White Stripes--Icky Thump

Rufer · Post by **Rufer** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 3:51 pm

Great songs and playing.

I'm disappointed in what I can only assume is the mastering--lots of crackling, sizzling distortion on the loud parts. I bought the disc.

chuckfurok · Post by **chuckfurok** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 4:03 pm

I bought the iTunes version and the same thing. Mastered too f#^#&$ hot! And too much bass drum. I would love the album if it were not for those things. Makes it pretty hard to listen to.

AstroDan · Post by **AstroDan** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 4:06 pm

That's bizarre, considering the advancement in mastering by now (loudness not-withstanding) and the fact they're quite a high-profile band.

I mean, I could see them fucking up Billy Ocean's sax player's new solo album, but I would think more care would be put into the White Stripes.

Maybe that buzz is that 60 year old synth Jack White felt he needed to put on that song which couldn't be done on a VA...

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:22 am

AstroDan wrote:I would think more care would be put into the White Stripes.

if the band/label/whoever is saying "LOUDERLOUDERLOUDERITSGOTTABETHELOUDESTFUCKINGTHINGANYONE'SEVERHEARDLOOOOOOUUUUUUUDER!!!!!!" then it doesn't matter how carefully its mastered, at some point its gonna crackle. there's no way around it.

except for, yunno, just making a normal sounding record that doesn't hurt people when they try to listen to it. god forbid.

i thought the tune was sort of alright, i like his vocal. that whammy pedal guitar is for the birds though.

Rufer · Post by **Rufer** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:17 am

This is not even a reduction in dynamic range kind of thing either.

The disc is making all of my speakers and headphones crackle no matter how loud I have it. It's crazy and totaly shitty.

hiddendriveways · Post by **hiddendriveways** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:37 am

What's shitty is that The White Stripes screwed Jim Diamond so hard. He produced their first two records, which go on to make millions of dollars, and they never give him a penny more than the $35 and hour he was paid.

http://www.vh1.com/news/articles/153444 ... ipes.jhtml

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:54 am

Rufer wrote:The disc is making all of my speakers and headphones crackle no matter how loud I have it. It's crazy and totaly shitty.

that's cause the crackle is ON the disc. they paid someone a lot of money to make it sound like that. awesome!

pedrohead · Post by **pedrohead** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:59 am

Rufer wrote:This is not even a reduction in dynamic range kind of thing either.

The disc is making all of my speakers and headphones crackle no matter how loud I have it. It's crazy and totaly shitty.

i'm glad (well, not really "glad") that someone else thought the same thing. i was very close to taking my copy back to beast buy today and tell them that i got a bad copy or something.

this doesn't even sound like "linkin-park-mega-mastering" clipping/distortion, it just sounds like something's wrong. like they kept all the dynamic range of the music throughout, then just ran it through the roof at ONLY the final limiting stage.

makes it really tough to listen to.

runrunrun · Post by **runrunrun** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 12:02 pm

hiddendriveways wrote:What's shitty is that The White Stripes screwed Jim Diamond so hard. He produced their first two records, which go on to make millions of dollars, and they never give him a penny more than the $35 and hour he was paid.

http://www.vh1.com/news/articles/153444 ... ipes.jhtml

we dont need to go over this one again!!
http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopi ... im+diamond

Rufer · Post by **Rufer** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 12:26 pm

I think Warner Brothers is notorious for this kind of thing. None of the White Stripes previous records had this problem and this is their first on WB. I know the chili peppers, another WB product, had this exact problem for Californication (like reading Playboy for the articles, I listened for the Frusciante).

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 1:18 pm

who mastered it? anyone know?

chuckfurok · Post by **chuckfurok** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 1:21 pm

liner notes say Vlado Meller/Sony Mastering

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 1:35 pm

HA! that was my guess. vlad the impaler strikes again.

i believe mastering at sony is ~$500/hour. ponder that for a sec.

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:34 pm

Ponder the fact that Sony Mastering in NYC is going the way of the Dodo.

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:46 pm

indeed.

for some reason i think vlad is on the west coast though...but that could just be cause his name is forever linked with 'californication', and i am a simpleton.

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White Stripes--Icky Thump

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