Comments for goodrob13.com - Rob's video guitar lessons and music blog

Comment on The Loudness War or: One Reason I Can’t Stand Most New Music by Zsolt

Zsolt — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:10:15 +0000

Hi!
With what software did you make the waveform images and determined the dynamic range?
I want to know how much my music sucks…
Did anyone ever made a website about CD releases and their quality?
I started listening to digital audio at the end of the nineties so I didn’t know about loudness war, until recently. I sometimes noticed distortions, especially in the sound of cymbals. But the new Pretty Reckless EP I heard recently was so brutally loud and severely distorted, that I started to search other people’s comments, and that is how I found out about loudness war. Since then the new Korn album seems very bad too.

Comment on The Loudness War or: One Reason I Can’t Stand Most New Music by Robert

Robert — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:08:39 +0000

Great post here. I also took a little while to discover the loudness wars too, quite often by ear-bleeding dizzy-making unwanted exposure to over-squashed music mush in shops. I often couldn’t listen to so squashed up releases much either…Sounded musical ‘alien’ to me, very dull with strange clicks & pops too…And those over-loud shouty vocals, boah…Utter horrible. Also seen how those songs look in an editor…Fat ‘square waves’ just about every time. But I wonder what one can do about this? Already complained to various labels to no avail…They don’t even reply! One can try a Declpper on already bought CDs like “SeeDeClip Pro” which is what I use, but this is not a 100% solution. Already joined TurnMeUp and Pleasurise Music with that Dynamic Range Meter. I realty call this sonic butchering not mastering at all. Somehow imagine that they put it all through a “brickwall limiter”…That they call mastering…Just shocking I sadly see no other solution that to boycott new releases…Amongst others I’m so sick of this destructive loudness war, and wished it ended for good! Sonic casualties amongst others, one can find in a database here: http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/index.php

Comment on Beatles Review – Abbey Road Remastered CD by gav

gav — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:22:41 +0000

Strangely enough my experience (dual quad 405/kef 105)is that the biggest difference is apparent when I am not formally listening – and that diff seems significant. Walk around the house and waft in and out of the listening room, catch the sound from the corridor etc and the overall impression is one of considerably more definition. Side by side it is definitely extremely subtle but I guess that is down to trying to use the conscious mind rather than subconscious cues. I am not sure whether some kind of aural exciters have been used to bring a false sense of presence but if not I think it is great job – to have added without apparently re interpreting the mix. I suggest a way of stimulating my what I experience is to physically move around as mentioned above – It seems to tune and stimulate one’s phase sensitivity and that probably probably stumulates further spacial interpretation – - I think

Comment on Beatles Review – Please Please Me Remastered CDs by Foxx

Foxx — Sun, 16 May 2010 21:30:09 +0000

Hi Rob, I enjoyed the reviews you posted when the Beatles albums were re-issued. Would love tou see you do similar things with the recent Lennon, Harrison and the upcoming McCartney re-issues… I for one do not like bonus tracks. This is a marketing thing. Bonus tracks in many cases were left off the original albums because they are not good enough. In fact, they are malus tracks…. Or they do not belong to the sessions of that album. John Lennons finest album (IMO) Plastic Ono Band was spoiled by the inclusion of Power to the people and Do the Oz, which were recorded later, and in yhe US rather than UK. Anyway, howaboutit?

Comment on Beatles Review – Please Please Me Remastered CDs by Town Crier

Town Crier — Sun, 09 May 2010 04:38:39 +0000

Sorry dude, there’s no “metallic distortion” on “Ask Me Why”. I’ve listened to your posted clip, and I’ve listened to the original CD’s themselves. It’s not there. What I do hear is a tiny bit more high-frequency on the 2009 version. No metallic sound though.

Comment on Beatles Review – Revolver Remastered CDs by heth

heth — Sat, 08 May 2010 22:21:30 +0000

Thansk for the reviews. A couple of observations:

The YSS and Love versions of Elenor Rigby suffer from the multitracks not being lined up quite right. In YSS the vocal lags, and in Love, part of the string quartet lags. I find both of these versions hard to listen to because of these problems.

Also, is it really fair to say that the mono mix has “lost” dynamic range compared to the 1987 CD’, when the original mono mix may have already had less dynamic range than the original stereo mix to start off with.

Comment on Juliana Hatfield Concert Photos 2005-2008 by Links - Beginners Guitar Lessons

Links - Beginners Guitar Lessons — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 12:07:54 +0000

[...] Juliana Hatfield Concert Photos 2005-2008 – This is my last post for Juliana Hatfield week on goodrob13.com. I hope you enjoyed it! My first Hatfield concert was in mid 2004 at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC. Since then, I've seen her perform live six more times throughout NYC and NJ … [...]

