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User
Reviews 14
Approval 98%
Soundoffs 47
News Articles 4
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Album Edits 77
Album Ratings 3934
Objectivity 81%
Last Active 07-19-17 8:34 am
Joined 08-17-09
Review Comments 5,481
| Fighting The Loudness War, Exhibit A: The Good
Let's face it, dynamics are that icing on the cake that makes music awesome, on top of good songwriting and convincing delivery. However as you all well know, many albums are being mastered (and RE-mastered) these days with the dynamic range compressed to horrendous effect, fatigueing our brains and making music uninteresting and in worst cases unlistenable. Despite the fact that compact disks are capable of reproducing a far greater dynamic range than vinyl, because constraints of the physical medium force mastering volumes on vinyl to be around half of the CD limit, vinyls nowadays can and do have better dynamics and much less audio compression. Listed here are ten rock albums that have not yet fallen victim to the Loudness War nor have had their dynamic range compressed due to bogus remastering. | | 1 |  | Van Halen
Van Halen
Neither in its original nor remastered formats is Van Halen's classic eponymous debut a brickwalled clipfest. In fact it is one of the few remastered CDs that sounds better than the vinyl version. Too many classics are ruined through brickwalled remastering but all the Van Halen remasters have not fallen victim to the Loudness War. While the volume has been boosted, it has barely any audible effect. | | 2 |  | Ramones
Ramones
Even though punk is supposed to be loud and abrasive, the pioneers of the genre in America did so with finesse and some fine dynamic records even in remastered format are widely available. | | 3 |  | Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Again, the entire remastered series is not overly compressed and retain the charm and pure awesomeness that the original records delivered, only the track volumes have been boosted but to no ill effect. It should be noted that these first three series of remasters were done by Warner Bros Archives. | | 4 |  | Alice In Chains
Dirt
Eschewing the muddy production of their debut, Alice In Chains released their masterpiece with the best mastering technology available to them in the early 90's. This means that the volumes were quite a bit louder as Vinyl made way for CD but the sound is not compressed and anyone who denies the intro to Rain When I Die is not an eargasmically dynamic passage, among other examples, really needs their head checked. | | 5 | | Jane's Addiction
Nothing's Shocking
Probably the greatest alternative rock album of the 80's (and in my opinion, 2nd of all time), Nothing's Shocking was raw but the power in Eric Avery's drums and Dave Navarro's atmospheric guitar tone made this a dynamic masterpiece. | | 6 | | Tool
?nima
A fine example of compression used right in an artistic sense, ?nima still has a dynamic range to die for | | 7 |  | Faith No More
Angel Dust
Featuring their cleanest production yet, Faith No More defined alternative metal in the 90's with this classic record. The guitar tone is nasty but endearing. The bass and drums hit you right where they should. The keyboards soar and Patton's amazing vocal work is the center of this opus. | | 8 | | Guns N' Roses
Appetite For Destruction
All of Guns' work has excellent dynamic range, especially for hard rock albums. Even if you didn't like Chinese Democracy, there is no denying that Axl's whining allowed him to weasel out of having an unlistenable record. | | 9 |  | Soundgarden
Badmotorfinger
The mastering job on this album was perfect. You really just need to turn up the volume yourself to hear the awesomeness that comes across in this opus from one of Seattle's finest | | 10 |  | Pantera
Cowboys From Hell
Just proof that music can be heavy as fuck without fucking with the dynamics. I can't help feeling that the upcoming deluxe edition will fuck it all up though. | |
LepreCon
09.20.10 | A little list series I'm starting. Albums were chosen on purpose because they fall within my taste but there are many other albums in vastly different genres that also have amazing dynamic range. Fell free to contribute, I'll be starting with Exhibit B soon | eternium
09.20.10 | Winner = post-rock and post-metal | LepreCon
09.20.10 | Most prolly yeah, I just focused on where LOUDNESS is most rampant. Should have put in the Beatles remasters too but oh well next time | ShadowRemains
09.20.10 | inb4 maniac has sex with 4
(not that that's a bad thing) | LepreCon
09.20.10 | 4 is amazing through and through if it were a woman I'd buy her dinner before and breakfast after
Fuckin artwork is fucked now ='/ | Romulus
09.20.10 | seriously love you for 4 and 7 | BigHans
09.21.10 | all of these albums rule hard. | Apollo
09.21.10 | interesting list | LepreCon
09.21.10 | Exhibit B will probably be going up tomorrow, so stay tuned cats and kittens! | Fuff24
09.21.10 | cool list I adore 5 7 and 2 |
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