Gizmodo Australia » metallica

Metallica’s Lars ‘I Hate the Internet’ Ulrich Pirates His Own Album

Matt Buchanan — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 01:30:00 +0000

Metallica’s Lars Ulrich tries P2P: “I was like, ‘You know what? I’ve gotta try this.’ So we sat there, and thirty minutes later, I had ‘Death Magnetic’ in my computer. It was kind of bizarre.”

But that doesn’t mean you should. You’re not Lars Ulrich: “I was like, ‘Wow, this is how it works.’ I figured if there is anybody that has a right to download ‘Death Magnetic’ for free, it’s me.” Still, nice to know that nearly 10 years after his “Napster Bad” days, he’s finally figuring out what exactly he was waging a futile war against. Better late than never. [Blabbermouth]

Audio Engineer: Metallica’s Latest Album Sounds Better on Vinyl

Sean Fallon — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:20:00 +0000

Ian Shepherd, the same Mastering Engineer that claimed Metallica’s latest album sounds better on Guitar Hero III, has recently come out and said that even the vinyl version sounds better than the CD. Keep in mind that the heavily distorted tracks on the album are the result of an editing process that sacrifices dynamic range for an increase in volume. This philosophy on mastering CDs is based largely on a self-induced paranoia that sales will decline if the album isn’t loud enough. Some have even blamed the popularity of the iPod and its lo-fi earbuds for contributing to this problem.

Unfortunately, the vinyl was made from the same mix as the CD, so the distortion is still there. However, it is fairly standard practice to make separate masters for separate formats, and Sheperd’s analysis reveals that the analogue distortion on the vinyl tracks have less clipping (although the difference is minimal) compared to the the CD version. In reality, this is probably a moot point given the fact that a hardcore Metallica fan is far more likely to to dig up GHIII tracks than buy a turntable. However, even the thought of turning to vinyl these days further illustrates the point that record labels need to re-focus their attention back on quality. [Mastering Media Thanks Michael!]

iPod Taking Some of the Blame for Problems With Metallica’s ‘Death Magnetic’

Sean Fallon — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:20:00 +0000

If you purchased Metallica’s new album Death Magnetic, you may have noticed that it sounds like complete shit. But don’t blame Metallica, producer Rick Rubin or mastering engineer Ted Jensen—the real culprit here is Apple and their damned iPod. While the “loudness wars” have been going on since the late 80’s, the development of digital music and the iPod have heated things up.

Industry insiders claim that they feel the need to sacrifice dynamic range for increased volume because digital music makes it possible to squeeze all of the sound into a narrow, high-volume range. This temptation is pressed further when you try and optimise sound for the iPods crappy lo-fi earbuds. They are under the assumption that this drives sales. It is clear to me that the record industry needs to shift their focus from quantity and put it squarely back on quality. I mean—who are they trying to impress anyway? Do people really care who has the loudest album anymore? According to a recent WSJ article, even metal fans are complaining that things are getting out of hand. Do you agree? [Gawker via WSJ]

Audio Engineer Claims that Metallica’s Latest Album Sounds Better on Guitar Hero III

Sean Fallon — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:40:00 +0000

Mastering Engineer Ian Shepherd is among those who believe that the distortion Metallica fans have been complaining about since the release of Death Magnetic is not present in the Guitar Hero III version. As he notes: “In comparison, the released CD version is – to coin a technical phrase – smashed to f**k.” So who or what is to blame here? Shepherd believes that the album was the latest victim of the so-called “loudness wars” going on in the industry right now. That is to say, engineers are over-editing and sacrificing sound quality to achieve a higher level of louditude. The GHII version strips away the clipping and focuses more on dynamic range.

As a result of all this, the filesharing community is already hard at work breaking down the GH3 version to isolate the tracks. There is also a petition floating around arguing for a re-mix or remaster of the album—but they claim that the brick-wall limiting and compression was done before mastering, so they feel that it is basically a loss at this point. It’s a shame too because the music itself has been well-received. [Mastering Media via Music Radar via Wired and Petition]

Metallica Headphones Would Have Been Awesome in the ’80s Before We Knew What Dicks Metallica Were

Adam Frucci — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:00:00 +0000

Skullcandy and Metallica have teamed up to create these absolutely metal headphones, showing the world just how into a burned out, old-man rock band you are. Ride the lightning, bro! My recommendation: steal them, just like you steal Metallica’s music (OK, don’t really steal stuff, but still, screw Metallica). [Pocket Lint via SlipperyBrick]

Metallica To Embrace File Sharing?

Nick Broughall — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:16:38 +0000

How times change. Metallica, one of the major reasons why Napster was forced to shut up shop eight years ago have stated in an interview with Rolling Stone that they’ve been following Radiohead’s and Trent Reznor’s moves into online distribution with interest.

From the interview:

“We want to
be as free a players as possible. We’ve been observing Radiohead
and Trent Reznor and in twenty-seven years or however long it takes
for the next record, we’ll be looking forward to everything in
terms of possibilities with the Internet.”

Their upcoming album is their last on contract with Warner music, so the move into an online distribution world that cuts out the record company middleman would be very enticing for a successful band like them.

The interview also has a few other juicy nuggets, like their love for Guitar Hero and, in a way, their thoughts on record stores versus iTunes.

If Metallica are looking to make money through file-sharing their music like Radiohead and NIN, we could finally see an end to the madness, a reduction in piracy and peace on earth. Peace on earth with metal, that is.

[Rolling Stone]