Blender Interviews Lars On Death Magnetic Sound Quality

Blender was able to speak to Lars Ulrich and directly ask about Death Magnetic's sound quality, but sadly, he just isn't seeing it. The H-Man's take:

Of course it sounds good on a car stereo. The music was mixed to be the background in your life. Cars inherently are noisy, so it's much more difficult to pick up the distortion that's going on underneath the music. It sounds fine on my car stereo too. No matter what extra crap is happening around you, the music is just pumping along at loud volumes and it's hard to notice unless you know what to look for. If I was in the car with Lars, however, I'd be able to point out to him which parts suck, thus, he'd have a harder time ducking the issue.

It's too bad Lars probably hasn't listened to the Guitar Hero mix. If he had it, and cranked it up, even he'd hear how much more dynamic it is. The GH mix has punch, detail, plus very little haze and fuzzy distortion artifacts, compared to the CD and vinyl versions.

And of course Lars had to throw ...And Justice For All into the argument, which proves he doesn't understand our grievance. The Justice issue is a case of production. The guitars and drums are thin, and the bass is too low in the mix. But that was a production choice by Flemming Rasmussen that ended up not working out. In terms of sound quality, that album sounds great. You can crank the volume on a stereo, radio, whatever, and it comes alive. No extraneous artifacts or noise that makes the album grating. If Metallica had kept the volume level of Death Magnetic the same as it is on Justice, no one would be complaining.

So people out in 'Net land: don't let Lars try to convince you that the people complaining about Justice is comparable. It's not. Different type of problem. Production choices (Justice) vs. mixing problems (Magnetic). Apples and oranges.

I contend the mixing problems are problems, not choices. They could've made the mix loud and "in your face" without causing distortion if someone took more care to watch that the levels weren't bleeding into the red.

Metallica Reps Start to Defend Sound Quality

The Wall Street Journal is reporting on the Death Magnetic sound controversy, and has gotten Metallica's manager, Cliff Burnstein, on the record saying the people complaining are a "tiny minority".

It isn't the news fans wanted to hear, but at least it's a little refreshing that this issue is finally getting tackled by Metallica's management. The answer is no surprise though. If they admit the quality is less than perfect, then they would have to do something about it. And why bother saying anything is wrong if the album is still selling like crazy?

Frank Zappa's Widow to Sue Apple?

I found this article stating that Frank Zappa's widow is unhappy with the quality of his music catalog via iTunes. Granted: the bitrate iTunes generally uses isn't that great. But, considering that a lot of the items in his catalog have been remastered, could the problem actually lie within the remastering, which may be squeezing the dynamic range and life out of the songs before they hit Apple's store?

Will Guitar Hero Save Death Magnetic?

News of Guitar Hero's mix of Death Magnetic being of better quality than the CD or vinyl has now hit mainstream. Yahoo has it on their front page, and Rolling Stone has an article as well.

Some people on the Metallica forums have asked the question, "Why did no one notice this before the record went to mass duplication?" My guess: someone did know. And they ignored it.

Any reader of Band Chat knows I've been complaining about the Loudness War for some time. This is not news. Almost every CD released today is a victim to it to some degree. The issue has got some attention as of late, but the general public has mostly ignored it. So record companies have continued to punish us with this garbage. And they felt, once again, that only the audiophiles, a very small minority, would be upset with Death Magnetic.

So what was the difference this time? A direct comparison to something obviously better: the Guitar Hero mix. Metallica, in their infinite business savvy way, managed to release the album for Guitar Hero the same day the CD went on sale. Up until that day, even though the mp3 releases were unsatisfactory, most Metallica fans were uneducated and stated there was no issue. That changed once release day hit, because any fan that wasn't deaf could easily tell which version sounded better.

So now the band has a real problem on their hands, and for the sake of their reputation, I hope they address the issue publicly soon. DVDs and CDs have been recalled before, so will Metallica do the right thing and offer a trade-in?

Death Magnetic Via Guitar Hero

It looks like news that the version of Death Magnetic for Guitar Hero is of higher quality than the CD version is spreading far and wide. At least two fans have gone to town furiously recording the Guitar Hero tracks and spreading them around as mp3 and flac files, and the response from listeners has been overwhelmingly positive. For weeks the Metallica forums have been spewing hate due to the sound quality of the CD, so it's good to instead see the community moving together for the common good.

