Legacy Edition too compressed?

[SN105475]

[Sludge Factory]

This is what digital compression looks like using Even Flow - Original, Remaster, and Remix.
FYI - Digial Compression does NOT make the loud parts quieter, the loud parts are limited at or just below 0db which you can clearly see in the Remix version because the green (the wave form) is almost a solid in the preview window meaning every piece of the track has had the volume increased dramatically to the point that if the volume wasn't limited, the entire song would be distorted from being too loud. The second set shows a spectral representation which shows that all frequencies above 19000-20000HZ were eliminated somewhere during the Remaster/Remix process, not so with the original.

Wave Form
http://home.comcast.net/~simms3/EvenOriginal1.PNG
http://home.comcast.net/~simms3/EvenRemaster1.PNG
http://home.comcast.net/~simms3/EvenRemix1.PNG

Spectral View
http://home.comcast.net/~simms3/EvenOriginal2.PNG
http://home.comcast.net/~simms3/EvenRemaster2.PNG
http://home.comcast.net/~simms3/EvenRemix2.PNG

Thanks for doing all that work and uploading this. It was nice to see the changes and I must say I'm surprised that the Remix version is louder than the Remaster of the original. I thought maybe Brendan was supposed to be there to make things sound good and I know if he was the original mixer on Ten back in 91 he wouldn't have been practicing the same techniques he just did on this "update".

Also, one of the best sounding albums I have is Soundgarden's Superuknown (mixed by Brendan) and Down on the Upside. I remember reading an article from back when these came out and the topic of them being so quiet compared to other current releases of time was brought up and the band's answer was this: "If it sounds good quiet we know it'll sound really good when the listener turns it up"

Key phrase: When the LISTENER turns it up.

[Black Circle Spin]

I wonder what song is being looked at in the gif? Even the 1993 levels were ok.

Hmm, maybe we could petition the band to give us FLAC versions of the vinyl mix...or a full dynamic mix.

I know, pretty unlikely. I should stop letting this bug me. With any other band I probably wouldn't care.

[Sludge Factory]

I wonder what song is being looked at in the gif? Even the 1993 levels were ok.

Hmm, maybe we could petition the band to give us FLAC versions of the vinyl mix...or a full dynamic mix.

I know, pretty unlikely. I should stop letting this bug me. With any other band I probably wouldn't care.

Yeah, that would be cool, but it would probably go the route it did when Metallica fans petitioned to get Metallica to release a full dynamic mix.

[Spencer]

On a related tangent, I know cd's are 320 kbps, and that lossless audio is 1411kbps, digitally speaking.

CD audio is lossless, I can assure that it's not 320 kbps.

[BinFrog]

On a related tangent, I know cd's are 320 kbps, and that lossless audio is 1411kbps, digitally speaking.

CD audio is lossless, I can assure that it's not 320 kbps.

CD audio is 100% not true lossless. It's digital. By nature, no matter what you do, it has audio degredation.

BUT

You are right, unless the source is 320, you can do way better than 320.

44.1 kHz X 16 bit X 2 channels = 1,411 kbps

[DewieCox]

Why has flac become the standard as far as high quality digital files, when wav files are already on the cd?

[BinFrog]

Why has flac become the standard as far as high quality digital files, when wav files are already on the cd?

Because Flac is essentially as "lossless" as wav, but a bit smaller in size.

[moho]

It is not as horribly blatant as Death magnetic, which I can't listen to. However it is quite compressed and is difficult to listen to for long periods of time. The vinyl version, however, sounds fantastic in my opinion.

[goo]

so in conclusion, what are most people that have contributed to this thread trying to say? that a lot of us have wasted $140? a lot of us are still waiting for our chance to hear these remixes and are looking forward to enjoying them, so why try to ruin the anticipation?

[Tillbe]

The funny thing about Death Magnetic, is that along with the album release it got released as an album download for Guitar Hero (just as Ten is doing for Rock Band), and that horrible compression was NOT present in the Guitar Hero version of the mix, it actually sounds great, so some kind soul out there ripped the tracks from Guitar Hero in FLAC and distributed them amongst the net where I feel if you had bought that ungodly abomination of an album from retail you have every right to seek out and download the GH version, it sounds miles ahead of the copy from store shelves, cause it has, you know, dynamics lol.

[UpSideDown]

i will wait until i listen to the set before I form any opinions on this.........

i find it very hard, if not impossible, to believe that they went through all of this work only to butcher the sound quality of the remix.

[Spencer]

i will wait until i listen to the set before I form any opinions on this.........

i find it very hard, if not impossible, to believe that they went through all of this work only to butcher the sound quality of the remix.

Look, nobody's saying they've "butchered" or completely ruined it.

It still sounds really good - it's just really loud, very much a modern mastering (see some of the links earlier if you want to get a good idea of what we're talking about). It becomes very fatiguing to the ears over long periods of time as the quiet bits are really loud and the loud bits are total, super god-head loud.

The vinyl supposedly sounds great, so I'm thrilled about that.

If anyone thinks we're crapping on the quality of what the band produced, etc. then probably isn't the thread for you. It's a discussion of what happened when the mastering engineer got his hands on the mix - AFTER the band and Brendan had finished with it. I'm sure the label probably pushing for a loud, modern rock master to compete with something like "Death Magnetic" in the volume stakes, and they got it.

[goo]

no, I get it. I'm no sound engineer, but I do have an ear for things like this I guess. even when I listened to the tracks that were remixed for the "rearviewmirror" greatest hits back in 2004, "Black" in particular, the mix just seemed like a wall when turned up loud. it was just in your face loud, and not more "spaced out" like a surround sound mix. but it doesn't really bother me. I still think it's pretty raw and more like what Pearl Jam should sound like. I'm sure the new remixed CD will sound fine to casual listeners, because people who do sound engineering professionally have the blessing AND the curse of hearing what's right and wrong with a mix right away.

[jmk]

I did some research on the internet about Bob Ludwig, who apparently mastered both the CDs and vinyls in the super deluxe package. (Don't know about Drop in the Park, haven't received my Super deluxe set, yet).

I've understood that he's practically one of the most respected and best guys out there and has done some great masters e.g. Led Zeppelin II.

You can check an interview with him at this address:

http://mixonline.com/mixline/bobludwig_ ... view_0912/

and a short version: http://www.gloriousnoise.com/links/2009 ... s_wars.php

it's interesting to read that Guns N' Roses chose [""the full dynamics version" as opposed to the "loudness-for-loudness-sake versions"] for Chinese Democracy. I wonder if Ludwig also gave Pearl Jam the option of a "full dynamics version" of the new Ten Remix CD or did he just do "the full dynamics versions" of the two or four vinyls? Would be very interesting to hear who made the decisions about the loudness levels of these new versions.

As I yet haven't heard the new remixes on vinyl (yes, that's the first thing I will listen to when I receive the box ), I certainly believe they sound great. It's too bad someone made the decision to compress the CDs too much, but thank god we have vinyl and thank god Pearl Jam prefer vinyl. (Maybe they thought we wanted loud, compressed CD:s for the car and to rip mp3s to the iPod)?

Check out http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/ ... _mp3/print
where you can read about the return of the vinyl and where it's pointed out that "Ludwig, like others, does separate mastering sessions for CDs and LPs".