The Loudness War

[NeptuneNavigator2001]

That, my dear friend, would be the remastered version, with the "Feio" bonus track...  ...Yeah, that's the headache one...

...Yeah, I found it, but, uhm, like I said, well...  I had to uhh...  Well...  You know... -_- ...Yeah, I found it; I wish others could hear it too...  Kuu...

EDIT: Ehh, here's a picture of what the Columbia Jazz Masterpieces edition looks like (it's distinct, no mistaking it); I've checked all "buy" links for it, but they all seem to lead to the remaster - ARGH:
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/mil..._masterpieces_/
This is sad...

EDIT 2: And furthermore, for the record; Jazz musicians aren't the only ones who are picky about their music...  Now, I know he's done some Jazz stuff too, but, this guy's multi-genred; Bob Dylan is saying the same things about the new "remastered" versions of his albums, too; he doesn't like them the way they are now, and that they sounded better back then...

And, finally, everybody today that talks about Miles Davis and his time with Teo Macero, they all seem to think that Miles did what Teo wanted.  Take "In a Silent Way," for example.  Everybody seems to think - after hearing "The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions" - that Teo himself cut the fourty-eight reels of tapes, down to two, and played around a bit with what was left.  Actually, the reverse is true; it was MILES who didn't want all that extra stuff on the record.  There was so little left, that Teo had to take a piece from the beginning, and put it at the end - for both tracks!  "Shhh/Peaceful/Shhh" and "In a Silent Way/It's About That Time/In a Silent Way."  That's how Teo had to do it.  And, one of the most important things, is that, these people think that Teo just mixed the tapes, and that was that.  While it is true that Miles only came to the studio like, four times out of 29 years (The "In a Silent Way" thing was ONE of those times), Teo would always send Miles an acetate, or whatever, and he would say, "Do you like that Miles?"  And Miles would either give his approval, or disapproval.  Most people today, think that the opposite was true.  Well, it certainly is TODAY, but, that's not how it was back THEN!  If Miles didn't like it, they'd go back and do it again!

[Petrie.]

Ouch ouch ouch!  I had to add this after buying another cd.  This time it was Monty Python's Spamalot from the broadway musical.  I had mp3 copies of the songs and they sounded bad because they're so loud.  I figured it was the mp3 files (sometimes they clip after encoding from cds), so I went and bought the cd.  Its the cd that is bad...distorted, overcompressed garbage!!!!  Pirates of the Caribbean was bad...this is worse because there are lyrics and hard as hell to hear them!

[Kor]

Is that the current trend for music in general currently, mp3 & cd's or just sometimes done here and there?  I think in movies it is the current trend for some reason.

[Petrie.]

Yep, sorry to say it is the trend.  Keep your old 1980s copies of music, even if they seem quiet and somewhat flat in sound.  They won't be mastered loudly, overcompressed, and of a constant volume.  Generally speaking, classical music and movie scores are not hurt by this excessively loud music trend.

[Kor]

Sounds like it's better to stay away from music altogether.

[Petrie.]

Well, no just realize the trend and look for older releases when they're available (and probably for cheap too).  Like I said, this largely applies to the pop/rock/metal arena and even broadway stuff is getting loud.  I don't think I could live without music, so I just try to find the best recording.

[Kor]

& movies also, to my limited experience.  I guess the younger folks, and some older ones, all prefer things very loud & distorted.  Like movies having the music & sound effects louder then the dialog.

It does sound like what one has to do is do without, or find older versions of recordings, if they exist.

[Amaranthine]

This is even true with i-pod downloads.

I played a Evanescence song, "Lithium" and I kept the volume at just at "1" and I could hear it clearly and it wasn't too soft. A lot the music I have though is like that. Keep it at a low level and it will be okay, but even at a low volume level it can seem "loud".

[Kor]

I Still wonder why they do this for.

[NaNaNa]

Music showed signs of being totally commercial rather than a form of art back in the 80's. Now, almost everything's like that. The records just keep getting louder apparently because it sells better. Sure it could be a lot more meaningful a different way, but this sells more.

Go counterculture revivalists!