Metallica - The Digital Compression Editions

[jbzilla10]

I hope the record companies take notice; they're ruining our music. No wonder why no one wants to pay for it any more.

[MoGaDeX]

Uwe Boll loves this!

[Echoes31]

crappy sound

[idomodo]

@Echoes31 Oh ? Really ?

[MrDemilord]

I find the volume of death magnetic to low, wish it was louder

[Fibonacci09]

This is the greatest video ever.

[LordHasenpfeffer]

This made me laugh so hard, I cried!

[9wizen9]

I simply adore the "Now with extra clipping" popup.

[MetalSwitch95]

It's like listening to a gig recording from a mobile phone.

[RadeonZero]

Don't make fun of the Rush remasters...The Mercury catalog was actually given a proper remaster, it sound crisp, clean and warm. (And dynamic). A reason that may be though is that the Mercury catalog was remastered in 1997...The "Vapor Trails" remaster is the only Atlantic remastered I'd buy though..."Vapor Trails" will finally sound proper. And one other Atlantic remaster you could buy and be fine is "Counterparts" but the original is still better in a A/B comparison.

[Substantive64]

Very exaggerated - no CDs are ever THIS badly compressed and shrill - but I think it makes it's point.

[pierre59000live]

"'Cause if your ears aren't bleeding, you're a pussy" Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha .... Brillant, man !

[JimijaymesGuitarist]

Sometimes I think my speakers or soundcard etc sound bad or that I don't enjoy music until I listen to something no brickwalled and realise that music once did sound good!

[AlexGAllen141996]

Holy shitz my ear exploded... I love how when just as I thouqht it couldn't qet any louder... St.Anger & Death maqnteic come on...

[katho8472]

nice. i just can hope that videos like this one make people wake up...

[Creepydorky]

awesome video. LOL

[kidpein]

AND they call SLAYER NOISE!!!,,,,this shit is horrible

[davidmemento]

menuda mieerdaaa...lo único que has hecho ha sido darle mas ganancia hasta saturarlo...esto es remasterizar?? eres un pringao...dedicate a otra cosa...eres pésimo...

[ParanoidOfSteel]

ahuahuahuahuhuaahuahuahu lol

[PajakTheBlind]

pwn!!! Finally it is listenable!!!! lol

[petejt]

the Rush bit at the end was bloody hilarious!

[sinborn41214]

lolol that's about what music is going to sound like in 5 or so years

[scootyman10]

ROTFLMAO! Awesome vid!

[danielflasher95]

Hahahaha don't fuck with that please, laughed so hard

[XtremoZS]

Awesome. Fuck you, music industry.

[uofm97]

I was LOL all the way through, but you raised a very good and serious point here. It really is getting ridiculous in the recording industry.

[SeraphimPwnsU]

I once left my Black Album cassette on the dashboard in the hot desert sun. That is *exactly* what it sounded like when I tried to play it again... and then the tape snapped and got stuck in the radio. Y_Y

[Aviii]

@SeraphimPwnsU well apparantly thats what the sound engineers with their expensive equipment managed with dm

[PearlJammer07]

Wow, this loudness war and boosting volume needs to end. I cannot believe that the industry would allow this shit to happen. People need to realize songs are not about being loud. Music is about dynamic range, and sounding good. I guess it goes to show how fucking stupid some kids are today. Some adults are guilty of not having an ear for music.

[PinkFloydrulez]

Heh.... sanitarium actually sounds kind of cool in the beginning. I could certainly envision loudness being used artistically like that

[wyldemw]

Brilliant! And fuck you to the 32 people that disagree with this video.

[krollaostmedburger]

saint anger sounds really messed up

[otrab1080]

@krollaostmedburger So does the Digital Compression edition.

[mikeb1444]

"GRIT MY TEETH"

[RawwestHide]

I almost yelled NO and am literally tearing up and freaking out when watching this.

[lordmetal2]

This sounds like shit. Like the speakers are broken or something like that

[Broezzz]

wow you can hear the bass so much better I maybe really gonna buy this! xD

[alsharpton666]

i like how death magnetic sounds almost the same as the CD...

[justinjoewills]

Welcome Home (Sanitarium) is so fucking funny

[WTFBoomBlog]

Awesome video! Made me laugh.

[Eatgrunts]

I can't wait for the Rush remasters.

