Official "The Last Hero" Thread (pre-release discussion)

[fix]

A vinyl version seems like a waste of money to me.

I do understand you, I (almost) never buy physical media more than once.
I, personally, bought the gold vinyl for looks and because I want to support the band. I pre-ordered via iTunes, because I only play music digitally. I can't play vinyl's (yet?), but I also can't play CD's (and never need to), but I do like to have something physical to show for and for collection purposes.
So if it's only for looks and support, vinyl beats CD's because they are (much) more beautiful imo.

[abw1987]

I wish they would release the vinyl-mastered audio on CD or mp3. Chtimixeur is right about vinyl sounding better because the songs are not mastered to win the loudness wars. However vinyl is also inherently a medium with lower audio fidelity. If we could get the non-maxed-out audio in a digital format, we'd have the best of both worlds.

[psycosquirrel789]

CD, shirt and signed poster for $30... that's shockingly reasonable.

[chtimixeur]

I wish they would release the vinyl-mastered audio on CD or mp3. Chtimixeur is right about vinyl sounding better because the songs are not mastered to win the loudness wars. If we could get the non-maxed-out audio in a digital format, we'd have the best of both worlds.

+1
If only bands released dynamic masters of their albums...
Paul McCartney has understood that, and when he re-released some of his albums a few years ago, he offered 2 choices : brickwalled (limited) or dynamic (unlimited).
http://store.paulmccartney.com/mccartney/eur.php

So many great albums have been ruined because of bad mastering over the last 20 years.
If I want music to be loud, I have a volume knob, but I guess I'm in the minority here.

I would also love to have deluxe editions of with instrumentals. For instance, hearing Fortress' instrumentals made me appreciate a few songs I didn't care much about before.

However vinyl is also inherently a medium with lower audio fidelity.

Aside from inner groove distortion, I don't know what you're talking about.
CD has a 16 bit/44kHz resolution : it's never been an audiophile format, whereas vinyl has no limitations whatsoever. What's been recorded on the analog tape can be heard on the vinyl if you have the right gear (turntable, ADC, amp, preamp...), and I've seen vinyl rips that offered a 32 bit/192 kHz resolution.
A lot of vinyl rips done properly by amateurs sound way better than the official CD. The difference between the two is sometimes breath-taking.

[abw1987]

I'm no expert on vinyl, but from what I've read vinyl is theoretically capable of providing higher audio fidelity, in practice that's not really the case. I say theoretically because it's truly an analog medium so there are no artificial limits on sounds resolution, as opposed to CD amd mp3 which are limited to their respective resolutions. Realistically, vinyl is riddled with artifacts and distortions that generally sound pleasing to most listeners (often described as the "warmth" of the sound). So I guess the ideal medium would be a direct transfer from the source to some super high-fidelity digital format that exceeds even the theoretical limits of vinyl (i.e., the plastic molecules?), but I'm not sure such a format exists.

[chtimixeur]

Theoritically, you're right.
Sites like HDTracks and Qobuz are selling 24/96kHz files, but most of the time, it's a waste of space because the mastering is exactly the same as the brickwalled CD.
As far as I'm concerned, I'll take a 160kbps mp3 with a dynamic mastering over a 24/96 brickwalled flac file any day of the week.
It all comes down to the mastering, but for a reason I can't understand, every artist out there wants his music to be super loud.

[Nicklord]

A little off but I just want listenable versions of Californication and Death Magnetic


I figured out that the best sound I get is from vinyl rips played on my computer sound system. Don't know if it's actually true but my ear is pleased the most listening like that

[abw1987]

A little off but I just want listenable versions of Californication and Death Magnetic


I figured out that the best sound I get is from vinyl rips played on my computer sound system. Don't know if it's actually true but my ear is pleased the most listening like that

Not sure about Death Magnetic but the vinyl version of Californiation is on YouTube, and it's fantastic -- like hearing the whole album without earmuffs for the first time.

[Crumbso]

I lie somewhere in the middle. I think the attraction to vinyl lies not in the sound quality in terms of accuracy, more that it has 'a certain quality' to it in terms of how it is experienced. Especially as most of my vinyls are from the 70s/80s.

The problems with modern production are a multitude and almost certainly a result of option overload as well as just the loudness war.

There are many ways to ruin an album with compression/limiting at the mixing stage, let alone the layering stage. It's like everyone hears these albums of old, that are made with extreme technology limitations, and assumes if they used the same recording equipment it will sound better. Not so.

Even if this album was mastered for vinyl it would still sound very similar.

[AB23]

Love me some vinyls. Just the look to them. Retro, hipster

[Crumbso]

They're great. They stop you from flitting from song to song and just actually LISTEN to an album. Fucking brilliant when you got friends round too. You can all choose albums and look/talk about them. Plus, albums really just can't be too long 40-50 mins is perfect.

[chtimixeur]

A little off but I just want listenable versions of Californication and Death Magnetic

Metallica released a better version of Death Magnetic last year. You can buy it on their website, but the best version is the "mastered for itunes" one that was releaed on Itunes last year. The difference is quite big, even though it's still a bit loud (the dynamic range is now a DR7 instead of a DR3).

There was also a fan who remixed it. Google "Moderus 3.5".

As to Californication, you should look for the 2012 vinyl, or for the Teatro sessions from 1998.
https://www.discogs.com/fr/Red-Hot-Chil ... se/3971421

[willy5150]

The band just posted a new preview on YouTube. My champion.

[youknowverywell]

It's very similar to film. When a movie is shot digitally it will forever be limited to the settings on the video encoding. Trying to scale up a movie shot in 720p to 4K resolution would look awful because it's pushing the file way past its limits. Similarly, trying to screw with audio files when it was recorded and published as a certain file type would sound terrible. However, movies shot on film can be upscaled infinitely. A reel of film can be converted to 720p, 1080p, 4K, 5K, 8K, 1,000,000K, and look pristine and perfect. Music recorded to tape or pressed to vinyl (as opposed to being confined to digital settings) works the same way. There's no restrictions to the quality of tape or vinyl. The only real restriction is the technology we have for playback.

[AB23]

The band just posted a new preview on YouTube. My champion.

darn. Same preview as the one from before?

edit: oh never mind. You're referring to AB Peru's youtube channel. They posted that up last week

[willy5150]

Alterbridge 2016. Sorry not the band. I seen the Abperu, this one was just posted.

[SHEAKENBAKEN]

Alterbridge 2016. Sorry not the band. I seen the Abperu, this one was just posted.

Still the same preview.

[Timotheus]

Still hasn't been taken down... I guess they don't care. So curious about the chorus of that song.

[Mr. Slash]

Goddammit just release the fucking album. Now that I listened to that one crappy quality preview i want more.

[Nicklord]

Not sure about Death Magnetic but the vinyl version of Californiation is on YouTube, and it's fantastic -- like hearing the whole album without earmuffs for the first time.

Metallica released a better version of Death Magnetic last year. You can buy it on their website, but the best version is the "mastered for itunes" one that was releaed on Itunes last year. The difference is quite big, even though it's still a bit loud (the dynamic range is now a DR7 instead of a DR3).

There was also a fan who remixed it. Google "Moderus 3.5".

As to Californication, you should look for the 2012 vinyl, or for the Teatro sessions from 1998.
https://www.discogs.com/fr/Red-Hot-Chil ... se/3971421

Oh, didn't know Californication got rereleased. I have vinyl from 2000 (I think) and it's exactly the same as CD version. Will definitely try to find it now. Youtube rip seems awesome.


Hm, I saw that itunes version of DM but facebook posts weren't good. I guess I shouldn't trust them. Will torrent it before deciding on buying it