Metallica's Death Magnetic Wave Form Analysis

It's a loud track ... it doesn't have extended silent parts or interludes. I don't think that such a condensed view, where the whole track fits one screen, shows whether it's too compressed.

Today I'll buy the album ... I'll post the album gain as soon as I have it in winamp.

Well, I've listened to the album several times now, and wave analysis or not, at last a Metallica album worth getting. Although interesting in a WTF way, it goes to show that thankfully some weird graph can't really influence my enjoyment of stuff I like.

Edited by npjnpj - September 12 2008 at 04:30

^I understand the actual recording itself can be compressed to hell without any actual what we perceive as distortion to the signal.
What I meant, was that, a heavily compressed album has the capacity to make the audio signal being sent to your speakers clip much easier than a less compressed album.
You can certainly crank an audio player to full volume with a less compressed album and it probably wont do any harm to the speakers... problem with excessively compressed recordings in the case of Death Magnetic, not only will turning up the audio system to full be highly likely to cause the signal to create clipping by the time it hits the speakers, but you can potentially damage your speakers.
Of course, someone like me, cobb2, MikeEnRegalia et al understand this and wouldn't go and crank an album with massive compression at full volume, but what about people that don't understand these sort of concepts?
It wont be any fun for them having to replace speakers because they turned up the volume to full with a stupidly over compressed album playing.

Yeah, that's what I meant though.
The actual recording itself, isn't distorting. Death Magnetic may be very well be  distortion free (an unclipped signal).. I don't imagine they would be putting a distorted sounding album on the market.


An inherent feature of audio systems, is that the electronics themselves can produce distortion (a concept you may understand more than me, and something I'm sure some people on PA understand a lot more than me) and the speakers themselves, as I stated earlier.can be pushed into distortion. The more expensive high end units are obviously less prone to doing so, in terms of the electronics side of things, and generally louder wattage power amps deliver more headroom, allowing for more volume before distortion/clipping (with speakers to match of course).
I guess that can be a lesson 101, for those not in the know

What I really wanted to put across was that because of the extremely compressed audio of Death Magnetic, speakers and the audio systems themselves which are not free of distortion (unlike the album itself presumably) will be pushed into clipping more quickly because of the extra signal gain.
I mean, sure enough if I have my computer speakers at a reasonable volume they wont distort, whether I put on Opeth's Ghost Reveries (an example of a record with a very good dynamic range and as a given, not heavily compressed at all) or listen to Death Magnetic.... put them on full volume and they will, as a result of them just being small speakers with a low power amp.
Putting on Death Magnetic will only exacerbate the clipping problems at high volumes in my speakers.

^ I now have the cd ... so far it sounds good. Album Gain is at -13.20, which suggests heavy compression, but I've also seen a few albums which exceeded -14 ...

i have ordered the x2 vinyl copy of this album, will be interesting to see how the wave forms pan out on that

Edited by mystic fred - September 13 2008 at 03:53

Representatives for Metallica acknowledged the mastering problem

"My name is Benjamin. I work in fan support for Mission: Metallica.

"I am sorry for the bulk e-mail, but we've heard from quite a few of you regarding the sound quality on the single release of 'The Day That Never Comes'.

"The source of the problem, as you might imagine, goes all the way back to the creation of the track from master — but this is not how it will sound on the album."

Metallica knew of the problem, had a representative state that it would be fixed, and still allowed it to ship with the problem. I would assume that the problem was identified too late in the manufacturing process of the disc and they let it go.

Here you can find a petition,asking  for album remastering, which is terribly clipping:

http://www.gopetition.co.uk/online/21800.html




Edited by inrainbows - September 13 2008 at 05:20

MikeEnRegalia wrote: well, yesterday I listened to the album on my mobile player on the way back from work ... I noticed that the bass was distorted even at my normal volume setting (18/25). I'll listen on the computer today (Logitech speakers) and on my hi-fi.

Believe me, that's the same sh*t.If only I could hear it without annoying myself to the horrible sound.
For me, the bad quality really is f**king up my listening experience. Good music and decent recordings make me want to turn up the volume. I caught myself wanting to turn DOWN the volume on as well as my portable as my (quite nice, one might add) home set. Now, an album that makes me want to turn DOWN the volume can't be right.

fashionimage wrote: I Bought the cd and encoded it using itunes 192kbs mp3 it sounds good on my itunes but it sounds absolutely horrible on any of my ipods and iphone it is very distorted on the ipods even at low volume really really bad i can not listen because the clipping is so bad

Agree. Just spread this around :
http://www.gopetition.co.uk/online/21800.html

 We got Metallica to release the Live Sh*t box set on DVD last year, so you never know.


Edited by inrainbows - September 13 2008 at 05:44

I hate when the vinyl release is delayed ...