Distortion in Certain Songs

[Michael McAllister]

Is it normal for artists to add tons of distortion to their music, or is something wrong with my audio equipment?  The Red Hot Chili Peppers, for example, and their album Californication have always sounded distorted, primarily in the bass, on certain songs no matter what I've heard it on.  Has anyone else experienced this with certain bands?  Imagine Dragons' song Radioactive is one of the bigger offenders of this distortion effect.

 

I honestly don't think it's a problem with my audio equipment, but I figured I would ask.  Make sure that I'm not going crazy. 

[Enderman]

Could be clipping...
try to turn your PC sound level down to about 50% or whatever media player you are using

[Michael McAllister]

Could be clipping...

try to turn your PC sound level down to about 50% or whatever media player you are using

 

Followed your advice; still does it even on low volume.

[Fluxx]

Followed your advice; still does it even on low volume.

Where did you buy their album from?

[Pomfinator]

You're not crazy, and it's not fixable at your end. It's a problem with the production of music itself.

 

The answer is basically, loudness war, 99% of songs these days hit the 0db limit, it's just a fact at this point.  Intersample peaking will occur, this would all go away if everyone decided to make their max peak -3 dBFS but no~ the record companies won't have that. I mean we want our song to sound louder on the radio guys, I mean radio totally isn't being killed by Bluetoothing your phone to your car or anything right?

 

Californication also has terrible dynamic range, it's highest DR rating is 6 and the average is 4.  I know the DR rating doesn't mean everything, and makes you feel insecure about music, but IMO 4 in a song that is not EDM is just ridiculous.

[Michael McAllister]

Where did you buy their album from?

 

Spotify subscription; 320 Kbps Ogg Vorbis

[Fluxx]

Spotify subscription; 320 Kbps Ogg Vorbis

Yeah Pomfinator is right it's just the why the songs were produced.

 

If it bugs you that much you could try a lossless version usually they are less distorted then the compressed versions.

[Michael McAllister]

You're not crazy, and it's not fixable at your end. It's a problem with the production of music itself.

 

The answer is basically, loudness war, 99% of songs these days hit the 0db limit, it's just a fact at this point.  Intersample peaking will occur, this would all go away if everyone decided to make their max peak -3 dBFS but no~ the record companies won't have that. I mean we want our song to sound louder on the radio guys, I mean radio totally isn't being killed by Bluetoothing your phone to your car or anything right?

 

Californication also has terrible dynamic range, it's highest DR rating is 6 and the average is 4.  I know the DR rating doesn't mean everything, and makes you feel insecure about music, but IMO 4 in a song that is not EDM is just ridiculous.

 

Well, that sucks.  I guess the good news is nothing is wrong with my audio equipment.  Did this start taking place in the 80s?  Some of the 80s rock songs have this affect too although not to the extent of Californication.

[BoredErica]

Californication is like the prime example of what NOT to do.

[SSL]

The distortion in Radioactive deliberate. Distortion is a purposeful effect applied to a lot of electronic instruments:

 

http://www.amazon.com/b?node=11968421

[Michael McAllister]

So my only option really is to listen to soundtracks or anything that mainstream consumers don't really give a shit about?  That's hilarious in a sad kind of way. 

[Pomfinator]

Well, that sucks.  I guess the good news is nothing is wrong with my audio equipment.  Did this start taking place in the 80s?  Some of the 80s rock songs have this affect too although not to the extent of Californication.

Late 80s is generally the starting point, it didn't start getting really bad until the late 90s though I think.  Californication was also terrible even by loudness war standards.

 

If it bugs you that much you could try a lossless version usually they are less distorted then the compressed versions.

No amount of lossless will save you from the loudness war.  It saves you from distortion that is caused by throwing away data, not from distortion that existed there to begin with.

 

The distortion in Radioactive deliberate. Distortion is a purposeful effect applied to a lot of electronic instruments:

Yes most of the distortion is deliberate, it's simply amplified by how fucking loud the song is.

[Pomfinator]

So my only option really is to listen to soundtracks or anything that mainstream consumers don't really give a shit about?  That's hilarious in a sad kind of way. 

These days only classical is not loud enough to hit 0dBFS.  Still gems exist, even in mainstream pop music.  The fact that Daft Punk still exists warms my heart, Get Lucky and it's popularity gave me faith in humanity.  Oh and if anyone should buy anything from HDTracks, American Idiot is by far one of the best choices.  A redemption remaster from Ted Jensen himself.