[uofm97]

People can say whatever they want about Bob Rock..........but his production method was at least honest enough to not make the artists he worked with sound like uneducated amatuers! No way would he ever would've allowed excessive compression to occur on anything he was working on.

[joelbuttle]

HAHA... Sad but True, no pun intended

[Godagherrnilsson]

Its sounds horrible!

[Scarecrow545]

Lars:

"It sounds smokin'! LIVELY!"

[Scarecrow545]

Lars:

"It sounds smokin'! LIVELY!

[Mattyb667]

That compression physically and mentally hurts me to listen. Also it's too bad DM is as loud as it is, it's a great album.

[TheRasze]

its maybe too loud, only hear clipping...

[UkeBuke]

Haha funny :D

[Scarecrow545]

\m/\m/

[risingskater]

St. Anger sounds like more better than ever! I'ma totally buy it! :P

[MaYbYl8eR]

@risingskater

IT FIXED THE SNARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PS3POWERFTW]

Sounds like my speakers are being fucking raped, fuck the loudness war thsi is bull shit. Def Magnetic FTL

[mralexqueenero]

LMFAO!

That's funny but sad at the same time, because records are really starting to sound like this. Ok, maybe this one's a little exaggerated :D

[stevenmcnair1897]

God this sounds bad...Great vid

[CLeRKSfan4life]

Awesome! LMAO @ Kill 'em All, Fight Fire with Fire, Of Wolf and Man and St. Anger.

[NotoriousNightOwl]

LOL! St. Anger

[gravelocity]

OMFG thats hilarious.

[jf99151]

Metallica sucks

[Elintasokas]

LMAO. Death Fagnetic compressing.

[antichristian74]

aural sodomy... lmfao

[MCShammas]

Sanitarium LOL

[MistahhB]

My tinitus gets worse when I listen to this :(

Funny though.

[ACDC7369]

Hahaha this video made me laugh so hard. As a young ignorant kid, I thought "remastering" meant taking the original master tapes and cleaning them up, getting rid of tape anomolies and re-equalizing the digital master to sound as true to the vinyl as possible.

BOY WAS I WRONG. I felt like I had been anally raped once I discovered what they were really doing.

[dcp10200]

@ACDC7369 what ever happened to audio quality, in this digital age albums should sound great not bloody horrible. People should stand up and fight audio quality in albums. Its a shame when the average person can master an album better than most recording engineers these days

[MajorPwnage96]

@ACDC7369 Same here. Hopefully, they won't "remaster" Death Magnetic. Don't get me wrong, I love the songs, but if they do that to it, then it'll be a huge shit storm.

[CLeRKSfan4life]

"coz if your ears aren't bleeding, you're a pussy" lol this vid's hilarious but there are some people I know who actually listen to their music like that.

[andyscottmusic]

It took me about a minute to realize that this isn't real. I was sitting there going, "wow, this sounds like shit. I guess that's the new fad"

[2pacbiggie4334]

well it is. that's why it's funny

[wiresfaulty]

glad i was not the only one .lol.

[VagabondPriest]

Love the comparison for normal Sanitarium vs. HOLY SHIT LOUD

[sickdestroyer]

wow sounds great !  :)

very funny.

[musicaleducation]

Harharhar, thats great! Shurely this will come up soon...

[Anvilshock]

Arrrgh, too loud.

I know the message is to fuck with the compression but the "demo" tracks should have been brickwalled to the RMS levels of the clean examples. After all, it is supposed to SOUND loud, not to BE loud, isn't it? As it is now, you have to turn the volume waay down after the clean examples which kinda reduces this parody to not much more than an annoyance.

Apart from that, well done.

[HAN56HAN]

St. Anger lol.

[MarkRiches]

lmao the rush thing at the end is amazing

[kelhard]

Friggin' Hillarious!! I love it.

[CreepingPingas]

I'd buy this. It sounds more raw and heavy this way lol.

[edthehead1975]

Do you really mean that?

[CreepingPingas]

Hell no. I own all Metallica albums and like them the way they are; although st anger could have used some solos. I may make my own remaster with better quality, tuning and guitar solos if i can get the master tracks.

[czaezaar]

lol. i laughed at this vid.

[ATY9Productions]

ROFL!!!!!!!!!

[DonJuanDeMarco2]

"Because if your ears aren't bleeding your a pussy"

Lmao.

Do these digitally remastered versions come with a disclaimer about hearing loss ?

Wouldn't ti be great if you could sue them for hearing damage ?

