What are we all listening to at the moment.

[Modular1]

Autopsy - All tomorrows funerals. new vinyl. :)

[Philly Q]

Sleep - Dopesmoker


I only listen to this once in a blue moon. When I saw there was a new remastered edition out, it seemed like it was about time....

[Modular1]

I've become very weary of new remastered editions. They can sometimes involve some kind of brick wall mastering. Slowly I think some labels are starting wise up that people hate this. Vinyl editions still always sound better though. Just got vinyl versions of two Mastodon albums. They sound stunning compared to the CDs. (and they weren't particularly bad cd masters)

[juansolo]

As an old hi-fi addict, vinyl has always sounded better than CD. Analogue baby. Shame convenience won out and I sold all my gear and records* I listen to music more on the computer now than anywhere else and they're all MP3s. Still buy the CDs even though they're just read in and stuck on a shelf. I'm still of the school that actually likes something physical when they buy something... Odd that it just doesn't bother me these days that it sounds nowhere near as good. I can still enjoy the music.

As for what I'm listening to at the moment. Monster Magnet - Spine of God. Which they're playing in full in Nov.


*actually it came down to a pair of very expensive amps that kept failing and winding me up. Should have kept the old one that was about 12 years old. Bloody idiot that I was, I thought a more modern amp would be better. Sadly not better or better made...

[Philly Q]

Yeah, I still have a lot of stuff on vinyl (probably 1,000+ albums), but a large percentage of them I now also have on CD and I haven't had a working turntable for many, many years. 

I must admit I do miss the days of gatefold sleeves.... I bet those Mastodon and Baroness LPs have great packaging!

I agree that CD doesn't sound any better than vinyl (although I don't miss the crackles and pops!) and also that remasters often don't improve on previous editions.  But I'm no audiophile, and I am a sucker for bonus tracks and all that nonsense, even though many of them are pretty worthless.

[Modular1]

If you are hearing crackles and pops during the music you are not looking after your vinyl. Its really not an issue at all. lol

[Dmoney]

24/7 Spyz - Gumbo Millenium & Harder Than You
HR aka Human Rights - Viva Azania
Kraut - An Adjustment to Society

[JJretroTONEGOD]

I've become very weary of new remastered editions. They can sometimes involve some kind of brick wall mastering. Slowly I think some labels are starting wise up that people hate this. Vinyl editions still always sound better though. Just got vinyl versions of two Mastodon albums. They sound stunning compared to the CDs. (and they weren't particularly bad cd masters)

it sounds better because there is headroom and very wide dynamic range, the ironic thing is that people master the cr@p out of amazing sounding mixes for some reason as soon as they know it's digital, vinyl has a 15-20dB crest factor whereas lady gaga has a 3-4dB crest factor!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crest_factor

The same thing is also happening to films which completley ruins the sound lol I could go on a massive rant here

[_tom_]

Protest The Hero - Scurrilous. Not what I'd normally listen to at all but I'm really enjoying it. Mental guitar skills.

[Modular1]

it sounds better because there is headroom and very wide dynamic range, the ironic thing is that people master the cr@p out of amazing sounding mixes for some reason as soon as they know it's digital, vinyl has a 15-20dB crest factor whereas lady gaga has a 3-4dB crest factor!

Yep. Hence my return to vinyl. I have a program (iVolume) which works out the perceived volume of each track in my iTunes. It works like the inbuilt 'soundcheck' feature in iTunes but it adjusts the volume for the album as a whole rather than each individual track. Basically it makes all your albums the same volume so you dont get leaps in volume between albums/shuffle tracks.

The interesting thing about it is that you get the level of adjustment its made to do this viewable in each album. Some of the adjustments take the piss. When its adjusted all the album volumes to the same, the ones that were mastered too loudly clearly sound worse.

The best example of a ruined cd master but a great vinyl master I own is Slayer - Christ Illusion. The CD of that sounds really awful. The vinyl sounds great.


PS. If you are an itunes user i really recommend this>> http://www.mani.de/en/ivolume/index.html

Thought you might be interested in this... The loudest music in my iTunes.

Allowing for the fact I add 3db on top of a 'normalised' level, (and pretty much all modern cds have the sound adjusted downwards to meet the +3db that I add) 10db worth of adjustment on Iggys mix of 'Raw Power' is insane. Sound on that CD is truly terrible.

[Philly Q]

The Company Band - Pros & Cons EP

Fills the gap nicely until the next Clutch album comes along....

[JJretroTONEGOD]

it sounds better because there is headroom and very wide dynamic range, the ironic thing is that people master the cr@p out of amazing sounding mixes for some reason as soon as they know it's digital, vinyl has a 15-20dB crest factor whereas lady gaga has a 3-4dB crest factor!

Yep. Hence my return to vinyl. I have a program (iVolume) which works out the perceived volume of each track in my iTunes. It works like the inbuilt 'soundcheck' feature in iTunes but it adjusts the volume for the album as a whole rather than each individual track. Basically it makes all your albums the same volume so you dont get leaps in volume between albums/shuffle tracks.

The interesting thing about it is that you get the level of adjustment its made to do this viewable in each album. Some of the adjustments take the piss. When its adjusted all the album volumes to the same, the ones that were mastered too loudly clearly sound worse.

The best example of a ruined cd master but a great vinyl master I own is Slayer - Christ Illusion. The CD of that sounds really awful. The vinyl sounds great.


PS. If you are an itunes user i really recommend this>> http://www.mani.de/en/ivolume/index.html

Thought you might be interested in this... The loudest music in my iTunes.

Allowing for the fact I add 3db on top of a 'normalised' level, (and pretty much all modern cds have the sound adjusted downwards to meet the +3db that I add) 10db worth of adjustment on Iggys mix of 'Raw Power' is insane. Sound on that CD is truly terrible.

that is genius, thanks for sharing man, for once a genuinley usefull app, luckily I have i-tunes too. Interesting how low you have death magnetic, it is a VERY loud album

[Modular1]

that is genius, thanks for sharing man, for once a genuinley usefull app, luckily I have i-tunes too. Interesting how low you have death magnetic, it is a VERY loud album

The thing is... Death Magnetic is no louder than any other Metallica album. Its just pointlessly mastered to CD with the levels boosted into distortion. After using iVolume when i play Metallica albums on shuffle on my itunes its exactly the same volume as ...and justice for all/master of puppets. Its just clearly distorted. Same thing with Slayer - Christ Illusion.

Which is the point of all this hate towards brick wall mastering. It makes the recording really distorted. If I want my music to be loud I'll turn my amp up!

[wisteria]

I only listen to the remastered edition one.

[Modular1]

I only listen to the remastered edition one.

of? DM? (The one that came on the Guitar Hero game?)