Got the CD today...and I have to say, I can't believe Metallica would allow an album that's mastered this badly to go to retail. It's THE most clipped, distorted, atrocious-sounding (audio quality-wise) album I have EVER heard in my life. I was hoping this was just a result of the crappy quality of the album leak, but it's just as bad on the actual CD. Good songs, infinitely better than St. Anger, a return to form for Metallica...and almost completely unlistenable due to the horrible mastering.
Shit, I was hoping I just had a bad quality version of The Day That Never Comes... Great, the drums are gonna cause my eardrums to give up and die.
Same Here. You'd think after all of the shit they got for St. Anger's production quality they wouldn't allow that to happen again. Granted it doesn't sound nearly as bad as that album, but I digress. Also... I read this review of the album where the writer spoke of how awesome it would've been if Andy Sneap would've mixed Death Magnetic, and I quite agree. Too late now.
Nothing sounds distorted to me. I mean, the drums are bad, but that's because Lars is lacking, IMO. But no, nothing sounds of low quality to me. I dunno.
Well I just bought it. Production on the drums still seems dodgy to me. Oh well, just started listening, to I'll post my thoughts later...
It sounds perfectly fine to me. It sounds like they went for a vintage sound on purpose. I dont think its a lack of mastering.
Haha oh wow I though that was just me. I'm getting it a bit, bit only when I listen with headphones. Not stopping me from enjoying the album though. Listened to it constantly since I bought it yesterday.
Waveform analysis of The Day That Never Comes: "Peak Amplitude" and "Possibly Clipped Samples" tell the story. That's from a direct lossless rip of the CD.
Clipping is when a waveform reaches a point of volume that causes the original sound to distort. Essentially, there are 255 instances of that one song being distorted in a way that could have been avoided with better mastering.
I'm going to wager they wanted it to sound "raw" but ended up with "shit" instead. Still an amazing album though, one of their best.
I really dont think they would let it through, unless it was on purpose. They arent that stupid. It gives the album a more classic feel, because it doesnt sound perfect. I honestly am not bothered by the clipping at all.
It's pretty fucking good anyway. Could've done with more softer songs, but I guess that's just me. Gonna be good to pump in my car XD