Mastered For iTunes (When You Thought It Couldn't Get Any Worse)

optimized for a sub optimal medium?<br />

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if they were optimizing it, would they not instead choose to use no dynamic compression, ensure the file was the highest bitrate and sample rate possible, and let us audiophiles download the 2GBs of FLAC encoded music?

some of the Peppers music, but I just do not listen to it because the recordings seem so flat and uninvolving, such a pity.<br />

Classic new catch phrase: "mastered for Itunes", I guess this translates into: compressed and limited so as to "feature" less than 5 dB of dynamic range.<br />

When I was with PS Audio, I suggested we print up some t-shirts with circle slash sign and mp3 on one side, followed by spectrograms (or some other graphic representation) of an mp3 file, a redbook file, and then a 24/96 file on the other side. Too bad these never got made. I wish I knew of some way to promote quality sound in the mainstream-they did it with HDTV... It is curious to me, music as a medium of expression is so much more powerful than video or movies...

I agree that iTunes is pure sonic excrement. <br />

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I disagree about Rick Rubin. He is a genius.<br />

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He single handedly saved the careers of the Cult, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, and dozens of others<br />

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Have you heard Audioslave records? Amazing.<br />

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Please provide specific examples of "sonic destruction"?

Hi Leo Pard - Have you ever talked to anyone in the music industry about Rick Rubin? I have. I've concluded he is no genius. Not even close.<br />

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<i>"Please provide specific examples of "sonic destruction"?"</i><br />

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Metallica -> Death Magnetic<br />

RHCP -> Stadium Arcadium, Californication, By The Way, One Hot Minute<br />

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These are just a few that come to mind.<br />

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Chris, with all due respect, please don't pretend you are some sort of music industry insider. <br />

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Do your homework..RR has produced a huge catalog of recording.<br />

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You DO realize that the a producers pristine work can be destroyed either in the mastering suite, or by a record executive circle jerk.<br />

I know this to be fact as a long time high school friend works for Universal in production. <br />

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Listen to his Diamond discs, and again, the Audioslave records, which are pure sonic gold. Listen to Donovan's Sutras.<br />

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We are on the same team..I hate iTunes and Apple should be utterly ashamed for lying to the public when they supposedly started selling "CD Quality" music.<br />

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If you did your homework you would know that Metallica drove the process for Death Magnetic. They brickwalled the mixes because they were insecure they would be insignificant after such a long absence.<br />

What do you expect from a bunch of drug addicted mental patients? <br />

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They just put out a press release..RR is producing their next record too.

Chris <i>is</i> an insider in the Audio world and has close ties to the Music world. <br />

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You might disagree with him, but he has more contacts that most people make in a lifetime... <br />

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-Paul<br />

Agree 100%! Music has the power to stir one's soul... even when they're not looking! :~)

RR is not only a genius (I think you'll find this is official) he's an audiophile, too. And he cares about the compression issue. <br />

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Compression is required. Regardless of the music content. But like all things, there is compression done well and compression done badly.<br />

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I wouldn't read too much into the "made for i-tunes" tag. It's a sales gimmick.<br />

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On RR again....<br />

He made #72 as below. <br />

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"British geniuses feature heavily in a 2007 list that notes the greatest living thinkers of our time - proportionately more than any other country.<br />

The top 100 living geniuses was compiled by a panel of six experts in creativity and innovation from Creators Synectics, a global consultants firm.<br />

The company emailed 4,000 Britons in the summer of 2007 and asked them to nominate up to 10 living people who they considered geniuses.<br />

Each genius was then awarded scores out of ten against criteria which included: paradigm shifting; popular acclaim; intellectual power; achievement and cultural importance."

Since you've talked to people in the record industry and have drawn a conclusion that he is not a genius (not even close) then please share.<br />

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I will freely admit I've always admired his work (or what I believe to be his work) especially his production of early hip-hop (Beastie Boys Licensed to Ill, Run DMC, etc) and of course the Cult Electric. <br />

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7 grammy awards and an impressive list of production:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Rubin_production_discography<br />

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So Chris is this all BS according to your insiders?

Maybe we should hold off on judging this until someone actually hear it!!<br />

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For all we know "mastered especially for iTunes to optimise sound quality" may be the start of releasing lossless compressed 24bit audio - okay maybe that's stretching it too far but it COULD be a good thing and not equate to compression that so many people are assuming.<br />

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Eloise

The last metallica album was produced at a level which was butchered by extreme volume levels.<br />

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But I think Metallica got the reaction they wanted, they have a history of this, the drum mix on St Anger its appaling, sounds like he's hitting a biscuit tin, but its done to provoke, its delibrate.<br />

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But lets not go over the top, to call them a bunch of drug addicited mental patients is wrong, we're talking about sound production here, not judging people without hard facts.<br />

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Most off their albums production wise are a good quality.<br />

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for this first single ...Rain Dance Maggie<br />

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i have both.. great song

Given the Stadium Arcadium digital release I'm not sure why this is real news or that someone is taking a "made for itunes" approach give all the 'I" marketing that goes on. <br />

