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New Radiohead Album kicks @ss

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Sludge - let me know in 2 months when you analyze the final release.

I have no doubt this has a little more processing to go through before it is pressed in volume, but the sound on the tracks I have is incredible.

EtOH
 
Originally posted by: dolph
can someone post a track listing with times? thanks
Click to expand...


Blatantly Ripped from ateaseweb.com forums:

every mp3 is encoded at the rate of 192 kbps and at the frequency of 44,100 kHz

# / length / size (bytes) / name

01 / 03:24 / 4,906,603 / 2+2=5
02 / 04:15 / 6,124,066 / Sit Down. Stand Up
03 / 04:28 / 6,435,080 / Sail to the Moon
04 / 05:31 / 7,961,624 / Backdrifts
05 / 03:30 / 5,052,611 / Go to Sleep
06 / 04:33 / 6,573,579 / Where I End and You Begin
07 / 04:58 / 7,169,164 / We Suck Young Blood
08 / 04:22 / 6,307,901 / The Gloaming
09 / 05:24 / 7,797,349 / There There
10 / 02:24 / 3,477,131 / I Will
11 / 04:55 / 7,085,164 / A Punch-Up at a Wedding
12 / 03:57 / 5,706,525 / Myxamatosis
13 / 03:23 / 4,895,138 / Scatterbrain
14 / 03:24 / 4,917,708 / A Wolf at the Door

Total size : 80,5 MB (84,409,643 bytes)
Total Time : 58:28 min
 
01) 2 + 2 = 5 3:24
02) Sit Down Stand Up 4:15
03) Sail to the Moon 4:28
04) Backdrifts 5:31
05) Go to Sleep 3:30
06) Where I End and You Begin 4:33
07) We Suck Young Blood 4:58
08) The Gloaming 4:22
09) There There 5:24
10) I Will 2:24
11) A Punch Up at the Wedding 4:55
12) Myxomatosis 3:57
13) Scatterbrain 3:23
14) A Wolf at the Door 3:24
 
After burning the album and listening to it once on my stereo, I'm left with a couple of impressions about the album
It's certainly not OK Computer, but it has the same sort of blend of electronic and rock, I really like it 😀
The mix is very open, Thom's voice really sings out on most of the tracks.
I don't want to call it too soon, but I feel that Radiohead had produced another incredible album, and I know that it's only going to get better each listen.
 
Originally posted by: SludgeFactory
Originally posted by: tweakmm
Radiohead has some good producers, I'm not so sure about that
Click to expand...
I'd agree with you that their albums are not as bad as some in that regard, in part because they do have a lot more dynamics in their music than the typical band and it simply doesn't allow for mega-compression. But I'm looking at tracks off the retail Amnesiac in Cool Edit right now, and they're compressed and pushed pretty hot. And they sound it. I've been listening to this new stuff for the last 45 minutes with no fatigue at all, which is a GREAT feeling.

Even if the artist or producer doesn't make the call to compress the hell out of it and push it to the point of digital clipping in mastering, the label will do it. It really is a shame, but that's the state of mastering across the board since the mid 90's basically.

The Death of Dynamic Range

I would be very surprised if the retail was not heavily compressed in comparison to the pre-master, and sounds worse. I'll hang onto this version and see in about 2 months 🙂
Click to expand...

Id tend to agree with you on that. Its possible that mastering has just finished at the studio, and this is where this copy came from. Its the CD manufacturing plants that "enhance" the glass masters for production. Jimi Hendrix's current re-releases for example, are mastered without clipping, but when they go to Sterling Sound, they get compressed beyond listenability.

 
Originally posted by: SludgeFactory
Originally posted by: tweakmm
Radiohead has some good producers, I'm not so sure about that
Click to expand...
I'd agree with you that their albums are not as bad as some in that regard, in part because they do have a lot more dynamics in their music than the typical band and it simply doesn't allow for mega-compression. But I'm looking at tracks off the retail Amnesiac in Cool Edit right now, and they're compressed and pushed pretty hot. And they sound it. I've been listening to this new stuff for the last 45 minutes with no fatigue at all, which is a GREAT feeling.

Even if the artist or producer doesn't make the call to compress the hell out of it and push it to the point of digital clipping in mastering, the label will do it. It really is a shame, but that's the state of mastering across the board since the mid 90's basically.

The Death of Dynamic Range

I would be very surprised if the retail was not heavily compressed in comparison to the pre-master, and sounds worse. I'll hang onto this version and see in about 2 months 🙂
Click to expand...

I think there's more to it than comparing waveforms though. Part of the reason for the increase towards 0 dB is the improvement in studio technology in recording and compressing, particularly with 24-bit digital recording being more popular than analog. You can make a dynamic sounding record that is very compressed. I agree in general that pushing the meters to the limits is a bad trend though (e.g. RHCP's last two albums, places in the album where it clips). I blame it on mainstream radio, who expect every new single to be pressed hot (partly to keep the noise floor down but also because people perceive louder music to be better). There are exceptions, like Radiohead's OK Computer - very compressed (looking like the last graphs) but sounding very dynamic. A lot of that has to do with the music itself.
 
