Flood Should be Fired for COBL

[ImOuttaControl]

Muddy Production of AB. No way.....Achtung Baby is perfect in every single way!

Don't get me wrong, I love AB and it's my favorite album in the world, but I do think the production is a little muddy in places. I mean, I used to say "that shit puts me to sleep" before I got into U2 back in '99. Then I realized..."hey, if I crank this up to get past the muck, this is awesome!" And we've lived happily ever after.

 

[Long]

Don't get me wrong, I love AB and it's my favorite album in the world, but I do think the production is a little muddy in places. I mean, I used to say "that shit puts me to sleep" before I got into U2 back in '99. Then I realized..."hey, if I crank this up to get past the muck, this is awesome!" And we've lived happily ever after.

Yes, but if you crank up AB to the same apparent volume as HTDAAB, AB will sound far more dynamic, where HTDAAB is just loud loud loud loud.

 

[rjhbonovox]

Yes, but if you crank up AB to the same apparent volume as HTDAAB, AB will sound far more dynamic, where HTDAAB is just loud loud loud loud.

TRUE VERY TRUE!!!!!!

 

[LyricalDrug]

Well, call me juvenile and annoying (as pedestrians often do), but I LOVE driving through town with my windows rolled down, and U2 songs blaring as loudly as police sirens. Seriously, I do. And this album is PERFECT for that. It's a great party record.

 

[financeguy]

It should be noted that Flood has produced many albums outside of the U2 spectrum which include some of the classics from other genres like Violator from Depeche Mode. Many Nine Inch Nails albums and of course has been an Engineer on U2 albums since Joshua Tree....so even if what you are saying exists can this all be blamed on Flood, I would think surely not.

Yes coincidentally I was just listening to Violator earlier today and I think all credit to Flood on that one.

 

[Amsterdamfan]

COBL is the best track on the album and Flood should do the next album! Every u2 album with a prominent Flood rocks!!

 

[Am I Zoo]

First time I played "City of Blinding Lights" my wife came downstairs and asked what was wrong with our stereo -- she thought our speakers were shot. This has nothing to do with opinions, people; it's just a fact that HTDAAB is demonstrably poorly mastered. Perfect example: just listen to the "Whooo-whooo-whooo" thing leading into the chorus of COBL. You don't have to look at numbers on a graph to know that something's going very wrong here -- the distortion is incredible. I defy anyone to tell me that song sounds OK.

Some people have said they find a distorted electric guitar exciting. Well, so do I -- whether it's the feedback that rings in the Clash's "Clampdown" or the absurdly distorted guitars you hear all over Neil Young's "Rust Never Sleeps." But this is a totally different matter!

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

I have to relistened to this song and will say I now hear distortion in the sound.

 

[cyberhound]

After lurking here for about two months, as I usually like to do before I start posting in any group, I am going to use this thread as an opportunity to make my first post.

With regards to to a couple of things that stood out in this thread and several others:

Criticism of the band and their music or the production thereof is quite justifiable when the person doing the critique has put down his/her own money for the CD in question. This is even more true for those who throughout the years have supported the band by purchasing it's albums and have paid quite a bit to attend it's concerts. The people here who cast dispersions on the quality of the production and or mastering of HTDAAB do not seem to be magazine reviewers who have recieved from the record label the latest batch of new releases to put their stamp of approval on. Rather they seem to be true fans who care about what the band puts out and have a real problem with the way this disc was mastered and or produced. On the other hand, pointing the finger of blame for such things on others like Flood, Lillywhite, or the evil record label is not correct either. No, if you don't approve of the way this disc sounds, you have no other real choice than to blame the band itself. U2 is not some hungry up and coming act that takes whatever producer and engineer the record company forces on them. Bono, Larry, Adam, and The Edge are the responsible party here. It's their music and you bought it. Blame them.

Now if you will excuse me, I have to go turn the volume on my stereo a little bit as the new U2 disc is about to go into the tray...

 

[TheWanderer]

Some of you are crazy. Flood did a great job on 'Blind Lights! Besides, every after Unforgettable Fire has Larry low in the mix. The first three albums - he's deafening! His choice for a drum pattern on the song has a lot of mid range anyway. Flood is the man - his stuff with the 'Pumpkins is to die for.

I would sell my leg to have him produce my music.

 

[Axver]

I swear, I cannot hear what any of you are complaining about. I've played this album extremely loud and it sounds perfect. None of the flaws mentioned here are apparent to me at all ...

 

[ImOuttaControl]

I swear, I cannot hear what any of you are complaining about. I've played this album extremely loud and it sounds perfect. None of the flaws mentioned here are apparent to me at all ...

I totally agree. I know this was recorded "hot," but I don't think you'd really be able to tell much of a difference unless you were reading some of the graphs people keep showing. I've also played this extremely loud and it sounds even better to me. Maybe the folks who say it sounds like their speakers are shot when they play the album need new speakers or to readjust their system levels.

 

[TheWanderer]

I would like to add that I think City is MIXED fine, but yes - the mastering on this album is just WAY too loud. All Becase of You I could tell from the first time I heard it. Listen to One Step Closer - it's not even quiet, yet should be. Many have already said this better, but I really wish this trend would stop.