[DonJuanDeMarco2]

This is ROFLMAO !

Are you sure these aren't the Justice remixes ?

God digital distortion sucks balls.

[kamo123bass]

that's shit!! fuckin' fake!!

[johnedmiston123234]

noshit

[dsordlyfolks666]

Make all Metallica sound like Death Magnetic!

[ragunablade]

shit, its amazing how many people here dont get that ITS SUPPOSED TO BE FUNNY

[nicopanadero123]

1:59-2:09 jajaja

[JasonBourne28]

"And who could forget all time epics like low mans lyric!" lololololololololololol!!!!! :)

[baranismen]

can anyone explain me the difference,i couldnt get it still..why all of these clippings occur when you normalize or maximize it to the 0db? arent all of these songs maximized to the 0db?

[fastnagressive]

"NOW WITH EXTRA CLIPPING!"

[BurningToDeth]

i apologize in advance for the caps.

HOLY SHIT PEOPLE, ITS A FUCKING PARODY! JESUS CHRIST!!

[Fussino]

lol right, Death Magentic IS extra-loud, you'd have to make an ultraloud version XDDD

[barbam69]

I think it's horrible. St anger is better ??? Wowwowo. Never heard such a so hard think to hear.

[Breeg992]

St Anger's an improvement, I reckon.

The rest of this video is horrible! DAMN YOU DIGITAL COMPRESSING!!!

[Kirkh666]

louder doesnt mean better! Killem all songs sounded like shit in this video! If i want them louder, i turn the volume up! This done digitally does something much worse than being quiet, IT DESTROYS QUALITY!

[afSilverstierna]

Hahah, whoever did this remaster doesn't know how to use a compressor. Worst job I've ever heard.

[jian2069]

thats the IDEA

its attacking warner bros shitty work on death magnetic

[megatallica20]

WHERE I CAN GET IT?

[johnedmiston123234]

LMAO even though i think that DM is too "loud" this is fuckin halarious!

[ErikHeroin]

WTF

[JADJuanan]

"...And Justice for All" is not remastered and the best in sound quality (cause of that, the quiest). It's the only CD release that sounds good for me.

[Urbanistyca]

Haha, I actually lol'd when Low Man's Lyric appeared :D

[Johnlynchvids]

wow this is extreamly lame

[uberpirox]

Bruce Swedien (Recording Engineer on Thriller for Michael Jackson) :

Compression is for kids.

Check it out on gearslutz(dot)com ...

[Nameless164]

Personally I don't mind using compression to an extent when working in a studio... But I keep myself at a limit (no pun intended) and try not to end up like Death Magnetic :/

Compression is amazing and really useful when used properly.

[TheCrazyRipper]

what compression have of amazing ? the sound is way better without compression

[Nameless164]

I said when compression is used properly..

When used properly you can still keep a good sound and make production a hell of a lot easier for yourself, I believe.

[TheCrazyRipper]

I don't see any advantage by this, isn't better if you don't compress your music at all ? the dynamic still to be good, and for the volume, it's just necessary to increase your stereo or whatever volume

[Nameless164]

Well without limiting or compression, you're leaving all the spikes in the audio, and makes it REALLY easy to peak out when it's all mixed.

I compress things aswell so everything is clear in the mix.

[Nameless164]

For example: (3 guitars)

I compress all the guitars separately so they're all at the same volume and consistent.

I pan two rythm guitars left and right and keep the same volume.

The one solo guitar is just a little bit louder then the other two guitars.

If I mix those three guitars down like that, the rythm guitars will play for the song at one level of volume, but when the solo kicks in, the overall volume is higher.

[Nameless164]

So that means when the solo ends the overall volume is quieter again and it's a bit of a pain.

So I compress that guitar mixdown so it all keeps at a consistent level of volume.

When the solo kicks in, the rythm becomes just a little bit quieter and when the solo ends, it returns to it's original volume level.

It just makes producing a little easier for me.

