are all but gone, and they're stoked because it's louder than their Smashing Pumpkins CD or whatever.

I don't get why we pay someone $1000 to make our music louder, when the volume knob comes with the stereo.

[joel hamilton]

Music is really boring without transients.

Dynamics have been gone for a long time, but now transients are going away too.

That is why I stick with the same few mastering people. I am pretty adament about it.

[KennyLusk]

What's the difference anyway?


With Anthony Kiedis' voice (and 3rd grade level lyrics) on the record, the music is destroyed anyway.

[Mark Alan Miller]

Music is really boring without transients.

Dynamics have been gone for a long time, but now transients are going away too.

That is why I stick with the same few mastering people. I am pretty adament about it.

here here!

I agree with that, and J.B.'s comments.

Anyone who has seen my ranting posts about the pathetic loudness wars knows where I stand or can UTFSE to fine yout, so I'll stop here for now.

[colinandrew12]

I don't get why we pay someone $1000 to make our music louder, when the volume knob comes with the stereo.

alright dude....you totally need to use this as your signature quote before i steal it from you and start using it as mine:-)

[Zeppelin4Life]

I heard there was a silent recall on the 'original' and a few days later they had fixed it with a new CD. The chorus of 'californication' (the song) is so distorted its ridiculous.

Compare modern (most) rock music with absolutely no dyanmic range to movie scores, with almost full dyanmics.

Imagine a movie with no range. The attack scenes would be as loud as the intro. Less exciting isnt it? Same with any music.

[bryanlemeilleur]

since they have a new cd coming out in november
how 'bout U2's all that you can't leave behind.
some distortion there too

[smtcharlie]

Well, I can at least listen to "All You Can't Leave Behind." I cannot, however, even listen Morrissey's current album. It is so loud and distorted that I am exhausted after a song or two. It's really sickening.

Anybody know the story with this?

k

--------
www.smalltimecharlie.com

[rob@SigmaDelta]

What bugged me the most was the new Fire Theft album. I was so happy to see it come out.. bought it and OH MY GOODNESS! It's totally distorted all over.

[apexer]

wow, i just went and listened to all my fav rock albums (including californication) they are all distorted! It has never bothered me before, so i guess the distortion is not such a big deal. what i'm bummed about is the loss of the dynamics / transients. I think mastering engineers should go back to mastering a little more moderately, and then put a sticker on the cd that says "this cd won't be as loud as ludicrus, so turn it up!" haha. yea, probably won't happen.

[Mark Alan Miller]

I was joking with Jeff Lipton a few weeks ago that a "full dynamic range" trend would hit the Major Labels, and they would re-master and re-market all of these over-compressed CDs as having "The Original Dynamic Range As The Artist Intended!" and/or "Fully Restored To The Original Mixes!" (Really we were only half-joking - it could happen!)

He and I agree that there is a bit of a trend to get back to transients and dynamics again. We were very careful when he was mastering my next release not to overly squash it. "Punchy" was the order of the day, and "Punchy" requires dynamics and transients. Needless to say he did a wonderful job.

[mertmo]

The loudness trend is indeed out of control. One thing I think is interesting is how I notice it blatantly on some records, but not as much on others even though it's just as present. i.e: When I got the latest Jane's Addiction record, I was way cranky that such a well mixed and cool album was RUINED by the typical "limiting gone mad", but I never noticed it on Audioslave's record until I read someone bitching about it on the internet. Sure enough, when I listened critically I was like "oh my god...." ...totally squashed to hell. But I listen to that album all the time and the over limiting never bugs me on that one....

maybe it just fits on some records better than others. But regardless, it must end. It is the shit trend of all time.

U2's new song sounds pretty macked to me.... I'm sure it will be too fucking loud on the record, but I'll still buy it anyway 'cause I'm an obsessive fan and it's amazing to hear them go all big rock.

[Zeppelin4Life]

The sad part is that these super limiters like L2s and things can make mixes louder and still make them sound great, but we have to get out of control and slide that slider a few dB down and there ya go. Ruined mastering job.