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Added by Jeff on Sept. 17, 2008 51 comments
In this shot, he's all "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYY!"
Though my ears aren't tuned enough to always tell the difference, I've never been a fan of audio compression--it's technology that mashes the dynamic range of a recording down, reducing the highness of the highs and the lowness of the lows, spitting out audio that fits in the middle of the spectrum and doesn't have huge peaks. The benefit is that these tighter waveforms can be made a whole lot louder.

That brings us to the "loudness wars," where you have people who prefer the full dynamic range of a recording versus a group who just wants it to be loud as hell. I don't really understand the argument in favor of loudness, as that's why most equipment has a fat volume knob on it. But this process is something that we struggle with a bit here at Giant Bomb--if you ever wondered why our podcast used to be quieter, it's because we were still figuring out how to properly compress it.

OK, I think I got all that right. Now, here's where it ties into games. There's been a raging fire out there on the Internet concerning Metallica's recent release, Death Magnetic. As I'm not in junior high anymore, I haven't heard the new album, but apparently it's loud as hell. And it's been completely smooshed down to a tight and not-very-dynamic range in the process. Audio nerds went bananas, online petitions were started.

But the album was also released as a download for Guitar Hero III and will also be available for Guitar Hero: World Tour. And apparently the version released there doesn't "feature" any of the harsh digital clipping and problems that the CD release has.

This makes sense, as Guitar Hero and Rock Band get access to the masters and are able to manipulate the tracks in different ways. For example, you've probably noticed that the guitar parts in Guitar Hero are usually louder than the rest of the song so you can better hear the parts you're playing.

Mastering Engineer Ian Shepherd takes a look at audio from both sources on his blog, with interesting results. He's also been tracking the uproar about the quality of the released album, complete with quotes from someone involved with the mastering of the album who shifts the blame off to the band and producer, Rick Rubin.

As a result of all this, illegal copies of the Metallica album, recorded off of a game console, are now swimming around the darker portions of the Internet.

Loudness wars aside, do you feel that we're heading for a future where a game console is going to be one of the best places to listen to (and interact with) music? Or are you too busy listening to 112kbps MP3s through the crappy headphones that come with an iPod to even care about things like "sound quality" and "dynamic range?"

48 Comments

Milkman
on Sept. 17, 2008
I'll stick with iTunes and music that is not Metallica. Thank you very much.

marbig
on Sept. 17, 2008
I thought that it would be the other way around, and GHIII would have the smooshed down version.

LethalKi11ler
on Sept. 17, 2008
lol ur not first emandudeguyperson
Whens the Rock Band: Name group   coming out?

j_meyer_13
on Sept. 17, 2008
I don't think consoles will be the best for listening to music, unless you're setting up custom soundtracks for Madden or something.  People like their mobile music.  And I would definitely pick sound quality over file size/loudness...as I sit here typing this listening to the Giant Bombcast on my crappy mp3 player with $10 headphones.

RBecho
on Sept. 17, 2008
I can't stand the reduced dynamic range that modern recordings seem to favor. I would much rather they provide us with a slightly softer recording with better dynamic range that I can just boost on my amp.

Zuul
on Sept. 17, 2008
I dont think that my ears even work well enough to tell any sort of dynamic range anymore.

Spencer is online
on Sept. 17, 2008
Game consoles will always be the best place to actually interact with music, but for just listening to the music I would say the best place for that is just a standard PC with some great speakers.

TheWolf619
on Sept. 17, 2008
I'm not much of an audiophile, as apparent by my mp3/podcast listening on my PSP. lol
Yes, Jeff, we do exist. ;-)
But if the sound quality of an album is going to be better via Guitar Hero/Rock Band, that's all right by me.
I think the games are the one place I want the sound to be really good. MP3's, and what not, not so much. weird, I know.

Aas
on Sept. 17, 2008
"As I'm not in junior high anymore, I haven't heard the new album."

