ABSOLUTELY REPULSED by the cd quality of this new album

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BrownEyedBoy said:
I, too, was struck at the loudness of the album. From the first track it just felt too loud. Music is now geared towards the masses who listen through their laptop speakers.
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I purchased the CD this morning and played it on my car stereo. I had the volume set at the same level as I listen to my iPod, and I nearly gave myself a heart attack at the volume it was being played at, which was not all that high. I am always surprised at the difference of a CD quality sound vs. the sound from an mp3.

By the way, I like this thread. :up:

I have been thinking about buying a new car stereo because I do not like the sound quality from a lot of songs off my iPod. I am always having to adjust my volume, terrible and bass settings with different songs especially if the songs are older than others.
 
just loaded the tracks into audacity and there is loudness but not much clipping at all.

Compared to HTDAAB which had tracks with plenty of clipping I think NLOTH is a massive improvement. Peppers Californication has about 70% of the track clipped and Coldplays Scientist about 50-60% so U2 have improved alot better. I think U2 made it as loud as possible before it clips so i think they did a preety good job
 
chrissybaby said:
wonder what the waveform of AB looks like? Would be a nice comparison over 20 years...
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The Fly vs Crumbs from Your Table vs Stand Up Comedy, all loud rock songs so pretty similar. Red = clipping

Waveform.jpg
 
Well, after spending the week with the cd, I have to agree that it could have definitely been EQ'd and mastered for disc much better. Right at the beginning of NLOTH with the first thump of bass, it distorted/clipped badly on my $3,000 car stereo which is usually EQ'd for most rock and bass heavy music. I first thought it blew my rear speakers. I changed around a few Parametric EQ settings and it helped but it still sounds kinda muddy.

And yeah, I know some here will say "whaahhhh, quit whining, don't listen, blah blah blah." All I can say is I don't like settling for sonic mediocrity from a major band with supposedly the best producers in the business and the only way to improve such things is to make (our collective) voices heard. Music is the way it is these days because most people frankly don't give a fuck, want everything as cheap or free as possible regardless of the quality and have tin ears.

T.B.
 
I was also surprised by the high volume that the cd seems to have. I had to turn down my stereo compared to other cd's. Apart from that, I don't have any real complaints. I actually love the mixing work. It's very open and clear. All layers can be heard very well.
 
Hopefully the Crazy Tonight single will be reworked, but I doubt it. It really is mind-boggling that after two years and millions of dollars spent making this album, something like Crazy Tonight could end up sounding the way it does.
 
Fell asleep last night with the album on CD around Crazy Tonight.Woke up to Breathe and it sounded like the band was in my room performing Breathe in the wee hours of the morning.Like Bono was singing in my ears and Edge was playing distortion guitar close to me.So I think the quality of the CD is pretty good.:up:
 
Yeah, compared to Bomb, NLOTH isn't that loud.

At least, going by the ReplayGain scan, anyway. Bomb's gain is -10.58, which is terrible. NLOTH, on the other hand, has a gain of -8.75. Still not great, but by today's standards, passable.
 
The cymbals in MOS and Crazy Tonight are so piercing and ugly - my ears actually hurt when listening to the latter.
 
What I know is that this is not just U2's music, but lots of CDs have this. I approve of this thread as its acting as a voice against cheap music production. We should make our voices heard.
 
I used to think "hey as long as I can listen to the music who cares about this mix?"

Then I got a 5.1 surround system and played a few 5.1 mixed CDs and realized how much good audio can actually make the listening experience better. It was like I was listening to music in a new way. It's so much better to have lush, clear, layered sounds than loud and poorly mixed music.

Listen to BT's This Binary Universe in 5.1. It's amazing. If U2 did something like that I'd be really excited.
 
I have now heard the album on DVD and have to say it sounds a lot better than the CD version. I still feel its a very hard album to make sound good on lots of systems.
There is a sibilance on the symbals that grates, vocals grate, there is an overall muddiness in the mix at times and personally I think the bass mixing is terrible.
I still love the overall songs and rate the album one of their best - up there with Achtung Baby and Joshua Tree.
I appreciate "atmosphere" etc. but just think the overall mix lacks clarity and is overly compressed.

Case in point - I play the album in my car system and it sounds terrible and muddy with bad bass. I pop in a well produced pop album track such as Secrets by Human League - very compressed and loud mastering on that track but boy what a difference - sounds amazing!
I just feel they got it wrong on this record..

Songwriting and performance 10/10
Production: 7/10
Final Mastering:3/10

Just my humble opinion of course.
 
mrplant said:
I have now heard the album on DVD and have to say it sounds a lot better than the CD version. I still feel its a very hard album to make sound good on lots of systems.
There is a sibilance on the symbals that grates, vocals grate, there is an overall muddiness in the mix at times and personally I think the bass mixing is terrible.
I still love the overall songs and rate the album one of their best - up there with Achtung Baby and Joshua Tree.
I appreciate "atmosphere" etc. but just think the overall mix lacks clarity and is overly compressed.

Case in point - I play the album in my car system and it sounds terrible and muddy with bad bass. I pop in a well produced pop album track such as Secrets by Human League - very compressed and loud mastering on that track but boy what a difference - sounds amazing!
I just feel they got it wrong on this record..

Songwriting and performance 10/10
Production: 7/10
Final Mastering:3/10

Just my humble opinion of course.
Click to expand...

I have to agree. Even on the DVD audio the whole thing just sounds muddy and not clear. I don't know what happened or who dropped the ball on that sound but it's definitely lacking the clarity of other U2 albums.
 
Reading through some of the replies in this thread about how NLOTH compares to "Bomb," I agree that Bomb is mastered at a bit higher, more clipped level but what makes a difference and why I think Bomb sounds a bit better overall is that the production and arrangements is more stripped down on that album compared to NLOTH. It's like comparing "War" to "Unforgettable Fire" in that respect although I feel both those 80's albums stand individually on their own as well-mixed and mastered albums perfectly suited to the way the music was arranged and produced.

NLOTH is simply a victim of the iPod generation's listening limitations.

T.B.
 
more like 2000 but whatever, 1990 helps ur point right?

this album goes to 11, thanks again spinal tap, i mean u2
 
I'm sure there's lots of room for improvement
but compared to most recent cd's I've bought I have to turn up the volume on No line ...
 
I thank God for Fez and Cedars. music i can listen to, rather than the harder, shallower mastering of some other songs.
 
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