[weib]

Just listened to Megadeth latest album, End game.
Horrible recording, extreme gain with little details...

Compared it to the albums of yesteryears, its a far cry for such a great band.
5 piece band become 2 piece - compressed soundstage and poor phasing..

[DragonFire]

Gain rules the stage these days. A sad sad story since much detail is lost in the process of increasing the amplitude.

DF

[weib]

Ya, many songs have got potential in that album.
But I just don't enjoy listening to it because of the recording -

Heres the A/B comparison

1990 - Hangar 18 and Tornado of souls

+ YouTube Video

+ YouTube Video

2009 - Headcrusher and this is how the story ends

+ YouTube Video

+ YouTube Video

[AsuraN]

any suggestions? lol, i've been so pissed at CDs i bought @$15.90

[xenontac]

Hi weib, what do you mean by high gain in laymen terms? Thanks.

[DragonFire]

Well, CDs of late have been getting louder and louder. Think of it as an attempt by the record companies to outshine each other.

Gain equates to volume. If you view a high gain audio file on a oscilloscope or simply by opening it in audio waveform editing software, you will find it to be very peaky versus a file with low gain.

A side effect of high gain in poorly recorded pieces is clipping, where the tip of the waveform becomes a flat line. Most pieces however are artificially manipulated to reform a natural peak. This presents itself as distortion or loss of quality when the piece is played on equipment transparent enough for the listener to discern the damage to the piece.

The record companies seem to forget the purpose of that piece of equipment we call the amplifier.

DF

This is a good read.

Loudness war - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edit: *oscilloscope, not spectrometer

[xenontac]

Originally Posted by DragonFire

Well, CDs of late have been getting louder and louder. Think of it as an attempt by the record companies to outshine each other.

Gain equates to volume. If you view a high gain audio file on a spectrometer or simply by opening it in audio waveform editing software, you will find it to be very peaky versus a file with low gain.

A side effect of high gain in poorly recorded pieces is clipping, where the tip of the waveform becomes a flat line. Most pieces however are artificially manipulated to reform a natural peak. This presents itself as distortion or loss of quality when the piece is played on equipment transparent enough for the listener to discern the damage to the piece.

The record companies seem to forget the purpose of that piece of equipment we call the amplifier.

DF

This is a good read.

Loudness war - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thanks for the very clear explanation and the link!

[soujiRo]

Originally Posted by DragonFire

The record companies seem to forget the purpose of that piece of equipment we call the amplifier.

Even simpler piece of equipment, the volume knob?

[duhduh]

Thanks for the informative link!!!

[noinimod]

Yea, that wiki article is really good (and sad at the same time). It's not just about music getting louder, it's the total loss of dynamics which is really what's most frustrating

[noobzpro]

wow megadeth fan rock on i got the megadeth greatest hits tats nice but yea i agree nowadays recoding sucks badly shud bring back companies lyk elektra they noe wat they're doing linkin park for example their new album cd sounds lyk freaking mp3 wtf man

[Entropy]

I LOLed at the post above mine.

Guys, check out Chesky produced albums. They are recorded with audiophiles in mind.