Pribek

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.

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I woke to the pleasing but ominous sound of freezing rain on the roof at 4:30 this morning. No worries though, temp is supposed to be up around 40 later today.

I have a tentative (weather permitting) meeting with Bill Dees this afternoon. We’ve mixed the record and the next step is to send it off to mastering. The mastering process is very mysterious.

One thing we have to do, before sending the record away to the mastering guy, is decide on a track sequence. Right now, they are in the order that we recorded them. Everybody is used to hearing them in that order, at this point. But, is that the order they need to be in? Who knows? It’s really a crap shoot. There are 14 songs and the number of possible combinations is mind numbing. I’m no math wiz but I know it’s a big number. So, out of these Quadrabagazillion possible sequences; what are the chances that, by using some mysterious combination of logic and emotion, by committee, that we arrive at the perfect sequence? In the end, you would have just as much of a chance drawing the names out of a hat.

There are several methods of going about this task; here are some usual suspects. One is to, “try and tell a story” with the order of the songs. Tie them together in some sequence in which a “main character” goes through a series of events and the whole thing comes to some satisfactory conclusion. Now, if you started out thinking this way; if you went in to the recording process with a batch of songs that had a story line, maybe this would work. Otherwise, it never works. Because, there isn’t a real story there. If by Divine intervention there somehow was a cognizant plot line, there would be four slow songs in a row, or something like that. But, even though I know that, it doesn’t mean we won’t try it.

The next one is to think like you would if you were putting together a live set list. Through the years, I have heard about a billion different “fool proof” formulas for putting together a set list. Most of them involve avoiding placing songs in the same key or tempo back to back. The problem with this kind of thinking is that the listener is in a different environment than a club or concert hall and a sequence that appears clever at a show, sometimes comes off as drastic on a record.

Then there are a myriad of rules of thumb that are left over from the days of vinyl such as; the title track should be first, the title track should be last, start the side with a fast one-end the side with a slow one. Then you have the logic that says; “Put your best effort first”. Well, they’re all great, all brilliant; that’s why we made a CD. How do we know which one’s the best? I might like this one best but, somebody else…who knows.

At some point, a magic, golden sequence will be decided. Later, folks who actually buy the CD will put it into their multi CD changer or, load it on to their iPods and hit shuffle.

Anyway, back on track, sequence then “Mastering”. Mastering, to most recording artists, is a mysterious and distant land where there is a good chance that their record, which they have put their heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears into, will be ruined-just ruined. You can understand why sending a record off to the mastering lab would make an artist nervous. If you were a painter, how would you feel about sending your artwork “away” to a “lab” to let someone else put the finishing touches on it?

What is mastering? See, it’s one of those things that differs from project to project. But, a simple answer would go something like this; Mastering is a process in which equalization and overall compression is added to a finished mix. Mastering is tweaking. It can turn out bad, for sure. It can be like trying to even up your mustache or shortening a table leg. Conversely, mastering done well, can take your record to a whole new level.

Mastering is having another set of ears, professional ears, give your hard work a final say.

Nowadays, with everybody making records on their computers, in their spare bedrooms, a lot of what you hear has not been properly mastered. Software, plug-ins to master your own project are readily available and cheap. You get what you pay for. The old saying is’ “Doing your own mastering is like doing your own dental surgery”. A real mastering guy has gear that is specific to mastering and a plug-in that you got for free with your software bundle is not going to compare in any way.

Hmmm…turned into a bit of a rant there. I’m mentally prepping myself I guess. Just where my head is at this morning-sequencing-mastering. Then it’s over, all is well. Except for, artwork, liner notes, replication, shopping for a label, distribution, promotion………