What I've heard of the tracks is astounding. They are much lower in volume, have dynamic range, and the instruments don't fall into a mush when the band really kicks it into high gear. Not only that, but because the developers got this before the final master was created, their mix is a bit different in places. "The Judas Kiss" features a little laugh by James and layered vocals, "The End of the Line" has an extra chant of the title, and "Suicide & Redemption" has an intro bass line.

The lack of compression has at least one side effect I find undesirable. The riff James plays underneath Kirk's solo in "Day" is not nearly as loud as the CD and vinyl version. I really like the machine gun attack feel, and that's definitely muted via Guitar Hero.

But the overall sound is miles above the standard versions. This goes a long way to prove that the original, separate tracks are fairly clean, and that the majority of volume spiking was introduced during the mixing phase. Maybe Metallica should hire Neversoft to produce the final mix and master for their follow-up record. Or they could be all cutting edge, Trent Reznor style, and simply release the original Death Magnetic tracks to the public for the fans to remix as they see fit (a la nin's Ghosts and The Slip).

Death Magnetic, a Review

So much for all the talk about the sound quality. Back to what matters: the music itself.

Death Magnetic has been a long time coming, and I was convinced it was going to be terrible. YouTube videos of new material, so aptly titled "The New Song" and "The Other New Song" had me scared. A plod fest and a Misfits rip-off...is this all you guys can muster?

But after what feels like an eternity, the new album is now here, and I say it is good. Very, very good. After all these years of being disappointed (at least fifteen), I'm amazed that Metallica had it in them to make an album like this.

Death Magnetic is full of details. I find the record to be a mix of ...And Justice For All and "The Black Album". Songs like "The Judas Kiss" and "All Nightmare Long" are long and strung together with many Justice type riffs, but they have a catchiness that reminds of their '91 chart topper. If there's any part that strikes one as being "off", just wait two seconds, and another new riff will back it up. James Hetfield outdid himself with his rhythm playing: it's tight, precise, under control, and heavy.

Some coolness examples: the riff at 3:49 of "Broken, Beat & Scarred", and the way it leads into the solo, plus the riffage after the solo, is classic thrash Metallica. Also note the speedy riff after the solo in the aforementioned "Nightmare" (5:21). Their galloping/chuggy riffs are back as well (4:47 in "That Was Just Your Life" into the solo...again, very Justice-y). Iron Maiden/Thin Lizzy lead harmonies are sprinkled throughout. The guys have a lot of memorizing to do for their new tour.

Lars Ulrich does a decent job drumming. I especially like the work in "The End of the Line". There's something about some of his patterns that's reminding me of some of his technical prowess he showed off in the late 80s, with a bit of timing flair I found in their "Fuel" single.

Sadly you can barely hear the bass. Every now and then it shows up, like in the beginning of "Broken, Beat & Scarred", but for the most part, er, exactly why do they say Rob Trujillo made such great contributions? If this is true, let me hear them!

Kirk Hammett's soloing is quite good, and he amazes me with his Satriani-ness in "Suicide & Redemption". His guitar work on this is beyond awesome; he threw every trick he knows into this tune. At 10 minutes, it's a hell of a long instrumental, but it's just heavenly for the musicians in all of us. I love the crazy Rush inspired progressive jam that occurs a smidge after the solo ends (8:06 to 8:42). The middle noody bit (3:39) reminds of "Orion", which is never a bad thing.

Hetfield does sing on this album, but he's been doing this since '91, so what can you do. He does yell in key as well, and at least we got a real 100% yell-fest in "My Apocolypse", which is my favorite song on the album.

The only number that flops for me for right now is "The Unforgiven III". I like the beginning moodiness (even though there's something about the very beginning which almost goes off the rails into a Pink Floyd "Atom Heart Mother Suite" jam). The rest is sort of blah "Unforgiven"-ish territory, although I do like the quiet break leading up to the solo ("Forgive me...forgive me not," croons James), which explodes with noise before turning into a wah fest for the second half.

"The Unforgiven III," plus some weirder bits at times in other songs, makes the album 10% meh. Which makes it 90% r0ck. At $9-10 this weekend at most stores, it's a must buy. It's not perfect, but if you were a Metallica fan at any point in their powerful years, you'll remember why you liked this band so much. I do personally believe they tried on their last disc, St. Anger, but while that album was a failure, this is a success. With U2 not releasing their new disc until 2009, I think you'll be hard pressed to find a better album this year. Eet Fuk!

Death Magnetic's Sound: the Scoop

I am now the proud owner of Death Magnetic in mp3, CD, and two LP vinyl form, and have come to some conclusions.

