METALLICA - Death Magnetic (Guitar Hero III version)

So...a bit late to the game...I finally got around to reading all the fan outrage over the Death Magnetic album that's been on the net for a while now. Specifically regarding the mastering of it being way too loud and distorted.

I received the flac files paulisme over at Demonoid.com made from Guitar Hero III several days ago.

Upon receipt of the FLAC files I unpacked them into wav files and then took a look.

I immediately noticed that these were actually unmastered tracks...amazing! Guitar Hero III is the unmastered album! There is still a bit of low level distortion, but that's actually in the mix, so there's nothing that can be done about that.

All the tracks were at varying levels...so the first thing I did was get each track sounding the same volume to the human ear. From there, I EQ'd it for clarity and matched the high end, low end and final mastered volume to that of Metallica's Black album. In doing all this, I was careful to ensure that there was no additional low level distortion that everyone hears throughout the official cd release.

Finally, I fixed all the song to song transitions...cleaned up the fade outs, removed a few pops and edited the two Suicide And Redemption tracks into one track to match the official release.

What you've got is the version the band should have released (well, a professional mix woulda been an even better idea, but that's another "project" all together).

MASTERED TRACK LISTING:
01. That Was Just Your Life
02. The End of the Line
03. Broken, Beat & Scarred
04. The Day That Never Comes
05. All Nightmare Long
06. Cyanide
07. The Unforgiven III
08. The Judas Kiss
09. Suicide & Redemption
10. My Apocalypse

Here is the link to the entire 167 MB zip file (320 kbps mp3s):

http://www.mainlineriders.com/steinhaus/Metallica-DeathMagnetic-GuitarHero-steinhausmastering.zip

The goal was making it fun to listen to and if the regulars over at the original Metal Sludge Gossip Board and Metallicabb board are to be believed then I have succeeded.

Let me know what you think.

later...Cliffy

Sweet. Thanks.

You need to give the "moderus" version a shot. Its fantastic.

Watch out Cliffy, Lars is coming for you!

Nice. Thanks dude.

Rex wrote:

You need to give the "moderus" version a shot. Its fantastic.

Yeah, I heard about that...he's been talkin' to me on that board about it, but so far I'm diggin' this the way it is a lot.

I may give that one a look over, too, though.

later...Cliffy

I'll check it out as soon as I get home!

Awesome job! I already notice a HUGE difference.

Maybe now I'll have a DM that'll play in my car without skipping. Still can't figure that one out...

It sound phenomenal. Now only if someone could fix up Justice a little bit.

sweet, your are awesome man.

xyz wrote:

It sound phenomenal. Now only if someone could fix up Justice a little bit.

Yes...no bass in the mix, what can I say except for at least we've had many years to adjust to that one.

later...Cliffy

xyz wrote:

It sound phenomenal. Now only if someone could fix up Justice a little bit.

Man, I love Justice's production. Love the drum-sound, too!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to downloading this. The GHIII mix I have is a bit too low for my ears, so if this version is higher that'll be sweet.

Now, what did you do with "Suicide & Redemption?" The GHIII mix has two tracks because of the different solos, right? How did you merge them?

Eyesore wrote:

xyz wrote:

It sound phenomenal. Now only if someone could fix up Justice a little bit.

Man, I love Justice's production. Love the drum-sound, too!

The drums are fine, and I've always kinda liked the bass-less sound. However, I would like to be able to hear the bass up front and not have to really listen for it.

Thanks, Cliffy!

Eyesore wrote:

xyz wrote:

It sound phenomenal. Now only if someone could fix up Justice a little bit.

Now, what did you do with "Suicide & Redemption?" The GHIII mix has two tracks because of the different solos, right? How did you merge them?

I cut and pasted between the two versions until I got it matching exactly with the official release (I was A-B-ing the official release the whole time until I got it just right).

later...Cliffy

Nice. A much better mix. I still find the overall sound levels to be too low, though.

Have you heard the mix I mentioned above Eyesore?

Rex,

No I haven't...I've spoken with him about it, though...I may give it a shot, but right now I'm good with this.

Eyesore,

It's the same volume as the Black album. Do a little reading online and you'll see that people have grown tired of the super loud mastering deal (hence the new GNR is the way it is). People are recognizing that louder is not better...sonics and dyamics are have been given new life again.

and your stereo has a volume knob.

later...Cliffy

I was asking Eyesore if he'd heard that version because on Moderus' first mix he tried his best to emulate what Metallica did on the record without making it distorted. I figured he'd dig that one.

Nice mastering job - not loud enough though - just kidding!!! I wonder if the "loudness wars" are why Steve Harris release Maiden's a matter of life and death unmastered.

I have some of the songs from Justice with the bass mixed in. They were on Jason's website many years ago, but I never got to dl them all.

kmorg wrote:

I have some of the songs from Justice with the bass mixed in. They were on Jason's website many years ago, but I never got to dl them all.

Yes, we WOULD like you to upload those songs. Thanks for offering, kmorg!

spectrefate wrote:

kmorg wrote:

I have some of the songs from Justice with the bass mixed in. They were on Jason's website many years ago, but I never got to dl them all.

Yes, we WOULD like you to upload those songs. Thanks for offering, kmorg!

They are ripped at 128kB though..... I'll see what I can do.

Don't worry about it Kurt. They are all here:

http://www.jasonizer.com/justice.html