[TheCrazyRipper]

oh, a compression like this it's ok to me, and I think that's used by most artists back in the day too, but I wanna mean, that the compression used for make the song more louder is very very ugly

[Nameless164]

Oh god yeah... The level of compression used on Death Magnetic was insane and completely unnecessary. That's why I downloaded the Guitar Hero version (don't worry I own it on CD too) :D

[TheCrazyRipper]

you may not believe to this, but I have not listened to Death Magnetic yet, anyways, days, or weeks ago, I was listening to the last Black Sabbath album " The Devil You Know ", and I thought ( " damn, the album is good, but the volume is too pumped up " ), and today, I've learned of the " Loudness War ", then I said " oh, now I know why the last Black Sabbath album sounds so ", man, is really hard to listen to with that volume, I hope someone stops this trend

[Nameless164]

I think Death Magnetic actually made a point of this I heard it's becoming less apparent.. GnR's Chinese Democracy was very quiet and full of dynamics I hear.. And Mastodon's Crack The Skye was also quiet. I did a test using MP3Gain and it came up at only 98dB compared to Death Magnetic's massive 110dB :O

[TheCrazyRipper]

doesn't matter if you enjoy St. Anger, everyone can listen to what he wants :) As example, I enjoy more Kill'em All than ...And Justice For All, anyway, why Metallica compressed the volume so much ? or was the discographyc label without asking nothing to them ?

[Nameless164]

I;m not sure why it happened.. It just did. It was mixed and mastered in a separate place from Rick Rubin and the band themselves, it just ended up that way.

Oh well.. I'm still waiting for a full remaster of Metallica's discography, not like Death Magnetic (O.O) but better.. e.g so we can hear the bass in the older stuff :P

[TheCrazyRipper]

I whish that will not like Death Magnetic ( for what I did read ) :P

I would be glad to have the original version of Kill'em All, in LP, may it can sound better, don't you think ?

[TheCrazyRipper]

also if the CD version sounds very good, I'm only curious for this thing

[WHATISDIZ]

it was way over

[nibiru48]

I tried it on a Rolf Harris track and saw the devil, man!!!!

[gera123avl]

YES!! CANT WAIT FOR THESE CDS!!! IMA LISTEN TO LOW MANS LYRIC ALL DAY LONGG!!!j.k.

[badboyfabregas]

lol i see Audacity all over again , every newb uses it and lemme thell u , this one is done quite badly u should have put more time into it man , I know I did and my damn PC reformated on its own :s

[tankermottind]

It sounds terrible on purpose, that's the point. It's a satire of modern production techniques and Metallica's latest album.

[LogicDeLuxe]

I guess we are lucky, that the CD wasn't invented by Warner. They could easily have extended the playing time by a factor of 16 by just using 1 bit.

[i8luigi]

wow that was hilarious rotflmaool

[SuperShadowRyan]

Honestly... I lol'd. It's just too true to be true.

And lol brickwalling division.

[JonnyPills321]

disposable heroes is wayy to quiet the audio is to low and same with half of no remorse

[sanarkhos]

SIGN THE PETITION!!!

[MrFood11]

Trevtrev68:

"your a discrace to metallica, if they wanted their music to sound like shit they would have done it them selves"

Oh my god, the irony...

[MrFood11]

OH SWEET CHRIST I THOUGHT ST. ANGER COULDN'T GET ANY WORSE

This vid made me lol hard.

[JADJuanan]

For instance, compare "Blackened", which is for me the quiest song from Metallica but sounds the best drums, with "The day that never comes". You will see the best sounding, punching and organic drums of blackened, with the worst of "The Day..." The main notice you hear on a "loudness war" song is the bad sound from drums because it's the most affected instrument of the compression of the wave form.

[NimbusHydragyrum]

Make Kill 'Em All sound like shit again!

Fixed.

[kaylaalg]

I am a huge fan of Metallica and I laughed so hard at this. This is awesome, well done.

[mikosoft]

Brickwalling Division :-D

[JADJuanan]

You are my hero. Sad but true!!

And.. Load, Reload, St.Anger & Death Magnetic don't need to. They suck like if they were over remastered & compressed anyway.

[Metayounis]

shut the fuck up

[JADJuanan]

But true!!!!!!!! Loudness war sucks!!!!!

[Docteur666]

hahaha - that was actually funny!

[angelofdeth616]

lol "... low mans lyric!"

[tushar310]

the reason why they do is because most people have shitty earphones/headphones...hence to compensate for that they have to squeeze in everything in so little that a earphone can produce

hence people..buy good audio gear

[trippynet]

Nope, it's nothing to do with that. They do it because they're of the delusion that louder is better and that quiet music will be ignored whereas louder music will stand out and sell more copies. Simple as that.

Quite ironic then that as loudness has gone up, sales have decreased...

[MexicanSeadude]

i loled at kill em all

[masterofmetallica09]

St. Anger didn't change that much lolz!

