Metallica’s Death Magnetic” Sounds Better In Guitar Hero. Lars Responds.

There have been quite a few complaints that the CD for Metallica’s latest album, Death Magnetic, has been mastered to sound too loud through compression and that the sound quality has suffered.

Fans say that the Guitar Hero release of Death Magnetic is of a much higher quality.

This picture shows a track from the Death Magnetic CD(above), compared to the same track in Guitar Hero(below). The Guitar Hero track has much more dynamic range, while the CD version has been heavily compressed and suffers from 'clipping'.

Ted Jensen, who mastered the album, admitted as much but claimed that he was not responsible for the poor quality. Jensen said “The mixes were already brick-walled before they arrived at my place. Suffice to say I would never be pushed to overdrive things as far as they are here. Believe me, I’m not proud to be associated with this one”

Metallica and Death Magnetic producer Rick Rubin initially refused to comment on the issue, but drummer Lars Ulrich recently spoke out. “Listen, there’s nothing up with the audio quality,” Ulrich said. “It’s 2008, and that’s how we make records. (Producer) Rick Rubin’s whole thing is to try and get it to sound lively, to get it sound loud, to get it to sound exciting, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Of course, I’ve heard that there are a few people complaining. But I’ve been listening to it the last couple of days in my car, and it sounds f**kin’ smokin’.”

Well there you have it, Lars has spoken. The problem is not with the album, but with the people complaining. It’s *supposed* to sound like crap… how else would it sound lively, loud, and jumping out of the speakers? Clearly the whole concept of allowing a listener to use volume controls is far too outdated.