![]() ![]() In the Greatest Hits liner notes, it doesn't mention that the tracks were re-mastered for this release. In fact, it specifically credits all of the original mastering engineers. Featured on it were five tracks from the album: Parallel Universe, Scar Tissue, Otherside, Californication and Road Trippin’. In November 2003, the band released their Greatest Hits package. ![]() This disc is not essential, but it does contain a set of unique track variants that make it an important historical document. ![]() It seems as if during the mixing process, the band compressed the tracks before they sent them off to mastering, where they were compressed even further. The tracks on this disc have had a lot of compression applied to them, so it doesn't sound all that great, even if it is "unmastered". CD-R that seems to have been made at the very end of the mixing sessions. It was leaked in 2011, and is sourced from an in-house Warner Bros. But more about vinyl later.Ī side note: there also exists an "unmastered/unsequenced" version of the album. That was not the case with Californication's initial release. The 1999 vinyl and cassette releases are entirely forgettable, even in a world where the vinyl versions of albums are typically sourced from different, quieter master files, and sound much better than their CD counterparts as a result. These reasons are why many, many fans only listen to the rough mixes version of the album. ![]() The rough mixes version of Around the World scores a 10. The lower the number, the lower the dynamic range. Sparing the jargon, the program measures the general range of dynamics a song has. Not only that, but one can inspect a song's general "loudness" level by importing it into a tool known as the DR-Offline Meter, seen on this website. Towards the outro, it's just one big block of noise. The retail version, on the other hand, takes it to another level, almost to the point of ridiculousness at times. The rough mixes version is what an ordinary, major label rock band sounds like on CD. But, it’s not so quiet that you can barely hear it. The tracks have been converted to mono for ease of display.Ĭlear, right? The rough mixes version (aside from having an extended ending) has much more prominent peaks and valleys, leading to a bigger difference between quiet and loud sounds. This sort of thing can be visualised simply by looking at waveforms: below is the retail (that is, what you get when you buy the CD) version of Around the World on top, followed by the rough mixes version on the bottom. Simply put, the rough mixes are much “quieter”, and feature less digital distortion, which lets the music “breathe” a little more. While some musical differences exist, such as the added verse on Savior and the extra backing vocals during the outro of Easily, which will be explored more below, the main difference between the final release and the rough mixes is the level of the music. The CD-R also features what may be an alternative tracklisting to the album: I Like Dirt is the opener, much like it was when they played it live initially Parallel Universe is second and Road Trippin' is last, just like they are on the final album. For the purposes of this page I will refer to them as the “rough mixes”, but this version is what you’re listening to if you’ve downloaded an “unmastered” version of the album within the last fifteen or so years. It’s exact provenance is unknown, though as you can see on the postings here, it appeared not long after the album did there's even the suggestion that it's the version that Flea prefers, though that is unlikely. This was most likely sourced from a CD-R of rough mixes that the band made during the album’s mixing process at the Village Recorder in Los Angeles. Regardless, almost as soon as Californication was released, an “unmastered” version of the album leaked to the internet through the vast underground trading circle that existed at the time. But, it did sell 16 million copies worldwide, so maybe they knew what they were doing. It is frequently referred to as one of the worst sounding albums of all time, and is the poster child for the “loudness wars”. The album’s horrible sound has been the subject of much debate and focus. This is partly a result of work done by the mastering engineer, Vlado Meller at the request of the band and Rick Rubin, but also results from decisions made during the recording and mixing process. This means that not only have the dynamics of the audio been compromised, making every moment sound the “same” regardless of their volume, but that there also exists a heavy sheen of distortion across the whole record, especially in its busier parts. The initial CD release of Californication is, to put it kindly, brick-walled to hell and back. On the many different versions of Californication ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |