The new VH album sounds horrid through headphones.

[Nitro Express]

I'm listening to the new VH album through a very expensive pair of Grado Labs headphones and it sounds very thin and lifeless. Of course this tends to be the problem with most digitally recorded music but this album is especially bad. I can beef if up running it through my tube amps and speakers but straight from a digital playing device into a very nice set of headphones it has no beef.

[VanCanHalen]

try some $9.99 sony in ears that should do the trick......:biggrin:

[Southpaw]

This album sounds kick ass on my JVC earbuds on my Ipod....

[neuralfraud]

The reason it sounds horrid through your headphones is because it is horrid.

There, I said it.

The production sucks.

It's so fucking brickwalled that everything is just smashed together. NOTHING stands out on its own.

The mix is lifeless and the sound is thin. The drums have NO PUNCH. The snare doesn't pop. The kick doesn't kick.

An example of PUNCH: Girl Gone Bad "She don't work for free..." listen to the toms.
8497

You can clearly see above where the toms come in. They're the loudest part of the track, but only for milliseconds at a time. The result is that they pop out of the mix. 1984 is actually a very GOOD sounding album.

When I listen to any of the 6 pack, I can turn my (car) stereo up to about 45 (out of 50) comfortably and the sound is lively, and more importantly, it doesn't hurt my ears. When I listen to ADKOT I have to turn it down to 20 because my ears are fucking ringing in 5 minutes.

Listen to the solo in STW... the bass sounds like it's distorting.. that may be.. oh wait, it is.
She's the woman.. they don't mix 'em like they used to...
8496

When a wave is abruptly "clipped" flat, the resulting sound is distortion. In this case, it's only scantly behind Death Magnetic in so far as audible distortion.

unfortunately it's difficult to know for sure where the compression was put into the mix... during recording or during mixing?

How many more years do we have to suffer through this ear-damaging bullshit? If they ever issue a remaster, it should be left to a professional mix engineer and NO PERSON WHO DOES THIS TO A WORK OF MUSIC CAN BE CONSIDERED A PROFESSIONAL IN MY EYES.

I have to believe that it was ROSS HOGARTH who let this happen. Even the self-mixed recordings eddie did were never compressed and could easily be fixed with some EQ.

I LOVE this album, but it literally hurts me to listen to it. What's the fucking point of listening to VH if you can't blast it?

[Green Manalishi]

Man , I gotta disagree . It sounds loud and clear on my Pioneer system in my truck . Sonic and bombastic as hell . It just fills my cab space .

[Panamark]

Sounds fine through my BOSE headphones. :)

Maybe they are shit headphones and counteract the compression.

I listened to 1984 on the same setup just out of curiosity.
I think the new album sounds better.

Maybe the vinyl will be mastered differently and appease even the most
discerning ears. Cos we can definately record from vinyl !

[NATEDOG001976]

Umm...

The Bose Ear buds sound awesome, so does the new CD.

[vh rides again]

Im no audiophile but it sounds great through my 20 dollar earphones.

I do notice a lot of distortion at high levels on my home theatre system, the bass sounds up and down at times in the same song.

There is not much pounding through the sub like I on other vh albums either.

[tjvhou812]

I listen thru my turtle beach headphones and it sounds killer

[VanHalenI]

i dont know if you're listening the new album through your calculator or whatever... but to my earphones this shit sound good! actually perfect!

[Fairwrning]

I agree with Neauralfraud 100%...I played Foo Fighters " Wasting Light" and ADKOT back to back same settings and volume..no comparison..Foos record sounds much better..Hell..original 6 sound much better...still love the CD tho..

[SNIPER]

Change the battery.

[SNIPER]

My new high end Ford Fusion has a beefy system and ADKOT sounds a little boomy. But thats what settings are for. Learn your system.

[Nitro Express]

The reason it sounds horrid through your headphones is because it is horrid.

There, I said it.

The production sucks.

It's so fucking brickwalled that everything is just smashed together. NOTHING stands out on its own.

The mix is lifeless and the sound is thin. The drums have NO PUNCH. The snare doesn't pop. The kick doesn't kick.