First, the retail CD is beyond loud. But for a CD being so loud, it's listenable. Yes, there is a layer of distortion that sits like a haze when the instruments really get cranking, but the sound guys were somehow still able to get some space between the instruments. The drums sound crisp most of the time. It's only when things get really crankin' that they, plus the vocals, recede in the mix, and the guitar tone suffers. I should be used to this: Metallica just has never been about the best sound.

The two LP vinyl set: it's a nice package, but don't expect miracles from it. By nature of it being quieter, and warmer, you can push the volume more without it feeling shrill. And I think the drums for "The Day That Never Comes" sound really nice on my stereo for the quieter parts. I've always felt, for whatever reason, that a good piece of vinyl on my stereo has more punch than a CD.

That being said, the distortion is still there. It's easier to take, but it's still there. We get a more pleasing experience because it's vinyl, but it doesn't change the loudness that was introduced during recording and mixing. This was confirmed by Ted Jensen, the disc's mastering engineer. When asked about the issues, he replied:

"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 it 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."

Forgetting the distortion for a moment, the album's biggest problem (no matter what format you buy) is that there's no dynamics. So the loud part of "Day" is just as loud as the quiet. Furthermore, in all of these songs, near the end where they really start jamming, you get a wall of sound effect.

Is it as bad as Rush's Vapor Trails? Hrm, probably not. That album really suffers in the drum department. Here, most of the time, Ulrich's drums are very easily heard. The stereo separation is pretty good overall. It actually astounds me that the album is this loud and it sounds as good as it does. They wanted this album to "rock" by being in your face, but I do believe they pushed it. Thus: distortion, fuzz, and haze that lives underneath the instruments.

So here's my advice: if you have a turntable, get the vinyl, because by the nature of it you're going to get something that's less harsh than the CD. But don't expect the sound to turn into something miraculously open and full of hidden nuances. If you want something closer to that feel by Rubin, get an unremastered copy of The Cult's Electric: that album has this production style, yet is very open and very clear. The fact is that they shoved the volume on Death Magnetic so it would be purposely intrusive ("Hear my me-TAL roar!"), and it is, whether you have the vinyl or CD.

The downloadable mp3 files are a bit quieter, which also has a pleasing effect, even though they still have haze. Someone over at Metallica HQ is trying to solve the problem, but it's a mostly futile effort since the problem is in the recording.

Metalli-Friday Is Here

Today is Death Magnetic's official release day, and it will be historical. Partly for the music itself, which is very, very good, but mostly because of the sound quality issues people (including me) have been obsessing over. My latest observations:

Today I got the 320 kbps mp3 files from my Mission: Metallica Platinum account and they are absolutely lower in volume, and, in my estimation, a bit less distorted than the "Day" CD single I have from Hot Topic. I can tell in Hetfield's guitar tone - it's smoother at times because it doesn't have the extra distortion. I suspect the full CD will be at the louder volume of the CD single. If I'm not crazy, the engineering folks realized they pushed the CD too hot, and have compensated for it in the downloadable files. They are by no means perfect, but a little better is still better.

A guy on the Metallica forums swears up and down that the 2 LP vinyl set has no distortion. He insists, "It's no Vapor Trails." Considering what I discovered about the mp3 download, I have hope. It's tough to really judge this stuff, because they all differ in volume.

Although it sort of kills me to do so, I will undoubtedly spent the $10 on the full CD (pretty much the going price everywhere) and $15 on the 2 piece vinyl (Best Buy's price) to hear for myself. I refuse to buy the uber fanboy 5 piece $100+ vinyl set. That money is ridiculous, and who wants to get up nine times to flip the sides?

So if my suppositions hold true, I'll have wasted $10 on the CD, because it'll probably be better quality to simply master the downloadable 320 kbps mp3 files to CD myself. If only they had released them as FLAC...

Sound Curve: "The Day That Never Comes"

Ever since Metallica's Death Magnetic got leaked last week by the French, the forums have been buzzing about whether the sound quality of the CD is as bad as we audio nuts say it is. I'm here to say that it is.

It is isn't sufficient to analyze the sound of leaked .wma files, so I went out and purchased the CD single for "The Day That Never Comes" from Hot Topic, ripped it to a .wav file, and looked at it in Sound Forge. Two snapshots are here and here.

It's, as I figured, a brick wall. Even more bizarre is the second picture. That's the last portion of the song, where distortion is very noticeable to even an untrained ear. You can see the squared off peaks instead of it being round. What's truly hideous is that it looks like after they were clipped, someone then scaled the volume back.

They're playing hanky-panky over there at the record company, and the listeners are the ones who suffer.