Metallica in Muddy Mess Over Sound of New Music was a top story for August. Enjoy our 2008 news rewind as you read the story again:(antiMusic) Deja vu: Metallica releases new music and rampant complaints about the sound quality follow. Metallica are embroiled in a new controversy reminiscent of the infamous "St Anger" backlash over the sound of Lars' drums which many said sounded like he was banging on pots and pans not drums. Now the new Metallica single "The Day That Never Comes" is under fire for sounding like mud.Blabbermouth has an extensive report on the issue, here are some highlights: Norwegian music industry magazine Faro Journalen downloaded one of the versions Universal Music released to the press via its digital promotional database. The magazine then sent the file to Lasse Svendsen, editor of Norway's hi-fi magazine Lyd & Bilde (Sound & Vision). Svendsen was shocked by what he heard.
"Oh my God, this is unfortunately a classic example of how bad things get when studio technicians and musicians gets to play with expensive compressors and limiters," he said. "The file is a 313 kbps AAC sound file, which isn't necessarily that bad, but someone has chosen to maximize the volume with a compressor, so much so that the whole sound file just sounds like mud. The cymbals sound like broken glass, the drums like trees cracking, and the guitars — which are mixed equally loudly — sound like someone shoved a screwdriver into my ears." - more on this story