An example of PUNCH: Girl Gone Bad "She don't work for free..." listen to the toms.
8497

You can clearly see above where the toms come in. They're the loudest part of the track, but only for milliseconds at a time. The result is that they pop out of the mix. 1984 is actually a very GOOD sounding album.

When I listen to any of the 6 pack, I can turn my (car) stereo up to about 45 (out of 50) comfortably and the sound is lively, and more importantly, it doesn't hurt my ears. When I listen to ADKOT I have to turn it down to 20 because my ears are fucking ringing in 5 minutes.

Listen to the solo in STW... the bass sounds like it's distorting.. that may be.. oh wait, it is.
She's the woman.. they don't mix 'em like they used to...
8496

When a wave is abruptly "clipped" flat, the resulting sound is distortion. In this case, it's only scantly behind Death Magnetic in so far as audible distortion.

unfortunately it's difficult to know for sure where the compression was put into the mix... during recording or during mixing?

How many more years do we have to suffer through this ear-damaging bullshit? If they ever issue a remaster, it should be left to a professional mix engineer and NO PERSON WHO DOES THIS TO A WORK OF MUSIC CAN BE CONSIDERED A PROFESSIONAL IN MY EYES.

I have to believe that it was ROSS HOGARTH who let this happen. Even the self-mixed recordings eddie did were never compressed and could easily be fixed with some EQ.

I LOVE this album, but it literally hurts me to listen to it. What's the fucking point of listening to VH if you can't blast it?

You nailed it! Everything is smashed together. Too compressed. Al's snare should really sound like a hollow log and Wolfies bass is so smashed in with the drums it sounds like part of the drum kit. I've never heard Al sound so boring. I've tried to fix things in the EQ but it just boosts the compression either way. There are no dynamics in the production. They needed Eddie Kramer or someone of that caliber to mix this album down.

Shit. The band sounds better over someone's cell phone. LOL!

The only way to make this album sound good is too run it through a tube amp through about four sets of speaks placed around the room and crank it. You have to play it like a fucking rap album.

[neuralfraud]

Nailed it. Not much bass pounding through the subs. There probably is, the problem is relatively speaking, the rest of the mix is so much louder that it really is tough to distinguish.

You guys are welcome to hold your opinions and for those of you who think it sounds great, I'm happy for you.


Im no audiophile but it sounds great through my 20 dollar earphones.

I do notice a lot of distortion at high levels on my home theatre system, the bass sounds up and down at times in the same song.

There is not much pounding through the sub like I on other vh albums either.

[neuralfraud]

And you know.. some people like budweiser. We know it's carbonated mule piss but that doesn't stop anyone from liking it. Clearly even at the DLR Army we are still in the minority!

///enjoying a yuengling.

[SNIPER]

BUT, A and B it with the last half dozen VHagar albums (if you dare) I am beyond happy with it.

[Zing!]

So far the only thing that sounds out of whack with the recording on my stereo is Alex's hi-hat. There are a few moments where it hurts the ears - the beginning jam of Beats Workin' for sure. Sticks out like a sore thumb - otherwise I really have no complaints with the recording.

[SNIPER]

You can always adjust a beefy album. A thin week production you can't do shit with.

[SNIPER]

So far the only thing that sounds out of whack with the recording on my stereo is Alex's hi-hat. There are a few moments where it hurts the ears - the beginning jam of Beats Workin' for sure. Sticks out like a sore thumb - otherwise I really have no complaints with the recording.

Alex is doing those hi-hat riding beets a lot on this record like he does on FW. And he always does a lot of rides on his crash. I for one dig it.

[SNIPER]

In a perfect world there would be noting to bitch about. In my little bubble world I have a new VH record and I have nothing to complain about as far as that goes. The world is perfect to me at the moment. :bananna:

[SNIPER]

Sorry for all the posts. Had a few Chili Bombs. :gulp: I am getting my pull tonight and waiting for first show updates and vids. I can't wait to see a GGB vid!! One of my favorite VH tunes.

[BITEYOASS]

Sounds just fine through my Altec Lansing earbuds.

[SunisinuS]

The POP on the first part of "As Is" is an example of mis-applied compression. NF has a point. There are some redeeming parts though....as in "Blood and Fire", but I agree...if I was in charge....would have mixed it differently. Do miss the perfect Snare sound of Alex on this record.

