A comparison of Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean' with the 25th Anniversary version 25 years later.
A serious mess in the mastering of the later version. We do the numbers.
How about these for starters...52,703 clipped samples in the left channel, 61,823 clipped samples in the right channel. How is that a good mastering job?
The original was 9db lower in level, but nobody accused it of not being loud enough. A perfect example of half witted arrogance gone amuk. Isn't it great that we can analyse things today with great software tools and be able to back up what we hear with cold hard numbers?
The bottom line? Do it right, and forget about trying to be louder than everyone else. Some have suggested that we have a limit like the broadcast limit of -23LUFS.
Not a bad idea, but in the meantime, we can have fun seeing who won't hesitate to destroy their own music in the 'Loudness War'.
I picked this album as an example of the eighties. It just happened to be a great example of bad mastering 25 years later. See Mastering Audio Issues #1, #10, #11. All great albums the first time around, destroyed by bad mastering, even though mastering equipment is much better.
A serious mess in the mastering of the later version. We do the numbers.
How about these for starters...52,703 clipped samples in the left channel, 61,823 clipped samples in the right channel. How is that a good mastering job?
The original was 9db lower in level, but nobody accused it of not being loud enough. A perfect example of half witted arrogance gone amuk. Isn't it great that we can analyse things today with great software tools and be able to back up what we hear with cold hard numbers?
The bottom line? Do it right, and forget about trying to be louder than everyone else. Some have suggested that we have a limit like the broadcast limit of -23LUFS.
Not a bad idea, but in the meantime, we can have fun seeing who won't hesitate to destroy their own music in the 'Loudness War'.
I picked this album as an example of the eighties. It just happened to be a great example of bad mastering 25 years later. See Mastering Audio Issues #1, #10, #11. All great albums the first time around, destroyed by bad mastering, even though mastering equipment is much better.
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