Way Too Loud Mastering

C

Cloneboy Studio

.
So I was mixing down a client's session tonight and they wanted a 'pseudo' master so they had something to listen to, show friends, etc before they have a mastering engineer hit it up. Just as a service I will oomph up the volume and give a relatively basic master to clients that request it provided they pay for the time to do so; keep in mind I *DON'T* offer myself as a mastering service--my speciality is tracking and mixing. I live real mastering to people specialized in that.

Anyways, for volume comparison they gave me this CD from a band I can't remember. Anyways, it was so obnoxiously loud I wanted to puke... and then they wanted me to make theirs sound like that. I swear the low end was boosted what sounded like 10 times too much... it was disgusting.

How can you mastering guys take this abuse?

Anyways, what are some of the worst sounding masters you've heard?
 
I don't know that it is necessarily the "worst" that I've heard, but the song "Hit em up" by Tupac registers these statistics in Adobe Audition:

Left Right
Min Sample Value: -32768 -32768
Max Sample Value: 32767 32767
Peak Amplitude: -.03 dB -.04 dB
Possibly Clipped: 32490 20952
DC Offset: .376 .413
Minimum RMS Power: -73.83 dB -74.33 dB
Maximum RMS Power: -2.8 dB -3.33 dB
Average RMS Power: -13.48 dB -14 dB
Total RMS Power: -12.17 dB -12.72 dB
Actual Bit Depth: 16 Bits 16 Bits

Using RMS Window of 50 ms
Click to expand...

It looks like one solid waveform.
 
What is sad is that I heard a painstaking recording and good (analog no less) mix render all my work pointless. Afterwards I told my wife that I wonder why I even bothered trying to record clean signals, eq and compress with restraint and artistry if the end product that they want has the dynamic range of a philosophy conversation with Britney Spears and more distortion than a Godflesh song.
 
I was a bit disappointed by the master of 'Renegades' of Rage Against The MAchine.

I am a hughe fan of Rage, I really like their other recording and mixes, but that album is matered too extreme.
 
The band in question they brought was Midland. I couldn't remember it last night. Just horrid, horrid mastering. My head still hurts from its louder than loud mastering with zero dynamic range.
 
check out the rms of a dissociatives (australia) track.
 

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fenix said:
check out the rms of a dissociatives (australia) track.
Click to expand...

I have a couple of tracks like that which are totally uncompressed. Sometimes that's just a natural result of sucking.
 
The worst I've ever heard, eh?

Without a doubt it's a tie between Aerosmith's "Honkin' on Bobo" and Phish's "Undermind". Both are so loud they make FM radio sound dynamic. I swear every instrument runs in terror from the bass drum on each hit (both albums). Audible digital distortion all over the vocals....yuck.

The funny thing is that they were both done by Bob Ludwig. I always thought he was good. Left me scratching my head...
 
Chibi Nappa said:
The funny thing is that they were both done by Bob Ludwig. I always thought he was good. Left me scratching my head...
Click to expand...

Probably pressure from the label. Bob L is the best!
 
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