[neuralfraud]

Stunning... I could listen to this guy for hours.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EgamkLkXW8

[Luke D]

So far the only thing that sounds out of whack with the recording on my stereo is Alex's hi-hat. There are a few moments where it hurts the ears - the beginning jam of Beats Workin' for sure. Sticks out like a sore thumb - otherwise I really have no complaints with the recording.

Same here. His hi-hat is rather sharp. Other than that, it sounds great to me.

[Nitro Express]

Nailed it. Not much bass pounding through the subs. There probably is, the problem is relatively speaking, the rest of the mix is so much louder that it really is tough to distinguish.

You guys are welcome to hold your opinions and for those of you who think it sounds great, I'm happy for you.

I have a 15 inch sub in it's own ported cab with 300 dedicated watts running it and can't get enough clear bass. I get a lot of thin mud. It sounds really bad. I mean you are right, the whole dynamics of 1984 blew me away, especially the bass tones of the drums. But that was Ted Templeman and Don Landee on old analog equipment pressing it to vynle. On my dad's six foot tall electrostatic speakers with a McIntosh 240 pushing them, it sounded fab!

The two VH albums that blew me away were Fair Warning and 1984. This new one has some good stuff. I think Blood and Fire is my favorite. Actually on the old songs, I liked the original lyrics better on most of those. I hope they make some good quality live recordings of this tour. They will be more exciting than the album is.

[Nitro Express]

Ok. I listened to it through some cheap $10 JVC headphones and it did improve the sound because they don't reproduce the sound spectrum like the expensive headphones do. My dad and brother were real audiophiles and both always said good equipment is not worth having if you have poor recordings. So true, it just shows the warts more. So go with the $10 headphones you buy at the check out isle at Ralph's or Fred Meyer. LOL!

[Nitro Express]

To be honest. Something is missing from this new album and it's making me realize just how perfect the original Van Halen structure was. Mike's back ground vocals would have made the songs better and Ted Templeman and Donn Landee would have made it sound thick, live and exciting instead of thin and lifeless. Without ALL the original ingredients, you go, gee this soup could use something more.

[Hardrock69]

Well, the main difference I noticed is that the early CVH albums left a lot of room for the songs to breathe. There is so much space in the mix you could drive a Ferrari through it.

This album, yes it is compressed a lot, but if the song arrangements were done like back in the day, there would be some breathing room.

So it is a "wall of sound" kind of mix. Listened to it again last night. And yes, after the sheen had worn off, I noticed it IS thin compared to what I would have done.

Hmmm.....I just happened to have a marvy idea....I may see if I can remaster the thing to give it more balls.....

[Nitro Express]

I think the best sound engineers to this day cut their teeth on four track recording. I'm amazed at what they did with just four tracks. Today it's so much easier with huge digital consoles and software but then that makes you sloppy. My dad graduated from college with an architecture degree and he said computers in many ways destroyed architecture because you can change plans real easy. When you had to hand draw them and it was a lot of work, you had to make things count more. He said just look at some of the stuff they did with just a drawing board and compare that to the computer age of architecture. You get the fucking Freedom Tower. LOL! I think he had a point there. It's usually better when you have to do it with less resources. Maybe the new engineers are just sloppy because they have so many tracks to work with and digital this and that. It seems to lose it's soul.

[Hummarstra]

I agree with Nitro and neuralfraud. But, I think one of the problems is simply the mix levels of each instrument. Someone really dropped the ball in that department, imho.

[ashstralia]

it's 2012. we all have the technology to optimise™ the listening experience.

i like further compressing it, and adding a small boost at 4k.

[Dave's Bitch]

I have a range of headphones at a range of prices,I think it sounds good through all of em

[vandeleur]

Yeah its sounds good thru my headphones when i run tho its not perfect but it still sounds kick ass. as for the hi hats the first few times i heard the middle 8 in blood and fire you know the forgotten empires bit it thru me totally i was like what happened there they totally come from no where but now i dont even notice them and still thinks the pick of the cd, tho that changes daily

[fwacf]

Sounds great coming out of my Jensen wood boxed speakers i made back in 83 for my old jeep....Sound great in MY HIGH END FUSION as well. Sound great when my wife has her thighs around my head at 2am!....BOTTOM LINE SOUNDS FUCKING AWESOME!

