Death Compressed

Back in the 80s, when multi-disc CD changers with the shuffle control became commonplace, the volume wars started in earnest. See, you don’t want your post-punk statement of rage to come on right behind a Paula Abdul track and not be as loud. The solution was to take the two-track stereo mix, from the studio, and compress all of the life out of it. It takes away dynamics but, makes the overall track louder.

Since then, this practice is rampant. Especially now that everybody is using the iPod as their first call device for the listening experience.

Now, Metallica is coming under fire for the squashed mix on their new album “Death Magnetic”.

A lot of fans have been claiming that the mixes available for the Guitar Hero game sound better than the CD version. My first thought was; that’s what happens when you pass around an unfinished track. People get used to the earlier mix and reject the final product even when it is superior. It seems a little more serious than that though.

MusicRadar has this quote from Ted Jensen who was responsible for the mastering. Oh yeah, this first appeared on a Metallica forum where fans were complaining about digital clipping. Anyway Ted Jensen, the mastering guy says…

“I’m certainly sympathetic to your reaction, I get to slam my head against that brick wall every day. In this case the mixes were already brick-walled before they arrived at my place. Suffice to say I would never be pushed to overdrive things as far as they are here.

“Believe me I’m not proud to be associated with this one, and we can only hope that some good will come from this in some form of backlash against volume above all else.”

The term “brick-walled” means roughly that it was already at the loudest possible level. So, this is pretty damning stuff directed at Rick Rubin, who produced the record. If it’s actually coming from Ted Jensen.

Ian Sheperd, himself a mastering guy and, author of the Mastering Media Blog, found this quote attributed to Chris Athens, a colleague of Ted Jensen.

Rick Rubin and Metallica are solely responsible for the end product. They gave the directions, they approved it. They are not rookies and no one at the label can ever bully these guys into anything. Both parties are 800 pound gorillas in the music industry. These guys are smart and in control. You and I may not like their taste, but it’s not a Chris Athens record. It’s a metallica record and this is what they want to give the record buying public. Only Metallica and Rick know why it sounds like it does.

Ian has also taken the Guitar Hero version and the CD version and analyzed the waveforms.

The one on top is the Guitar Hero version and the CD version is below. It’s obvious that the Guitar Hero version is a fuzzier pickle which means, it has more dynamic peaks and valleys. Or as Ian puts it…

In comparison, the released CD version is – to coin a technical phrase – smashed to f**k.

This more volume pissing contest has been going on for a long time but, it’s interesting that the fans, the consumers are finally weighing in. There is even an online petition to get the album re-mixed and re-mastered. If you wish to sign up, click here.