Page 1 of 5

The Worst Mastered CD Release You ve Encountered

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:26 pm
by Pibroch_Archive
I'm talking mainstream releases (maybe the reissues sound great, but not these) that you can't believe made the racks.

I stole my mom's CD copy of We Sold Our Soul For Rock 'n' Roll just so I could hear "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" in the car since my iPhone doesn't seem to work with my Pioneer deck... I almost had to turn it off. It sounds like it was mastered for CD directly from the LP, which was mastered from a second generation tape.

I'd like to give special mention to the first CD release of Aqualung here as well.

The Worst Mastered CD Release You ve Encountered

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:27 pm
by SecondEdition_Archive
Raw Power. (Not because the Iggy mix is totally shit - I like the versions of "Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell" and "Shake Appeal" - but because he tried to change history (alternate vocal on "Gimme Danger"; unforgivable), and because he put shittarific digital distortion on many of the guitar parts.)

The Worst Mastered CD Release You ve Encountered

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:01 am
by Johnny C_Archive
Born In The USA has aged so, so terribly.

The Worst Mastered CD Release You ve Encountered

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:29 am
by Arson Smith_Archive
The first CD releases of The Residents "Not Available" (on ESD and Torso).... whoa, ugh. "Muddy, murky, & hissy" don't even begin to describe it (although those kind of make the thing even creepier sounding than it already is!)... So I have a kind of a love/hate relationship with that.

The Worst Mastered CD Release You ve Encountered

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:43 am
by Narangator_Archive
Elvis Costello - my aim is true
Not so bad but even Rhino remasters sound like a vinyl rip. Looks like rats ate the master tapes.

The Worst Mastered CD Release You ve Encountered

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:40 am
by h8 m0dems_Archive
beach boys stuff remastered into stereo.

The Worst Mastered CD Release You ve Encountered

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:44 am
by scott_Archive
I think it's either Voivod's second album, RRROOOAAARRR, or maybe one of Sepultura's first two albums.

Well hell, almost anything that came out of Morrisound or was on Roadrunner in the mid or mid/late 80's sounded like ass. Wonderful, horrible, cassette-walkman-cranked-going-deaf ass.

The Worst Mastered CD Release You ve Encountered

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:26 am
by bellulah_Archive
firstly, good call on the beach boys mention.

secondly, my picks are green day's "american idiot" and the latest white stripes record.

thirdly, mudcrutch got all that press for including a cd with the vinyl copy which was produced straight from the vinyl masters. my question: is it this easy? i mean, if any of us told the mastering folks it was being mastered for vinyl, then just took those masters and put them on cd instead, would that sound good?

just a thought...

The Worst Mastered CD Release You ve Encountered

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:17 am
by MF_Archive
That Voivod album always sounded like ass. I don't think anything could save the production on it. Not that that would stop me from listening to it, of course. I'm still listening to the same store-bought cassette copy that I picked up when it came out. For some reason it has been sitting in my car for about the last 4 years so if I don't have my iPod or don't feel like listening to the radio, I usually reach for that.

The Worst Mastered CD Release You ve Encountered

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:47 am
by choppy_Archive
Anything and everything on SST.

Are We Not Men?