[ZahZoo]

What I've noticed... sounds fine with ear-buds, cheap headphones, etc when played thru a computer. Sounds decent on a good car system but you have to dial it up with no EQ at high volumes and most of the preset EQ's sound like mud.

It's a slammed to hilt compressed mix when you shift it over to a "real" sound system with real speakers. Rather than starting with a flat EQ with everything at 0... I had to bottom everything out and then just bring up little pieces of the EQ. Actually reducing most frequencies by 50% or more. Then it opened up a bit and breathed better... you could take it up in volume from there.

[vandeleur]

What I've noticed... sounds fine with ear-buds, cheap headphones, etc when played thru a computer. Sounds decent on a good car system but you have to dial it up with no EQ at high volumes and most of the preset EQ's sound like mud.

It's a slammed to hilt compressed mix when you shift it over to a "real" sound system with real speakers. Rather than starting with a flat EQ with everything at 0... I had to bottom everything out and then just bring up little pieces of the EQ. Actually reducing most frequencies by 50% or more. Then it opened up a bit and breathed better... you could take it up in volume from there.

Fuck that sounds complicated I just shoved it in the stereo and jumped about :biggrin:

[ELVIS]

I'm banking on the vinyl mastering being totally different dynamically...

It will have to be or the needle will jump right off if the tone arm is properly balanced...


:elvis:

[sadaist]

Sound great when my wife has her thighs around my head at 2am!....


Yeah, well I couldn't hear shit when she did that to me at 1am.


;)

[ZahZoo]

Fuck that sounds complicated I just shoved it in the stereo and jumped about :biggrin:

Well yeah... that's what I did the first 5 listens. Then when I had time and could crank it to concert levels in my home studio without getting kicked out of the house... I had to tweak with the sound a lot more to enjoy it.

This is a burden only if you're an audiophile fanatic or worked as an audio engineer like myself for over 30 years. It's taken me a long time and self-control to just throw something on and just push play... but I'm getting better at it... some days...

[vandeleur]

i totally get it dude am joshing with you .. it took me years to see a band without just watching the guitarist all night ... which is cool if its evh not so cool in some crappy bar if you know what i mean

[Bowanna]

My first impression of a few listens is the lows are to high and the vocals are to low. That seems to be my opinion on a lot of new hard rock/metal records now a days... I like my treble. Maybe I'm old and don't get it but I grew up listening to music analog recorded in a wood filled studio with musicians, producers and engineers that had to physically work at making something sound great. Computers have not helped the true sound of instruments and music as far as I'm concerned and the farther you get away from the originality of such things the less you're going to hear them.

[Bowanna]

these are the assholes responsible for mixing one of the most important records of the decade. my problem with the mix is it's just not consistent. Not only from song to song but it changes so noticeably from verse to pre-chorus to chorus to bridge to solo and back again. I feel it should be like a B-ball umpire... his calls could be great or they could suck but he HAS to be consistent through out the game. This record is NOT.

http://www.mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=151014

[Bowanna]

http://www.mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=151014

[Terry]

ADKOT doesn't sound as good on my headphones as it does in my car stereo, which isn't to say the headphone sound is horrible...I do notice that if I crank ADKOT too loud on the headphones everything tends to become muddled...more so than other cds I listen to on my headphones. If I keep the volume at 80%, it sounds fine on the phones.

[sinner's swing]

Sounds great to me with the earbuds, great on my pc, not so great in the car with factory stereo. It is odd, but I can deal with it.

[bigtrouble77]

The mix is shitty, there's too much compression, there's poor instrument separation, but the reality is that it's good enough. This is no "Death Magnetic" which sounded like it was played out of a tin can.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122228767729272339.html

If you don't know what those of us are talking about, then do yourself a favor and buy these headphones:
http://www.amazon.com/Koss-KSC75-Portable-Stereophone-Headphones/dp/B0006B486K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1329708946&sr=8-2

Next, play the remastered 1984 beside the new album. I'll spoil the ending, there's a big difference. I was shocked at how bad the clipping was when I first listened to She's the Woman. Tattoo wasn't so bad, but that's mainly because it's a not a straight up rocker. It didn't get better with most of the other tracks. Dave's vocals could have been treated better... I liked the treatment much more in Me Wise Magic and CGTSNM.