[Michael McAllister]

Does this pretty much mean any "Remastered" album has probably been ruined to all hell?  Most of the Led Zeppelin tracks on Spotify, for instance, are Remastered.

[SSL]

These days only classical is not loud enough to hit 0dBFS.  Still gems exist, even in mainstream pop music.  The fact that Daft Punk still exists warms my heart, Get Lucky and it's popularity gave me faith in humanity.  Oh and if anyone should buy anything from HDTracks, American Idiot is by far one of the best choices.  A redemption remaster from Ted Jensen himself.

 

Classical hits 0dBFS.

 

 

Does this pretty much mean any "Remastered" album has probably been ruined to all hell?  Most of the Led Zeppelin tracks on Spotify, for instance, are Remastered.

 

That's why a lot of people like vinyl.

[Pomfinator]

 

Does this pretty much mean any "Remastered" album has probably been ruined to all hell?  Most of the Led Zeppelin tracks on Spotify, for instance, are Remastered.

It really depends on who did the remaster, like HDTracks American Idiot is great like I said above.  Most of the time, it will be louder and have decreased dynamic range, like the 30th Anniversary Edition of Screaming for Vengeance, ohh emm gee why would they ruin an album like that is beyond me.

 

Classical hits 0dBFS.

 

That's why a lot of people like vinyl.

Well, not all the time, at least not in any classical I've listened to.  Unless you can give me an example of classical that is as loud as a modern pop song.

[Michael McAllister]

Classical hits 0dBFS.

 

 

 

That's why a lot of people like vinyl.

 

So I have a nice amp, nice headphones, but shitty source music.  FML  *sigh*  My ears are sad.

[SSL]

Well, not all the time, at least not in any classical I've listened to.  Unless you can give me an example of classical that is as loud as a modern pop song.

 

Classical isn't heavily compressed of course, but the peaks do close in on 0dBFS.

[Pomfinator]

So I have a nice amp, nice headphones, but shitty source music.  FML  *sigh*  My ears are sad.

Don't put yourself down like that.  Listen to what you like.  "Audiophiles" would look at my library and tell me I'm sacrilegious, and I just tell them to fuck off, I listen to what I want.

[Michael McAllister]

Don't put yourself down like that.  Listen to what you like.  "Audiophiles" would look at my library and tell me I'm sacrilegious, and I just tell them to fuck off, I listen to what I want.

 

I do listen to what I like, but apparently what I like is unfortunately distorted to all hell thanks to this loudness war.

On a side note, this sounded amazing on my HD 600s.

[Lutkeveld]

You're not crazy, and it's not fixable at your end. It's a problem with the production of music itself.

The answer is basically, loudness war, 99% of songs these days hit the 0db limit, it's just a fact at this point. Intersample peaking will occur, this would all go away if everyone decided to make their max peak -3 dBFS but no~ the record companies won't have that. I mean we want our song to sound louder on the radio guys, I mean radio totally isn't being killed by Bluetoothing your phone to your car or anything right?

Californication also has terrible dynamic range, it's highest DR rating is 6 and the average is 4. I know the DR rating doesn't mean everything, and makes you feel insecure about music, but IMO 4 in a song that is not EDM is just ridiculous.

I thought loudness war was crestfactor related?

[watts300]

The fact that Daft Punk still exists warms my heart, Get Lucky and it's popularity gave me faith in humanity.  

Why is that?  

 

(Not sarcastic. I sense there's a technical reason behind it given the nature of the thread.) 

[Pomfinator]

I thought loudness war was crestfactor related?

It's both, boosting the average level of a song to the point where you have to start clipping because the peaks are going above 0dBFS is bad.

 

Why is that?  

Get Lucky has very excellent dynamics, RAM as an album in general is very well mastered, proof to record companies that you don't need to crush songs into a limiter to make them popular.

[SSL]

I thought loudness war was crestfactor related?

 

It is. Generally most music peaks within 1-3dB of 0dBFS to make full use of the available dynamic range, except now pop is mastered to peak AT 0dBFS which causes clipping when converted to lossy formats with quantization error and other issues.

[Lutkeveld]

It's both, boosting the average level of a song to the point where you have to start clipping because the peaks are going above 0dBFS is bad.

 

Get Lucky has very excellent dynamics, RAM as an album in general is very well mastered, proof to record companies that you don't need to crush songs into a limiter to make them popular.

 

Boosting? Mixing right? As I understand it, the average level gets higher (so crest factor gets lower) which makes the sound more 'compressed' -> loud sounding.

You can't go above 0dBFS, because then you're just raising 'FS'.