Comments on: Lars Ulrich Still Not Really Into Getting Feedback From People Online

By: Link building

Link building — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 02:33:22 +0000

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By: Yuette Reining

Yuette Reining — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 19:12:08 +0000

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By: Reidicus

Reidicus — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 05:06:58 +0000

It occurs to me now, that a mid-90s song containing one of my favorite moments: the huge initial guitar wallop in Hum’s “Stars,” wouldn’t even be POSSIBLE with today’s mastering fashions. The quiet build-up would be just as loud as the big hit, rendering the whole thing punchless.

By: bburl

bburl — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:48:10 +0000

@ Lax Danja House: Then why release an audiophile version that's not audiophile if not to scam certain fans?

And the the crux of the loudness war is degrading audio merely so it stands out during ipod shuffle play, which means a generation of audio is being created that is much less than optimal. Because to stand out today, a record has to be REALLY FUCKING L-O-U-D!!!!! Maybe one day you'll have a nice stereo($1000 or so) and want to listen to your favourite bands and hear just what I'm talking about. It's not about smoothed out dynamics, or compression per se (which are fine). It's about marked degradation, clipping, continual distortion, and hyper-compression.

By: NeverEnough

NeverEnough — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:16:22 +0000

@Reidicus: Good point.

I finally heard the new Metallica CD. The sound truly is awful.

By: Kodiak

Kodiak — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:54:00 +0000

Where’s his hair going? :-)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:46:41 +0000

@Lax Danja House: Not sure that Metallica is making it exactly the way they want it -- I'd be inclined to think their record label had quite a bit of influence on this record.

By: Lax Danja House

Lax Danja House — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:36:03 +0000

@bburl: Well it's great that you have such a high opinion of yourself, but the fact remains: audiophiles are no more important than the band's millions of other fans. Metallica are fully entitled to use modern technology to make their product exactly the way they want it, and it's slightly bizarre to suggest that they should make any extra effort not to offend the sensibilities of an audiophile minority.

By: T'Challa

T'Challa — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 04:25:05 +0000

@bburl: Well said. And the facts of that last paragraph are just sad and really lame of Metallica. What's worse, you know that at some point they'll actually remaster it and release it for some inflated rate that enough people will buy to make it profitable. And Lars will be another fucking expensive painting and life goes on...

By: bburl

bburl — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 04:09:31 +0000

Of course Lars doesn't hear a difference, the guy is a heavy metal drummer whose been doing concerts for 25 years. I'd be surprised if he can hear the difference between mono and stereo.

And he doesn't care about the way the record sounds to other people. It's a product, not art, and the bottom line isn't artistic integrity, it's sales. So if clipping, and distortion, and general sonic inferiority sell more units, then it's all good.

As far as the average person not knowing or caring, I'm reminded of George Carlin who said "Think of how stupid the average person is, then realize half of the population is stupider than that." Kinda explains George Bush and death magnetic style mastering.

What is disappointing is Metallic put out a $125 5 record set specifically for audiophiles, then used the crap cd premaster. Which basically tells the fans who want to hear it in the best possible light, 'fu and we're keeping your money'.

By: Lax Danja House

Lax Danja House — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:11:21 +0000

I think he is right in the fact that most people genuinely don’t care/notice the difference. It sounds niggly to me, but I listen to an awful lot of music- most of the people I’ve talked to about it had no idea there even was a controversy.

By: nonce

nonce — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:50:24 +0000

@Kodiak: Lars rocks so hard that sometimes he rocks his hair right off. He'll have an assistant catch and reattach it before the encore.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:20:34 +0000

Right, and other bands ARE listening to online criticisms and NOT
making their albums loud because of what online people think? Get
over yourselves. Yes the album is loud and that’s not a good thing,
but it’s not like Metallica is the only band doing that thing –
they’re just the one that people pick on because it’s, well, Metallica.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:34:05 +0000

Seriously, what did you expect this douchebag to say?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:26:18 +0000

I don't care how seminal it is: ...and Justice for All is the sound of soggy cornflakes.