This album is made for shitty gear, so your car stereos and buds will sound really good. That is where the industry has gone, sadly. So saying it sounds good on your JBL's in your car or on your shitty Bose's, you're completely missing the point. If the recording sounds bad on a Grado, then it's fucking bad.

The new technology has done nothing for better sounding recordings. Hell, the first Boston album recorded in Tom Scholz's basement sounds better than most new rock/metal releases. It's disappointing to hear VH going this route too, but the album still rocks. I still feel a great vibe and thoroughly enjoy every second of it. It just could have been much better.

[Nitro Express]

Sounds great to me with the earbuds, great on my pc, not so great in the car with factory stereo. It is odd, but I can deal with it.

Sound is really weird that way.

[Nitro Express]

The mix is shitty, there's too much compression, there's poor instrument separation, but the reality is that it's good enough. This is no "Death Magnetic" which sounded like it was played out of a tin can.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122228767729272339.html

If you don't know what those of us are talking about, then do yourself a favor and buy these headphones:
http://www.amazon.com/Koss-KSC75-Portable-Stereophone-Headphones/dp/B0006B486K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1329708946&sr=8-2

Next, play the remastered 1984 beside the new album. I'll spoil the ending, there's a big difference. I was shocked at how bad the clipping was when I first listened to She's the Woman. Tattoo wasn't so bad, but that's mainly because it's a not a straight up rocker. It didn't get better with most of the other tracks. Dave's vocals could have been treated better... I liked the treatment much more in Me Wise Magic and CGTSNM.

This album is made for shitty gear, so your car stereos and buds will sound really good. That is where the industry has gone, sadly. So saying it sounds good on your JBL's in your car or on your shitty Bose's, you're completely missing the point. If the recording sounds bad on a Grado, then it's fucking bad.

The new technology has done nothing for better sounding recordings. Hell, the first Boston album recorded in Tom Scholz's basement sounds better than most new rock/metal releases. It's disappointing to hear VH going this route too, but the album still rocks. I still feel a great vibe and thoroughly enjoy every second of it. It just could have been much better.

I remember Eddie saying he didn't like the CD sound on Van Halen 3 and he personally went to Warner Brothers to complain and they basically told him to fuck off. Not that VH 3 was the best album but the point he was making is they were fucking it up at the final production stages where it sounded great on the masters. He just said Warners was part of a conglomerate and VH was just small potatoes and didn't matter even if they had a relationship with that label since 1978 and sold millions of records. I don't think it's the band's fault but the corporate structure they have to work in. Corporations for the most part have gone to shit. They probably are burning the discs as fast as they can and just knocking them out not caring what they sound like.

I'm sorry. VH was never a wall of sound band. It's a band of complex dynamics with a lot of stuff going on between the main beats. Compressing it and boosting it ruins the sound of this fine band. It works with shitty bands who have no talent but VH needs the best mix down possible. Some of us grew up in an age when they made real stereo equipment that not only could shake the house but carry every interesting dynamic in the mix. Now we live in an age of plastic subwoofers that just go BOOM BOOM BOOM and ear buds. Everyone looks like a fag too. No real rockers anymore.

[Nitro Express]

What I've noticed... sounds fine with ear-buds, cheap headphones, etc when played thru a computer. Sounds decent on a good car system but you have to dial it up with no EQ at high volumes and most of the preset EQ's sound like mud.

It's a slammed to hilt compressed mix when you shift it over to a "real" sound system with real speakers. Rather than starting with a flat EQ with everything at 0... I had to bottom everything out and then just bring up little pieces of the EQ. Actually reducing most frequencies by 50% or more. Then it opened up a bit and breathed better... you could take it up in volume from there.

