[kj] "Absolute Dissent": The Loudness Wars

[Tabazan]

I wonder if they are panning it from listening to a few tracks on Youtube
(and an MP3 download)?

The difference between the pre release version I "acquired" and the released
CD is huge . . .


On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 10:29 PM, Paul Wady <paulwady at hotmail.com> wrote:


>  Nothing wrong with AD!  What are they going on about?

>

> Consider - Big Paul's victorious driving drums at the end of Raven King?

>

> The driving guitars background to In Excelsis, the kinda wall-of-sound ones

> in the background?

>

> The sheer detail of the environment that is Ghosts of Ladbroke Grove?

>

> The floating quality of European Super State?

>

> The beautiful metal rasps at the start and the breaks of Endgame?

>

> What do they want?  Perfectly good production I think.  ALL THOSE LITTLE

> DETAILS THAT MAKE FOR GREAT?  I think they struck a good balance away from

> Hosannas and closer to KJ2003 me self?

>

> Killing Joke is not some sort of Stock Aitken and Waterman.  It is a raw,

> real 5 piece.  Kylie survives on great production!!  Linkin

> Park...............

>

> Rough edges are everything.

>

>

>

> *THE SCENE: BRITANNIA ROW.  THE BOYS ARE DEBATING THEIR LATEST WORKS.*

>

>

> *JEREMY:*  Oooh, Kevin dear, do ask the nice sonic production engineer to

> boost your upper G chords by one fifth of their tonality?  It will so

> improve the overall timbre and production of our work.

>

> *GEORDIE:*  **** off you ponce.....

>

> *YOUTH: * Just hide his lithium mate.  Tee hee....

>

>

>

>

>

> From: folk.devil at hotmail.com

> To: gathering at misera.net

> Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2010 11:24:55 -0700

>

> Subject: Re: [kj] "Absolute Dissent": The Loudness Wars

>

> There's a difference between rough edges and crap recording. Extremities

> might as well have been d/i to their home stereo..

>

> ------------------------------

> Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2010 11:03:46 -0700

> From: saulomar1 at yahoo.com

> To: gathering at misera.net

> Subject: Re: [kj] "Absolute Dissent": The Loudness Wars

>

>  > Extremities - abomination

>   I say *Nyet* on that, for the same reason - "Rough edges are nice,"

> - among others.  I think if they would've cleaned it up any further it

> would damage the album.

> That said, on certain songs ("Extremities..") the range of volume level (or

> whatever music techs call it) between loudest and softest parts

> (redundancy 4 emphasis? ha!) is enough to startle some listeners and maybe

> even affect the speakers if they're already turned up pretty loud. That, I

> think should've been improved.

>

>

>

>  ------------------------------

> *From:* folk devil <folk.devil at hotmail.com>

> *To:* gathering at misera.net

> *Sent:* Wed, October 27, 2010 10:45:55 AM

> *Subject:* Re: [kj] "Absolute Dissent": The Loudness Wars

>

> Hosannas - abomination

> Extremities - abomination

> Fire Dances - abomination

>

> My biggest gripe with KJ production is the bass treatment.

>

> I'll give AD a 7 or 8 out of 10.

>

> However, I typically hate really squeaky clean production. Nor do I like

> 'mastering' that is effectively tubing the whole thing to constant loudness.

>  Rough edges are nice.

>

> ------------------------------

> Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:18:30 -0400

> From: vassifer at earthlink.net

> To: gathering at misera.net; gathering at misera.net

> Subject: Re: [kj] "Absolute Dissent": The Loudness Wars

>

> "the production is an abomination."

> These fools obviously never listened to HOSANNAS.

> Alex in NYC

>

>

>

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: Rheinhold Squeegee

> Sent: Oct 27, 2010 1:14 PM

> To: Gathering Gathering

> Subject: [kj] "Absolute Dissent": The Loudness Wars

>

> Not interested in starting a flamewar here since the answer is pretty

> subjective, but I've been seeing a lot of comments from YouTube, Amazon etc.

> where a few very indignant individuals insist that while "AD" may be decent,

> the production is an abomination.

>

> Most interestingly, they cite KJ (1980) as an example of "good" KJ

> production when, to me, it sounds like it was recorded in a fish tank down

> the hall. I have also seen "HFTBOH" cited as well-produced, when it's

> obvious (again, to me) that they just drove the needles into the red and

> left them there. Very one-note with no subtlety at all.

>

> I get the whole "Loudness Wars" thing, but that's a mastering, rather than

> production, issue, isn't it? CDs have a set peak and you can only give the

> perception of exceeding that peak through signal compression.

>

> I'll be the first to admit that I'm deaf as a post, but this album "sounds"

> as good as any I've heard. I have been able to pick out levels of nuance in

> songs like "Ghosts of Ladbroke Grove" that I had never experienced with

> another KJ disc. I have listened to it loud in the car, at normal room

> volume, and with headphones.

>

> I have always appreciated the "chaos" of their sound and I would never want

> to experience KJ with the type of clinical separation that I hear in the

> (limited) amount of modern metal I've actually listened to. I like the fact

> that they sound like they're in the process of falling off a cliff. KJ

> (1980) wouldn't have the same resonance if it had been produced under better

> circumstances.

>

> Is there anyone on this list with expertise in recording and production who

> can comment?  Can someone who thinks "AD" sounds bad reccommend a similar

> disc that they think sounds "good"? What KJ albums *are* well-produced?

>

> Discuss.

>

>

>

>

>

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