Tschji, burn!

glasswall52
on Sept. 17, 2008
I am in total favor of full range over compression, I was really disappointed when Radiohead's "In Rainbows" came out for download but it ended up only being 192kbps. But I also am a digital guy and understand the necessity of compression. The same issue is applied with digital photography, a raw photograph contains too much information for modern monitors to display, they are also very large files, so they need to be compressed. When compression is done correctly, you can't tell the difference because it's only getting rid of information you wouldn't be able to see/hear anyway. To compress correctly, you need to have a target audience in mind, 192kbps might sound fine for the person with the stock iPod head phones, but total ass to someone with $90 headphones. I think it would be great if digital music download services like iTunes would offer the highest quality product possible then offer compression options for you to choose yourself. I want the maximum sound quality I cant possibly get out of my zune (yeah I have one and I love it), but I wouldn't be able to handle the raw format of each song I listened to because they would all be 10x the file size of a normally compressed mp3.

Anyway, the point is that people are still excited about Metallica, which is crazy. But what's even more crazy is that it's the same demographic of people it's been for the last 20 years, is it a requirement that you like Metallica in middle and high school and then forget about them after that stage in life?

Reynolds
on Sept. 17, 2008
I'm currently listening to a 7 inch on my turntable.  Extrapalate from that whath you will.

Vilrak
on Sept. 17, 2008
I check out both versions and its true, the cd version (which i purchsed) is alot louder but  worse quality. If you crank the guitar hero 3 version up to the same volume it sounds amazing in comparison. 

Oni
on Sept. 17, 2008
Right, I care about sound quality, in that I will invest in quality headphones and mess with equalizers, but am not a complete audiophile, and even I can hear that Death Magnetic sounds pretty smoshed, and I haven't even listened to it much (also not in Junior high anymore, when I was actually way into Metallica). Especially the drum stuff just sounds clipped, at least I think that's the clipping I'm hearing. Pretty dumb, especially because, as said, you can use volume knows to make stuff louder.

Terrell
on Sept. 17, 2008
I think people take this sound quality thing TOO far. As long as it sounds good and doesn't hurt my ears or anything when I hear it, then thats good enough for me.

AngeTheDude
on Sept. 17, 2008
I can't believe how musically snobby some of you are, GROW UP!

Anyway, I have the album, and I love it. It's like Metallica is finally back. The audio mastering is REALLY poor though. There is serious audio clipping and noise on some songs. Hopefully they fix it somehow.

DualReaver
on Sept. 17, 2008
You're right, to hell with good sound quality. I want all my CDs to be made up of 96ks.

killawogg
on Sept. 17, 2008
 i think its a consoles games or just the console it self is a viable means to listen to music but as far as im concerned with all the consoles drm it never feels like i own the music like i do witha a cd.
.always quality over loudness like you said turn the volume up on the machine, i can hear it clipping in certain songs but not in others , probably cause im getting old and been to many concerts in my time that its killed my ears but its still not enough to detract me from the  album, also  really the only thing that i noticed was the the snare drum although not as loud as st anger  its still noticeable.
 i enjoy the cd and the gh3 version too  if you like metallica im sure your not going to notice it but yes its there ,  to bad cause its really not that bad of an album with all things considered for metallica .  

 to my ears the best recorded metallica album was an justice for all  i love the way that sounds

Everyones_A_Critic
on Sept. 17, 2008
I downloaded through "alternate means" like three weeks ago and I think it sounds fine. I didn't really notice a difference in sound.

I'm not going to outright defend the band as if it were my child, so whatever. If there was sound issues on the disc then shame on them. I play the game version through a shitty TV anyway but I didn't notice a difference.

chris43234
on Sept. 17, 2008
I think that 320kbps is about the max quality for someone who is not an audiophile, it really comes down to the cost vs. benefit situation (the cost being file size). Sure you could play your huge uncompressed files with terrible speakers, but does it really make sense? People need to figure out what makes the most sense for their setup, and go with that. Therefore, retailers such as iTunes do need to offer tracks in a variety of sound qualities, so that people can get what they really want/need.

As far as interaction with music, for pure listening purposes, game consoles probably don't make the most sense unless you have the console hooked up to a nice speaker system, or else you will still not be hearing the music at a great quality regardless. For music games, of course consoles will be the best since they were designed with games in mind.

DavidSnakes
on Sept. 17, 2008
Metallica, I didn't know anyone still cared.



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