That's almost exactly what I had to do. It was a good thing I had lot's of juice in my power amps and that fattened it up some on the tail end. But if a 15 inch sub ain't going to do it with some mids and lots of head room left in the amp, it ain't happening.

[private parts]

I agree with Neauralfraud 100%...I played Foo Fighters " Wasting Light" and ADKOT back to back same settings and volume..no comparison..Foos record sounds much better..Hell..original 6 sound much better...still love the CD tho..

Foo Fighters recorded on tape is the difference. ADKOT really not mixed that well. Some places vocals are to loud others way to low. Dogs not loud enough.
Drums and bass kind of rumble in the background and don't punch through (not always). Eddie comes through the best although there are areas its not quite enough.
Still think this is a top 4-5 VH album of all time. And still lovin it!

[if6was9]

ADKOT sounds good in my earphones, but horrible in my car stereo.

[Glitter Tot]

Just have to hope that in the next 5-10 years the loudness war will finally come to end. Bands will re-release sensibly mastered versions of their butchered albums - and make yet more money for old rope.

[sadaist]

Just have to hope that in the next 5-10 years the loudness war will finally come to end. Bands will re-release sensibly mastered versions of their butchered albums - and make yet more money for old rope.


Umm....nice avatar!

[private parts]

I think the best sound engineers to this day cut their teeth on four track recording. I'm amazed at what they did with just four tracks. Today it's so much easier with huge digital consoles and software but then that makes you sloppy. My dad graduated from college with an architecture degree and he said computers in many ways destroyed architecture because you can change plans real easy. When you had to hand draw them and it was a lot of work, you had to make things count more. He said just look at some of the stuff they did with just a drawing board and compare that to the computer age of architecture. You get the fucking Freedom Tower. LOL! I think he had a point there. It's usually better when you have to do it with less resources. Maybe the new engineers are just sloppy because they have so many tracks to work with and digital this and that. It seems to lose it's soul.

Your Dad's right. As an architect myself I see all the young hot shot designers drawing what the computer lets them draw. It looses the freedom of hand drawing. In the end your eye picks up on that. I think the same goes for music. In the end your ears pick up on it

[fourthcoming]

This cd sounds BETTER with headphones not worse.

[chefcraig]

Your Dad's right. As an architect myself I see all the young hot shot designers drawing what the computer lets them draw. It looses the freedom of hand drawing. In the end your eye picks up on that. I think the same goes for music. In the end your ears pick up on it

This also illustrates why all of the O.C.C. bikes being designed and built over the past few years on American Chopper look damned near identical.

[Mr Walker]

I'm banking on the vinyl mastering being totally different dynamically...

It will have to be or the needle will jump right off if the tone arm is properly balanced...


:elvis:

Saw a quote from Ross H. (at a Zep site, taken from the links) and he said this... "We mastered specifically for vinyl edition release ... we all know vinyl still is the schnizzle .."

[ELVIS]

Hmmm...


:elvis:

[lesfunk]

My disc sounds good on my computer and in the car. On my home stereo it sounds like shit

[Jagermeister]

My disc sounds good on my computer and in the car. On my home stereo it sounds like shit

You really have to play it loud. As I said in my review it's not mixed well IMO. If you play it loud and I mean loud it sounds great.

[Seshmeister]

Maybe they need to start giving you two mixes when you buy an album, one for shit like phones and computers and then another for proper sound systems.

[ELVIS]

They do...

They're called CD and Vinyl...


:elvis:

[Jagermeister]

Maybe they need to start giving you two mixes when you buy an album, one for shit like phones and computers and then another for proper sound systems.

I was reading an article in Rolling Shit Stone that said CD's sales are so low now they don't even want to make them. That's the reason you see things like bonus DVD's in them now to drive customers to want to buy them instead of just DL on itunes.

[sadaist]

I was reading an article in Rolling Shit Stone that said CD's sales are so low now they don't even want to make them. That's the reason you see things like bonus DVD's in them now to drive customers to want to buy them instead of just DL on itunes.


True.

I haven't bought a cd since Megadeths RISK which was what? 12 years ago? IF...big IF...I hear any new music I want, I get it on the computer. Then I burn custom mix cd's to take in the truck with me.