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Anyone with a turntable can hear Stadium Arcadium and hear that the 2 track mix tape sounded pretty great with plenty of dynamic range, The LP set mastered by Hoffman/Gray had wonderful tone and dynamics. <br />

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So RR does a great job producing the sound and mix but given the climate both he and the RHCP release the final versions hot as hell. <br />

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Here's to hoping Hoffman or Gray get to do a vinyl version of this release.<br />

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<i>So RR does a great job producing the sound and mix but given the climate both he and the RHCP release the final versions hot as hell.</i><br />

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Yeah, I think this is really the answer. The artists get the production they want. A producer who tries to tell an established artist what to do, rather than the other way around, quickly becomes an ex-producer.<br />

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Rather than arguing about labels like "genius," let's just say Rick Rubin's capable of very fine work like the last several Johnny Cash recordings, and has also been associated with recordings of less than stellar audio quality.<br />

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(I'm not sure any Chili Peppers album sounds other than flat when one doesn't have a chance to get the visuals of the lads jumping around in their jockstraps. That was early days, though - do they wear clothes now in concert?)

if RHCP decided that their newest work of art would be designed that way, no one is entitled to comment. Sounds an awful lot like people who bash George Lucas for adding SFX in Star Wars...I think it's up to the artist to decide what his work of art will be.<br />

When I receive a letter I focus on the message, not on the paper and the ink that were used to write that letter.<br />

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Hey Chris:<br />

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As one other poster pointed out, St. Anger comes screaming out the speakers like a freight train.<br />

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In my mind, that pretty much absolves Rick R. Metallica has latched on to an aesthetic they think will put them in a certain place, and they have run with it. <br />

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So do we now say Bob Rock is a tin eared buffoon? So how do we account for the Black Album and the rest of his work?

Yes, I agree...my comment abut Metallica was probably unwarranted.<br />

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I guess the point I was making was that THEY have decided what direction the loudness war is going, not Rick Rubin.<br />

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The point was not whether the track in question sounds good or not..it is the fact that Chris decided to make a blanket statement about Rick Rubin and Vladmir M. which most of us do not agree with, backed up by a curious statement about conversations with "industry people", un-named, who call into question Rick Rubin's talent.<br />

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Guess whilst on the subject of Metallica, I like them the production on the Black album was outstanding Master Of Puppets V good (personal fav) Load V good all very good standard.<br />

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But drumsound on St Anger ouch, but Metallica like to throw curve balls every now and then not many bands would put out Some Kind Of Monster, but their not every ones cup of tea(UK)Coffee(US).<br />

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Wow, my opinions have really set some of you off. I'm not going to get into a pissing match about whether or not RR is a genius. That's not the main thrust of this article, but I stand by my opinions of him and his work. I'm also not going to individually call out my friends at major record labels and engineers in the industry. That's a quick way to lose friends and burn bridges. <br />

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I did continue researching this album and the mastered for iTunes statement. I communicated with an engineer who currently works on some of the biggest albums. Again, I'm not at liberty to release all the details word for word. I wil say this RHCP release may :~) have something to do with the 24 bit content rumor that has been floating around. That said the first single available from the iTunes store is only 16 bit.<br />

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<p>The Computer Audiophile - <i>Wow, my opinions have really set some of you off. I'm not going to get into a pissing match about whether or not RR is a genius. That's not the main thrust of this article, but I stand by my opinions of him and his work. I'm also not going to individually call out my friends at major record labels and engineers in the industry. That's a quick way to lose friends and burn bridges.</i></p><br />

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<p>I don't personally have to be too bothered about what people at major record labels or engineers in the industry think because I've got all of Johnny Cash's American Recordings CDs and the music speaks for itself. For that reason, like Leo Pard, I have a very high opinion of Rick Rubin's work on that particular project. I have read about the major role he played in the making the American Recordings, selecting the music, keeping Cash going while he was dying of cancer. To me that goes way beyond what most record producers can achieve. Whether or not that makes Rick Rubin a genius I don't know.</p><br />

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<p>As for the actual topic of this thread, I think it is a good thing that tracks are being mastered for iTunes AAC. It isn't a problem as long as CDs are mastered to sound best at 16/44, and that any higher resolution recordings are mastered to sound best at their particular resolution.</p><br />

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<p>If people want over compressed crappy sound like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers appear to have a reputation for delivering, then that is fine by me (assuming that is what their fans want). I've never heard anything by that particular group and so I don't really care.</p><br />

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<p>On the other hand, I think anyone who buys a 24/96 recording doesn't expect it to be over-compressed, and the real issue is that by and large it is pretty much impossible to buy mass market popular recordings in high resolution outside the US at present. I can only dream of buying 24/96 tracks of all the music I could possibly want from iTunes with an Apple level of quality control, but at present that option doesn't exist. In my opinion, tracks being specially mastered for iTunes AAC is the least of the problems for us HiFi fans.</p>

I just want to add that the horrible brickwalling on RHCP's "Californication" was most likely done at the very end since there is a perfectly fine version available, just not for public sale that is...

Hi Sik_Lescinovid - Correct your are. I'm listening to it right now :~)<br />

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Pray tell how does one obtain this 'high quality' version of Californication?