Worst sounding Cd's ever

[dodgeaspen]

I hope this is the best place for this post. I was wondering what profecional CD's sound the worst to you as far as mixing & or mastering is concerned. My vote for the worst of all time is Metaillica And Justice For All. The bass sucks and their is a most annoying mid guitar moan that drives me out of my mind. It's not like they were in a low budget studio or didn't have the money to get project done the right way. I'd like to know what you think is a bad mix / master job.

 

[snellular5]

Californication- Red Hot Chili Peppers
Mastering was crazy, ruined it and the CD distorts on many playback systems.

 

[Seafroggys]

And Justice For All isn't really that bad considering the past 10 years. But at the same time, the late 80's were, imo, the zenith for the highest quality albums, so compared to its contemporaries, yeah, it may have been bad.

But compare Justice to Death Magnetic, for example. Death Magnetic is the worst sounding album in my collection. Which is sad because both Justice and DM are great albums as far as musical merit is concerned.

Some other bad sounding albums I have are the remasters for A Quick One (the Who's second album). Not only loud as fuck, but it just sounds bad. Its been awhile since I heard Sell Out but from my memory Sell Out was much better sounding. A Quick One sounds worse than the Beatles' Please Please Me.

I also don't particularly care for the music on A Quick One. Imo, aside from their singles, the Who didn't get good until Sell Out (and they didn't get great until Tommy).

 

[rayc]

Are we nominating albums a) not mastered for CD, b) remastered for CD (ie: albums from before the reign of digital) or c) those that are poorly done after CD became the default distribution format? Based on this premise I can think of
a) I'd offer Harvest
b) I'd say Queen II (there are others but the state of the source tapes do play a part - like Vol 4 B Sabbath)
& c) I'd suggest just about anything prepared specifically for the earplug generation.
Wasn't &Justice4All bad on vinyl in the 1st instance? A bit like Raw Power in that the mix & master weren't up to it in the 1st place!

 

[Seafroggys]

Okay, I agree with Queen II. My CD master is from 1991 (I'm assuming that's the only one out there) and it is really, really, muddy. The vocals and guitar barely stand out, and the drum and bass are all mush. I enjoy listening to it because, again, I love the songs, but it sounds really mushy. Almost worst than a worn LP.

 

[kcearl]

Id vote any live album sounding awful, other than Portisheads "Live at Roseland NYC", better sounding than their studio recordings imo, and the Whos "Live at Leeds", who were great up until Tommy with "A Quick One" being some of their best work..

opinions huh?

 

[witzendoz]

other than Portisheads "Live at Roseland NYC", better sounding than their studio recordings imo, and the Whos "Live at Leeds"

2 of the best live albums in my collection, did you like the remastered "Who Live At Leeds" with the extra missing tracks and cleaned up? The drum sound they got was amazing seeing they would have had an overhead and kick mic and 3000db of bass and guitar on stage. Still like the original vinyl I have the original pressing I won in a radio music comp when in high school.

Back to the question, the worst:

Too many to mention.

Alan.

 

[Opivy]

Kcearl - have you ever heard of the Dance Hall Crashers?

I'm not familiar with them, but my friend was playing a live CD by them in his car - and it sounded amazing!

 

[Seafroggys]

Heaven and Hell at deafening playback volumes = purest win ever.

(because people may be confused, I'm talking about Live at Leeds, not Black Sabbath)

 

[kcearl]

2 of the best live albums in my collection, did you like the remastered "Who Live At Leeds" with the extra missing tracks and cleaned up? The drum sound they got was amazing seeing they would have had an overhead and kick mic and 3000db of bass and guitar on stage. Still like the original vinyl I have the original pressing I won in a radio music comp when in high school.

Back to the question, the worst:

Too many to mention.

Alan.

Ive got the deluxe version which i think is the remastered plus the full Tommy from the same gig??

Its Moon at his finest and forget live, its better sounding than most studio albums of the era imo


If I had to pick two albums, no more, this and quadrophenia would keep me happy for a long time

Kcearl - have you ever heard of the Dance Hall Crashers?

I'm not familiar with them, but my friend was playing a live CD by them in his car - and it sounded amazing!

nope, just googled them...that ska/punk thing is as Cali as surfing...the more I hear it the more I like it..will look them up

 

[cashcohen]

Test For Echo, Rush.

Stadium Arcadium, Red Hot Chili Peppers.

 

[kidkage]

And justice for all definitely
UNTIL
I bought death magnetic... wonderful music... HORRIBLE cracking.

 

[cashcohen]

Id vote any live album sounding awful, other than Portisheads "Live at Roseland NYC", better sounding than their studio recordings imo, and the Whos "Live at Leeds", who were great up until Tommy with "A Quick One" being some of their best work..

opinions huh?

Bad live albums that jump immediately to mind:

How The West Was Won, Led Zeppelin. God, the way the Jimmy Page starts playing "Heartbreaker" WAY too fast and then everyone slows down super awkwardly after the opening riff. And Plant's voice cracking like a fucking 15 year-old on "Immigrant Song". The only good cuts on there are the epic jams and "The Ocean."

Two For The Show, Kansas. Oh man, I bought this at age 13 when I was just getting deep into my progressive rock phase, mistaking it for a Kansas studio album. Dear God, this shit is pieced together. And the version of "Carry On Wayward Son"....eh, not so hot.

And YES to Portishead live being good. Beth Gibbons, marry me.

 

[DrewPeterson7]

Another vote for Death Magnetic - hands down the worst mastering job I've ever heard. Even on the radio you wince listening to it.

I ended up tracking down the masters from the "Guitar Hero" game, which were surprisingly much more listenable.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I don't know if I'd rate them as "worst ever", but just about every album put out by Clapton pre-"From The Cradle" has been very dissapointing-sounding to me; for some reason (maybe his own tastes? I don't know) his releases before BTC all come out sounding very midrangey, as if purposely mixed/mastered for AM radio.

G.

 

[moresound]

It's really hard to say but....When I first heard Tommy Bolins *Private Eyes* I thought every album by everyone else sucked.
Even now if you are to listen to it you would swear that it was recorded yesterday. Very advanced sound for the times--30+ years ago.

 

[obsidian3d]

Wow I'm surprised at the number of Metallica references on here. I have two more to add that I haven't seen yet though.

Metallica - Load: On the initial run of pressings (not sure how many copies this affects) there is a very distinct volume drop in the middle of a song. I think it's "Ain't My Bitch", but the volume drop is maintained throughout the rest of the CD.

As for sheer this-is-garbage sound, I'd say the original release of St. Anger. Spending tons of cash to intentionally make something sound like a crappy garage recording is just f-ing dumb in my opinion. Didn't help that most of the sounds were crap to begin with though.

 

[Nakatira]

anything recorded after 1977

 

[leaningpine]

Vapor Trails by Rush. Vapor trails is nothing but a wall of overcompressed mush and I can't stand to listen to longer than 5 minutes. Atlantic was supposed to re-release a remastered version but I haven't seen it yet. The Exit... Stage Left DVD re-release is the same way, overcompressed wall of noise.

STP 4. Pretty loud mix with no instrument separation as well as brick wall mastering.

Death Magnetic, I felt sorry for the mastering engineer as he claimed he had no choice, he was forced to master it that loud, and I beleive it.

 

[dodgeaspen]

How about the remastered version of Bark At The Moon by Ozzy. I remember getting the CD when it became available and it rocked. The remastered version is weak and lacks any useable dynamics that the original had. Example, Now You See It in the original the sub drop on the drum was amazing, but nonexistent on the reissue.