Comment on Bass Lesson – Come Together by The Beatles by Julian

Julian — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 02:54:31 +0000

thax man this is really cool lessons,
plz upload more lessons on bass
i like your wep page
XD

Comment on Beatles Review – Revolver Remastered CDs by Jim

Jim — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:44:13 +0000

Did you compare some of these versions to the Love CD versions? For example, how would you compare Eleanor Rigby from YSS to the version on Love? I realize that Love had more aggressive remixing, but what about the sound for the main part of the song? I think the Love CD versions trump even the YSS mixes in terms of sound, which is understandable as they were given more license and it was 7 years later.

Comment on Guitar Lesson – Little Pieces by Juliana Hatfield by Tony

Tony — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:53:16 +0000

Hey Rob good choice for Juliana, she was hanging with Evan Dando back then wasnt she they were a great pair. Never thought of learning this stuff but I will now.

Comment on Bass Lesson – Rain by The Beatles by goodrob13.com – Rob's video guitar lessons and music blog » goodrob13 – My Tweets for 2010-02-28

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:03:01 +0000

[...] new video bass lesson: how to play "Rain" by The Beatles. Enjoy! http://goodrob13.com/2010/02/26/bass-lesson-rain-by-the-beatles/ [...]

Comment on Juliana Hatfield Concert Photos 2005-2008 by Rob

Rob — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:09:36 +0000

Thanks! I’ll get back on track soon and will try to post some Made in China lessons.

Comment on Juliana Hatfield Concert Photos 2005-2008 by jules

jules — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 06:14:17 +0000

dude you’re awesome. now get to work on the made in china stuff!!! LOL xoxoxoxjules

Comment on Beatles Review – Please Please Me Remastered CDs by Brian Maxwell

Brian Maxwell — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:07:45 +0000

Rob, do you also hear staticky clicking at the end of the versions of She Loves You on Past Masters and Mono Masters? During the last lines of the song. The version on Mono Masters has it especially bad during the final “yeah yeah yeah yeeeeaaaaahhh”. Sounds almost like a needle bouncing around on scratchy vinyl.

Comment on The Beatles Mono vs. Stereo (Remastered CDs Coming Sept. 2009) by Modica

Modica — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:53:10 +0000

Good job on this post! It’s nice to see somebody who knows what they’re writing about.

Comment on Beatles Review – Revolver Remastered CDs by Modica

Modica — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 21:50:05 +0000

Good job on this post! It’s nice to see somebody who knows what ther’e writing about.

Comment on The Beatles Mono vs. Stereo, Part 2 by Jacob Windstein

Jacob Windstein — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:29:05 +0000

Hi there I bought the stereo albums individually and the mono box set. I’m a completist, what can I say? Well I know what I can say…..Stereo is way better than mono. I could only pick 2-3 songs per album that are better in mono except for the first four albums which were intended for mono. Stereo rules after beatles for sale except rubber soul. I know that might seem a little hapharzard and that’s because there’s good and bad in both and I have playlists that actually mix mono and stereo to my ideal tastes. Either way stereo wins 99% of the time.

Comment on Beatles Audio Clips – Revealing Mistakes and More by BCM

BCM — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:46:43 +0000

Two things:

* I’ve always assumed that “ahh” in “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” was a punch-in artifact — an earlier vocal take that was (mostly) covered up by the subsequent punch-in.

* Thanks for clearing up that “Slow Down” line. I’ve always tried to figure out what John’s mistaken double-track was there, but never could quite make it out.

Comment on Beatles Review – Please Please Me Remastered CDs by Rob

Rob — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:14:24 +0000

Hi Brian, you’re exactly right, it sounds like the mono master tape was crinkled in a bunch of spots throughout “Ask Me Why.” In terms of sound quality, the version on the old 1987 CD sounds almost identical (minus the crinkled tape distortion, of course), so why didn’t the engineers just clean up that version for the 2009 remastered CD instead?

Comment on Beatles Review – Revolver Remastered CDs by Ruben

Ruben — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:54:00 +0000

Excellent comments on the various Revolver versions Rob. I noticed that the 09 Stereo version(and perhaps the Mono too – I’m not sure) has fixed the tape drop-out at the beginning of “Got to Get you…” You can hear the drop-out on the ’87 (the long, held brass note in the intro). Haven’t checked my vinyl, which I purchased in the early 80s…