HAD to buy ADKOT because I wanted to hold the cd. Open it. Smell it. Feel it. Look at the booklet while I listened to it. My only real disappointment with it was ZERO pictures in it. Would have liked a few band shots either live or in the studio. But I didn't really buy it for the dvd extra. It's nice to have, but eventually they'll all be on youtube to watch.

[Jagermeister]

True.

I haven't bought a cd since Megadeths RISK which was what? 12 years ago? IF...big IF...I hear any new music I want, I get it on the computer. Then I burn custom mix cd's to take in the truck with me.

HAD to buy ADKOT because I wanted to hold the cd. Open it. Smell it. Feel it. Look at the booklet while I listened to it. My only real disappointment with it was ZERO pictures in it. Would have liked a few band shots either live or in the studio. But I didn't really buy it for the dvd extra. It's nice to have, but eventually they'll all be on youtube to watch.

Always been the reason I like records. I like the art.

[IceCreamBlondie]

Always been the reason I like records. I like the art.

Agreed, Jagermeister. Nothing like that LP album cover art!


Once I get my ADKOT copy on vinyl, I can tell how it was truly MEANT to sound. I'm sure the vinyl sound will be superior to that of any download, any day. We will wait and see!

[Dan]

All I Can Say Is,Bring It,Dont Sing It.:D

[private parts]

Listened to Fair Warning on my way home last night after a couple of tracks from ADKOT Really a huge difference in the mix. FW has so much clarity. From vocals to drums it just sizzles. I don't have to stain to hear the bass lines. Every Eddie note comes through w/ all of Dave's lyric's right out front- no guessing "what did he say". Crank it to 11- no distortion. It's pure clean brown. ADKOT is more of a muddy brown.

[DaveTheScott]

The reason it sounds horrid through your headphones is because it is horrid.

There, I said it.

The production sucks.

It's so fucking brickwalled that everything is just smashed together. NOTHING stands out on its own.

The mix is lifeless and the sound is thin. The drums have NO PUNCH. The snare doesn't pop. The kick doesn't kick.

An example of PUNCH: Girl Gone Bad "She don't work for free..." listen to the toms.
8497

You can clearly see above where the toms come in. They're the loudest part of the track, but only for milliseconds at a time. The result is that they pop out of the mix. 1984 is actually a very GOOD sounding album.

When I listen to any of the 6 pack, I can turn my (car) stereo up to about 45 (out of 50) comfortably and the sound is lively, and more importantly, it doesn't hurt my ears. When I listen to ADKOT I have to turn it down to 20 because my ears are fucking ringing in 5 minutes.

Listen to the solo in STW... the bass sounds like it's distorting.. that may be.. oh wait, it is.
She's the woman.. they don't mix 'em like they used to...
8496

When a wave is abruptly "clipped" flat, the resulting sound is distortion. In this case, it's only scantly behind Death Magnetic in so far as audible distortion.

unfortunately it's difficult to know for sure where the compression was put into the mix... during recording or during mixing?

How many more years do we have to suffer through this ear-damaging bullshit? If they ever issue a remaster, it should be left to a professional mix engineer and NO PERSON WHO DOES THIS TO A WORK OF MUSIC CAN BE CONSIDERED A PROFESSIONAL IN MY EYES.

I have to believe that it was ROSS HOGARTH who let this happen. Even the self-mixed recordings eddie did were never compressed and could easily be fixed with some EQ.

I LOVE this album, but it literally hurts me to listen to it. What's the fucking point of listening to VH if you can't blast it?

This is some heavy shit...and I'd probably be pissed off if you didn't know what the fuck you're talking about. :yo:

[ElPatron]

NEW VH RECORD ALL THE TIME IN MY CAR
My wife look at me dead serious "This is good"
That's all I care about.

[WACF]

Maybe they need to start giving you two mixes when you buy an album, one for shit like phones and computers and then another for proper sound systems.

Crazy sounding but true...in this day you would only expect better, not worse.

[neuralfraud]

Saw a quote from Ross H. (at a Zep site, taken from the links) and he said this... "We mastered specifically for vinyl edition release ... we all know vinyl still is the schnizzle .."

I sure as FUCK hope that is true.. we'll find out in a month or so huh?