I can live with it being this way - except for the clipping which I can hear every now and then and it totally takes me out of the moment. What the hell is up with the clipping in the intro to Crumbs?!?!?! It's one freaking guitar and there's clipping!!! It's one thing if it's a loud part of the song - but c'mon!!!!

On the OPPOSITE end of the spectrum - we have Under a Blood Red Sky - which is so soft and quiet, it's hard to even listen to without blasting your speakers. Is it even mastered at all?!?!?!

 

[paulrg]

I agree about COBL. I always skip this track as the intro is way too bright - I can feel a headache coming on with this song which is a shame and not a problem with the live e.g. Brooklyn Bridge version.

The technology exists for them to do two releases - one for the radio stations and bubble gum sucking kids and one for the rest of the world. Has anyone listened to the vinyl release of HTDAAB - is it better?

 

[djerdap]

About the Achtung Baby matter - just fuckin' listen to Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World. That song was killed in the production process(only to be resurrected live). You can't hear the guitar. You can only hear bits of it on your headphones at the highest volume.
What's up with the guitar in Love is Blindness. Very muddy sound.

I do have problems with production of some songs on HTDAAB. City of Blinding Lights(when the drums kick in - WTF?!) and Original of the Species(strings are really in the way), but don't take earlier U2 albums - even the masterpiece Achtung Baby - as perfect examples of classic production.

 

[boystupidboy]

I don't have a real problem with the sound on HTDAAB except i find it very bass driven.I have to turn the bass down quite a bit,maybe its my crappy stereo ??Even saying that though i reckon that it sounds far better than JT-that album is FAR too quiet,even when i turn it up LOOOUUUDDDDD

 

[Aardvark747]

I don't have a real problem with the sound on HTDAAB except i find it very bass driven.

Have you heard the bass on AMAAW per-chance? It really is THAT good!

 

[boystupidboy]

AMAAW..............i'm not biting on that one

 

[Aardvark747]

 

[sallycinnamon78]

*never mind*

 

[JohnnyLightning]

I would love to see a list from the audiophiles in this thread naming 5 rock or pop albums released in 2004 that are less limited, with more dynamic range than HTDAAB. Oh, and it would be good if these are albums that you enjoy giving repeated listenings.

I have a feeling you may have a difficult time completing that list.

I also imagine a scenario where HTDAAB is not so pushed against the loudness wall, and instead is very dynamic -- One of you listens to CDs for a few hours, then puts U2's latest in your CD deck for a spin. When you hit a track with its now lovely quiet intro, and you can't quite hear what is happening, you become frustrated, then have to go and crank up the volume of your system so you can catch all the production details (you don't want to miss anything in the mix, because you are audiophiles, after all -- and ones who don't hear quite as well as you used to because your ears are fried from listening to all the other loud CDS in the marketplace).

At this point you begin to muse about what is wrong with the new U2 album. Then the song really comes on full force during a chorus, and of course now your system is turned up louder than you've had it in years, and you not only finish blowing out your eardrums, but also destroy your speakers.

Something in me says you would be in a discussion with the very same people in this thread complaining about how Flood and the other mixers and mastering engineers working with U2 aren't taking advantage of modern technology, and should pay for your damages.

U2 did not develop the 'loud in better' philosophy that exists in the record industry today -- all it took was one or two loud CD productions for the consumer to shout, 'we want more more more'. Then suddenly everyone in record production had to compete in the loudness challenge.

I agree it isn't a fabulous situation, and it is one which mastering engineers distress about daily, but what is an alternative that would satisfy you, the consumer? Until everyone simultaneously turns it down, there isn't much the artistic and engineering worlds can do -- except deliver competitive product.

 

[gherman]

You people say some of the stupidest shit I have ever heard

 

[starvinmarvin]

here's my two cents:

The mastering on HTCAAB is terrible. Horrible. City of Blinding Lights is the most obvious example. But there are others too. Nobody has pointed out how bad Yahweh sounds. No wonder everyone prefers the live version. Yahweh is a beautiful, subtle composition in its natural form, but the version on HTDAAB is an sonic travesty. Right from the first second when that fart-like, distorted keyboard comes blaring in, the song is ruined. Even the nice touches, like the mandolin in the middle eight section, are rendered inaudible by mastering. SYCMIOYO is also butchered, as is LAPOE.

I would also like to point out that the production on some of the tracks is awful too. The most obvious is OOTS. Whoever is responsible for the "strings" should be shot, dismembered, and pissed on

 

[JohnnyLightning]

Not being an engineer like you, I'm curious to know how you can determine from listening to a commercial CD what part of the fidelity is due to mastering versus what occurred during recording?

 

[Aygo]

I think that you all must have got bad-quality sound systems!! I don't see another reason... There's no problem with the production of the mastering of HTDAAB. That's the way the album is supposed to sound. I don't see why did you get another reason for a new bashing thread fort this album (or a specific song from HTDAAB). In fact, all the songs sound great with the enphasis on the bassline, I find it stupend... But it seems that lots of people do not...

 

[rjhbonovox]

The album sounds crap in parts and it ain't my system. COBL is one of the worse mixes of a song I have ever heard, its almost in mono. SYCMIOYO distorts in places also. But then I have said it before, in fact in this thread last December!

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

You people say some of the stupidest shit I have ever heard

stop with the personal attacks.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

given the arguments that have already occurred and the fact that this thread is eight months old, i'm going to close it. i don't see any good in keeping it open.