It’s official - the distortion that Metallica fans are so enraged by on the new album “Death Magnetic”, and that mastering engineer Ted Jensen was so unhappy about is not present on the version used for the Playstation 3 game “Guitar Hero”, exactly as was suggested by forum discussions yesterday and described in my last post. I have been sent what I understand to be sample files from both versions, and although I’m not at work I don’t need SADiE or B&W monitoring to confirm that the Guitar Hero version sounds much better. In comparison, the released CD version is - to coin a technical phrase - smashed to f**k.

A picture tells a thousand words:

As you can easily see, the CD version on the bottom has been heavily compressed, limited and/or clipped, and sounds massively distorted as a result. In fact, despite the appearance of the waveforms, the CD version still sounds louder, even though it’s level has obviously been reduced in the sample I was sent - presumably to match the levels for comparison purposes.

To be completely open and up-front about everything, the files were mp3s - not the best sources - and I haven’t yet heard the album myself(*) to confirm the sample is a truly accurate representation, but the samples clips on iTunes are enough for me to be very confident. No mp3 encoder would do this to a file.

(*) Since posting this I’ve had a chance to make the comparisons, and can confirm that the mp3s accurately represent the released CD in terms of the overall sound, degree of distortion etc.

I have removed the link in the comments from my last post to the samples which were uploaded (not by me!) to avoid any possible legal issues, but if you are curious to hear the difference for yourself there is a video on YouTube which I link to in this post which demonstrates it pretty clearly.

And of course, this doesn’t answer the questions about how, why and where this amazing feat of sonic demolition was achieved - however Ted Jensen says it wasn’t him, and I’m inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt - and his colleague, Chris Athens, says on the Gearslutz Mastering Forum thread:

Rick Rubin and Metallica are solely responsible for the end product. They gave the directions, they approved it. They are not rookies and no one at the label can ever bully these guys into anything. Both parties are 800 pound gorillas in the music industry. These guys are smart and in control. You and I may not like their taste, but it’s not a Chris Athens record. It’s a metallica record and this is what they want to give the record buying public. Only Metallica and Rick know why it sounds like it does.

- which would seem pretty conclusive. Given Ted’s original comments, it seems hard to believe that the album was presented to him as it sounds on the Guitar Hero version, so it will be interesting to see if the band or producer Rick Rubin decide to speak out.

Personally, I don’t know whether I should laugh or cry. I’m not a big Metallica fan, but to hear this much pure damage done to what was obviously originally a decent recording, in the mistaken belief that it sounds good, is hard to stomach. I’m no audio purist, but the end result on the samples I’ve heard is genuinely un-listenable.

As I write this, the online petition to have the album re-mixed and re-mastered stands at 2252 votes - I’ll be adding one more.

(Edit to add - sadly this album is just one more example of the so-called “Loudness Wars” in the music industry at the moment - I have written a post illustrating why “Louder is Better but Too Loud is worse” and how this affects “Death Magnetic”.)

Metallica “Death Magnetic” - Stop The Loudness Wars

This post is partly my attempt to publicise the damage that the so-called “Loudness Wars” are doing to music. In a nutshell, the continuing arms-race for “loudness at all cost” is now dramatically damaging the music we listen to - even in a traditionally loud, distorted genre like rock. As a result we are given squashed, lifeless and often unpleasantly distorted products to listen to. These are less exciting, less involving, less impactful and ultimately fatiguing to listen to.

This post focuses on Metallica’s new album “Death Magnetic” as an example, because it’s distorted sound has caused an outcry amongst fans of the band this week, and even a petition calling for a remix - but sadly there are many other examples I could have picked from recent years - from any genre - even country, folk and jazz are feeling the collateral damage of the “conflict”.

My colleague Simon Murphy is a Metallica fan - in fact, he went to see them at the O2 last night, where he said they were excellent - sound included. Like everyone else though he was appalled by the way the album sounded. This morning he brought his copy of “Death Magnetic” into Studio 1 at SRT and we loaded it up into SADiE to compare with the samples I discussed in my last post - Metallica “Death Magnetic” sounds better in PS3 game Guitar Hero.

The first important thing to say is that although the mp3 example of the CD release sounds different to the actual CD, the overall degree of distortion is the same. Which means that, although it would be better to have an uncompressed example of the “Guitar Hero” version to compare with, we can still draw sensible conclusions from it - namely, the CD release is much more distorted, as fans have been complaining.