[pannocchio]

ahahahahahah!!!

[konomune]

We should just be lucky we have the GH3 version to listen to. If there wasn't, it would be even more unacceptable...

[carnevalecinese]

Yeh... I bought Painkiller remastered... listened 1 time... very ugly... I prefer the old home-copy cassette edition... :(

I want back my dynamic range!!!

[RidetheHorsemen]

Aww god I never got old Metallica but the new producer is making me fucking CRY!!!

[ixionlux]

not realistic at all.....no one is gonna get the ppoint if we exaggerate so much....this is a retarded example of what is actually happening...

[NineZAPPA]

It's completely realistic. You must be deaf from the album or having Lars cock in your ear.

[ixionlux]

death m. is wildly overcompressed, but it doesnt sound anything like these videos people are puting out...yes they are probably jokes, but if it bothers you so much, then put something out that actually explains, and demonstrates what is actually happening....

[trippynet]

This is just a slightly exaggerated version of what the music industry is currently doing. They are applying clipping and compression like this to loads of CDs, not quite to this level, but pretty close. And as you can hear, huge amounts of clipping and compression ruin music and make it sound awful.

[Minnor87]

my ears are bleeding lol!

we need to stop this loudness trend!

LOUDNESS WAR IS OVER IF U WANT IT!

[machinesbreathe]

Heh.

People forget how far a little low end will go...

Why is treble always emphasized?

And, man is this wild hyperbole difficult to listen to.

[withindarkness]

"Sometimes you add a bit to give the vocalist some feel, but usually you do it after. "

In this case you would put the reverb on his headphone mix, but not on what's actually being recorded.

[pmanderson]

You know what? If you didnt over do this as much it might be a good concept. Theres a difference in blowing out your speaker, and adding a little comrpession.

[balaomagico666]

EEE MOVIE MAKER!!!

[bosunbilly]

You would!

[Jay2k1]

Hah, what a great idea to make such a vid. I'd so love to show it to James, Kirk, Lars and Rob. F*ck the engineers, in the end these four guys have to approve what gets in the stores. How the holy f*ck could they have their ART destroyed so badly. That's like spraying graffiti on a picasso and say picasso fans are responding to that.

[ClickPull]

lol i love this!

[StefanDibell]

Sad but true - Nice Video ! :)

[eddiemaximus72]

Congratulations for the protest!!!!

[finalRoxas]

I laughed so hard at the St. Anger part being so loud!

[genetic898]

Death Magnetic - Squeeeeeezed, from virgin bung-hole!

[maulhoik]

No longer virgin: welcome to "compression up your ass"

[plutonium93437]

Thank you! I thought I was the only one who felt this way. I bet if you look at the wave forms on Death Magnetic they'd all be solid bricks. You've got to have contrast! Yin Yang and all that sh#t.

[Ringmaster7777777666]

As an artist myself, it gives me hope seeing this.

lol "Always thought Sanitarium was too quiet? So did we!"

[bosunbilly]

This would be hilarious if it wasn't the truth of what the record industry is doing to music year after year.

As a mastering engineer, I won't play this stupid game. The record companies can go to hell and if this precludes me from being in the majors, so be it.

This has to end or nobody will buy music anymore.

[Joethepoe]

that your a mastering engineer can you answer this please... is reverb/delay added after recording on vocals? thanks.

[bosunbilly]

That's a good question.

There's no hard ruling on this, but generally I do it after recording and during the mastering process.

What I find is that when someone records reverb/delay directly it makes the vocals stand out from the music (usually not in a good way).

The key to making a good-sounding record is that the application of reverb/delay should act like a sheen that works across the entire track and doesn't "break up" the sound.

[Joethepoe]

if effects are added after the recording, does this mean that if a album is remastered that more/less can be used?

[bosunbilly]

There is such a concept as "too much of a good thing" when it comes to that.

If I understand your question, once the effects are added to the master that's pretty much it - you can't subtract effects at that point, and adding isn't recommended.

[bosunbilly]

I know some audio engineer who can blend reverb/delay on vocals perfectly prior to the mastering process, but most of the time I get tracks that are smashed and I usually tell my clients to leave that aspect of it alone and that I'll take care of it.

[unicron2000]

Sometimes you add a bit to give the vocalist some feel, but usually you do it after.

[Naturaali1]

oh no.

[harley0098]

2:49 uh im pretty sure thats uwe boll.