I might be able to hear the DIFFERENCE if I could get a copy of Guitar Hero and play them back to back, same as hearing a CD on really nice stereo headphones will sound better than the cassette in my old Sanyo boombox.
But I’ve never listened to the Metallica album (on any format) and thought, “Damn this digital clipping!!!” or really noticed anything “wrong”.
I guess I’ll have to wait for some 20th Anniversary re-issue of this album to finally “hear it properly” . . .
I guess I’ve never been an “audiophile” either, though. I remember being in a Best Buy or something one time and the home audio guy was giving a demonstration of some amazing hi-fidelity super clear stereo system with top-of-the-line speakers and such. He was like, “Isn’t it incredible!? Doesn’t it sound amazing?”
I just looked at him, “This is Sting. It’s gonna sound like crap no matter what you do to it.”
I find him pretty lazy these days. He can bring out some cool ideas from some people, but sometimes not. His production isn’t what it used to me. In the 90s, the guy was a beast. Now, he’s just that guy who shows up every now and then, naps on your couch, offers a couple opinions, then leaves. And there’s a definite “loudness” in the mixes. But, to me, it’s just a name to print on the cds to get some attention. And when he does do something, he assumes louder is better.
I doubt Rubin had anything to do with that. For whatever reason it seems that everything today is engineered to be excessively “loud” as if audio systems don’t have a volume control.
Nah, it was definitely Rubin’s thing. Apparently it was a big problem on Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Californication” too (I wouldn’t know, I don’t like them). You can even hear it at the end of Johnny Cash’s “Hurt”. Some folks have bitched about it on the new Sabbath too, I guess, but it didn’t bother me there.