Red Hot Chili Peppers "Californication"

[jndietz]

I was reading on Wikipedia about how there is a lot of digital clipping on their CD "Californication". Is this true? I've listened to that disc for years but never really noticed myself. Why did they master it like that? Did they have any idea what they were doing?

From Wikipedia:
Views regarding the impact of the loudness war are heavily subjective. Proponents of louder CDs claim that consumers prefer louder CDs and that they are better for most busy listening environments. Many hold the opinion that only a handful of albums such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers 1999 release Californication (a CD with such excessive amounts of high-frequency digital clipping that audio enthusiasts have made complaints) are examples worth considering, while others believe any CD where digital full scale is utilized, should be considered unacceptable.[13] Such listeners may be unwilling to listen to albums mastered in a loudness-based fashion. Conversely, others may not notice the effects at all, or consider them only a minor annoyance.

[Concrete_Lake]

Yes, it's most definitely true.

Though, as I've said before, there's far worse things production wise on that album than the mastering. I couldn't care less that it was pushed so hard, because even if it weren't it would still sound absolutely terrible.

Anyway, since Californication RHCP's production (mix/engineering-wise) has been horrible. I can't really comment on Stadium Arcadium as I was too disgusted by its singles to listen to the whole album, but the singles from it sounded pretty bad. It's amazing that a band that would obviously have a fairly large recording budget can output music that sounds so sonically awful.

[carlosguardia]

I respect the band and love some of their songs and the out of tune vocals are kind of a guilty pleasure... kind of like some of slash's bends...

But yes, Californication's dynamics are pretty much inexistent. A fun thing to do is to import albums into your DAW and see the waveforms. Some albums are just rectangles with a constant -0.2dB.

[rayc]

I not a fan of Luke Warm Capsicums and even less so of turning everything up to 11.
My analogy (sic) is that I HATE TV adverts - they're compressed to dynamicless instruments of torture. Why would I want music that's the same? The Ramones didn't need max mastering to get a reaction.
Mind you if the songs aren't good enough in your face bombardment isn't going to improve things.

[SouthSIDE Glen]

The part I don't like about that Wikipedia quote, while it tries to be balanced in explaining "both sides", is that it makes no mention of and gives no consideration to the music itself.

Let's say we found out that the color green in oil painings sells more paintings because of it's soothing nature. Does that mean the painter should bias his painting more towards green hues? You might answer yes, if he wants to sell more paintings and earn a better living. You might answer no, because when all paintings are green, sales will actually go down overall because the artuform will get bland and fatiguing.

Or you might answer a third way and ask, since when has public opinion had anything to do with artistic vision? You think Picasso, Rembrandt, Dali or Warhol gave a rat's ass what the public wanted when they came up with their artistic vision? Did Dali say, "You know, the public will really dig a clock melting off of a tree branch?" Did Rembrandt develop his mastery of light and shade because he thought that's what the public thought painting needed? And Warhol, well, Warhol created an artistic vision out of ridiculing what the public wanted.

The basic questions are whether music is a commodity or an art form, and whether we as artists, engineers and prodcuers have any duty to respect the art form or only the task of churning out the commodity. What is the balance between doing what the client tells us against our better judgement and using our educated judgement to guide or mentor the client?

If a song gets under the listener's skin and make them want to dance or cry or smile or relive a memory, they aren't going to care what volume it is, even if it's buried between two loud pancakes. We need to start remembering we're here to make the listener dance or cry or smile or relive a memory, not to make them pancakes.

G.

[jaybriggs84]

It's a common mastering technique to clip the A/D converter

[Uladine]

Whats funny to me, is that it seems like if the loudness thing is an attempt to make albums sound "better" or to simply be louder than other CDs, wouldn't it be better to make promo versions of singles that are smashed and way loud, to draw lay persons in and buy the record, and leave the dynamics of the music intact for the actual album? By the time that consumer is listening to their own copy of the CD, it seems like they must have been already impressed enough to buy it, and most people probably wouldn't notice that the CD is "quieter" than the promo version they heard on the radio/in the club/on tv. I dunno, just thinking out loud I suppose. I guess it wouldn't be financially feasible to make "promo versions".

[pezking]

I agree that the whole album is compressed to shit. As an engineer, yeah it annoys me slightly.

But I didn't buy Californication to check out the production/engineering. I bought it because I enjoy the music, that's all that really matters to me.

[JuliánFernández]

Kind of OT, but I can´t stand RHCPs music... For me, they are in the position where bands like Fishbone or Living Colour should be...
They´re fine musicians (except the singer) -and I love Chad Smith-, but for me their music is just !

[therage!]

Originally Posted by carlosguardia

I respect the band and love some of their songs and the out of tune vocals are kind of a guilty pleasure... kind of like some of slash's bends...

But yes, Californication's dynamics are pretty much inexistent. A fun thing to do is to import albums into your DAW and see the waveforms. Some albums are just rectangles with a constant -0.2dB.

Yeah, its unbelievable.

I've got the new Eagles CD and you can SEE waveforms, I swear!

Iron Maiden's latest CD same thing. I've actually listened to it and didn't want to shoot myself after five minutes from fatigue.

[MessianicDreams]

Originally Posted by jaybriggs84

It's a common mastering technique to clip the A/D converter

Indeed.



Many releases today have digital clips all over them. Import a track off a recent CD into your favourite DAW and you'll see what I'm talking about...

[TerraMortim]

Originally Posted by SouthSIDE Glen

Did Dali say, "You know, the public will really dig a clock melting off of a tree branch?" Did Rembrandt develop his mastery of light and shade because he thought that's what the public thought painting needed?

they did it for the chicks... . . . :P hehe

[TerraMortim]

Originally Posted by MessianicDreams

Indeed.



Many releases today have digital clips all over them. Import a track off a recent CD into your favourite DAW and you'll see what I'm talking about...

yes you are correct...so...then...what isn't audible.... does it matter?