So, how loud is the CD version ? We turned it down to a level we might recommend if mastering it at SRT - for this kind of material, on a loud passage like this, an RMS of around -10dB. The difference between the CD and our choice was 6dB. In loudness terms, this is roughly a 25% difference.

Comparing the two versions with this adjustment made, the CD still sounded louder, and in fact we would need to boost the Guitar Hero version by a further 4dB to make them match. Which means the CD release is roughly 10dB louder than the “Guitar Hero” version - almost twice as loud, on average.

Listening with the levels roughly matched, the Guitar Hero version is much cleaner, as we already know. It’s still not pristine, though - there is a mild, gritty distortion in the mix overall and the snare still “crunches” to a degree, but it’s nothing like the beleagured CD release. There are EQ differences between the two, as well - this is one area where the CD release is better, in our opinion. It sounds fuller, with more weight in the rhythm guitars and bass. However this may well be partly due to differences in the mix, given that Guitar Hero versions are tweaked to some extent for gameplay purposes.

Next we tried boosting the level of the Guitar Hero version up to match the CD release. Sure enough, a boost of 11dB or so did the trick. What was immediately obvious though was that even at the same level, the Guitar Hero version still sounded cleaner. This is even though we were simply clipping the signal - in theory, one of the most destructive ways of boosting the level.

This is important for fans who don’t like the sound of the CD, because it backs up Ted Jensen’s statement that the album came to him sounding the way it does, before mastering. If he had simply boosted the level to the extreme heights the band asked for, it would have sounded cleaner than it does.

Does any of this matter, though ? The album sounds the way the band wanted it - who are we to disagree ? I have no problem with loud masters in themselves, if they still sound good - I’ve made many myself. Does “Death Magnetic” sound good, by the standards of Metallica themselves ?

The final test we did was to audition two other Metallica albums - “Load” (1996) and “Garage, Inc” (1998). Both of these were a similar level, in the same ballpark that we chose for turning the CD down to. Comparing them with Death Magnetic at a similar volume, we were interested to hear differences other than the distortion - the band were going for ultimate power and impact, presumably, at the expense of a clean result - were the results a success ?

No.

Both “Load” and “Garage Inc.” blew “Death Magnetic” away sonically, with the volumes matched, in every respect. They had more bass, more impact, more punch, more depth, more space, more edge, more everything. And no bludgeoning, fatiguing distortion. Even though “Garage Inc.”, a collection of covers, was recorded and mixed in only a month. As Simon said - why can’t they always do it like that ?!

BUT “Death Magnetic” was louder. Much louder - punishingly so. And, I hear you ask, isn’t that the point ? Isn’t that what the band want ? Won’t this make “Death Magnetic” stand head and shoulders above the crowd ?

Again, no.

The first thing most listeners do when they put on a CD is adjust the volume to their normal preferred listening level. This instantly cancels out any of the effects of boosting the RMS level on the CD.

This is exactly what has happened with “Death Magnetic” - but to such an extent that as well as all the negative effects of puny “loud” sound, that we have ridiculous, splattering distortion, as well.

It’s at this point that the three headless horsemen of the Loud Apocalypse tend to get wheeled out - radio play, iPods and jukeboxes. All three are regularly used as examples of why it’s desirable to have your album louder than the next.

They’re all nonsense.

(Nb. Simon suggested that I should think of another one so there are four horsemen, to match the song…

Radio play. Radio stations already use sophisticated processing to ensure the output is consistent - and loud, to improve reception in areas of low signal strength. Which means that everything gets levelled out anyway, and something like Death Magnetic will at best have no extra impact, or at worst be pulverised - obliterated by the Optimods and their ilk.

iPods and other portable music players. Consumers are already complaining about the huge differences between CDs recorded in the 80s, 90s and today - listening on shuffle, it’s a huge annoyance. Most people either put up with it, or use a plugin to equalise the volumes - again, the volume on the CD becomes irrelevant.

CD jukeboxes. Does anyone use these, anymore, or just plug their iPod into a dock ? OK, fair enough - in a casual listening situation like a pub, shop or ‘phone on-hold music, having a louder CD will help your product stand out. Is that important enough to wreak the kind of destruction we’re hearing on Death Magnetic and other CDs ? Not for me.

Enough.

We need to stop the loudness wars, before every CD we listen to gives us a headache in the first 3 minutes. Please sign the Metallica petition, return the CD if you bought it, email the band, post complaints on their forum, tell your friends - whatever is necessary to stop the pointless massacre of our music. Send out the message - we want our music back.

Louder is Better - but Too Loud is worse.