Originally posted by: yellowperil
Originally posted by: SludgeFactory
Originally posted by: tweakmm
Radiohead has some good producers, I'm not so sure about that
Click to expand...
I'd agree with you that their albums are not as bad as some in that regard, in part because they do have a lot more dynamics in their music than the typical band and it simply doesn't allow for mega-compression. But I'm looking at tracks off the retail Amnesiac in Cool Edit right now, and they're compressed and pushed pretty hot. And they sound it. I've been listening to this new stuff for the last 45 minutes with no fatigue at all, which is a GREAT feeling.

Even if the artist or producer doesn't make the call to compress the hell out of it and push it to the point of digital clipping in mastering, the label will do it. It really is a shame, but that's the state of mastering across the board since the mid 90's basically.

The Death of Dynamic Range

I would be very surprised if the retail was not heavily compressed in comparison to the pre-master, and sounds worse. I'll hang onto this version and see in about 2 months 🙂
Click to expand...

I think there's more to it than comparing waveforms though. Part of the reason for the increase towards 0 dB is the improvement in studio technology in recording and compressing, particularly with 24-bit digital recording being more popular than analog. You can make a dynamic sounding record that is very compressed. I agree in general that pushing the meters to the limits is a bad trend though (e.g. RHCP's last two albums, places in the album where it clips). I blame it on mainstream radio, who expect every new single to be pressed hot (partly to keep the noise floor down but also because people perceive louder music to be better). There are exceptions, like Radiohead's OK Computer - very compressed (looking like the last graphs) but sounding very dynamic. A lot of that has to do with the music itself.
Click to expand...


You can pick up vinyl copies of Radiohead's albums and they arent compressed at all. The compression is done at the very end of the process, just before producing the physical CDs. Ive yet to see a sinlge copy of vinyl that has the clipped waveforms.
 
Originally posted by: yellowperil
I think there's more to it than comparing waveforms though.
Click to expand...
Without a doubt. The ears are the only way to judge, and everyone is different in that aspect. But I think looking at a solid block of noise masquerading as a "song" has a big impact and sort of allows you visualize the problem. It's pretty clear (to my ears at least), that things are way out of control.

Just as an example, I can take my CD copy of Appetite for Destruction, mastered in the mid/late 80's, and it sounds fine to me on headphones, on my fairly inexpensive home stereo, and all the cars I've tried it in. My brain has no trouble focusing on and listening to specific guitar tracks within songs (i.e. Slash's vs. Izzy's playing). That's a heavy record, but the neural fatigue that I get with modern recordings is not there. With new stuff, it's like an onslaught on your auditory nerves, it's not even an issue of being too loud. There's a point where the mix is too "in-your-face", and it seems we reached that a long time ago. My stereos all have volume knobs on them for a reason, and if I desire louder, I turn it up. Actually, with a nice, non-over-compressed album, I'm much more likely to crank it up and enjoy it.

I'm not saying that rock/pop albums should make full use of the 90+ dB dynamic range of CD's. That extreme range in volume would be ridiculous and very frustrating. But modern overcompression is just evil, it's an abuse of digital technology. My guess is that ALL the albums from this era that emerge as classics will be "re-mastered" at some point in the future when sanity returns. The last two Chili Pepper albums are infamous for good reason, and I've read in multiple places that Rush's Vapor Trails was absolutely slaughtered. This stuff is not coming out of the studio sounding like this.[/quote]
 
Originally posted by: HendrixFan
You can pick up vinyl copies of Radiohead's albums and they arent compressed at all. The compression is done at the very end of the process, just before producing the physical CDs. Ive yet to see a sinlge copy of vinyl that has the clipped waveforms.
Click to expand...
I'm glad you say that, because I've actually been considering getting a turntable for that reason. The things I've been reading online indicate that a) new vinyl pop/rock recordings are catered more to an audiophile market and are mastered better than CD's, and b) that it's not physically possible to compress the sh!t out of vinyl recordings like with CD's (the needle will jump out of the groove). I'm also holding out hope for SACD & DVD-A, but they will probably eventually figure out a way to screw that up too. As you said with the Hendrix CD remasters, this crap is happening to older classic stuff that gets the modern remaster treatment as well.

To get back on-topic within the thread, I do like this Radiohead album a lot. More organic, less processed, no singing through vocoders (I hate that stuff). The songs are still complex in structure like the last 2 albums, but the tracks seem more accessible. It's good to hear guitars, pianos, bass, and natural voice again 😀
 
Originally posted by: SludgeFactory
The last two Chili Pepper albums are infamous for good reason, and I've read in multiple places that Rush's Vapor Trails was absolutely slaughtered. This stuff is not coming out of the studio sounding like this.
Click to expand...
[/quote]
It's rather sad that labels are compressing mastered albums that have left the studio, over-compression really does ruin the last two RHCP albums. I feel for the artists as they have to sit and hear their work be butchered so it will be more "radio friendly".
 
I'm interested to see what other people think of the album
I'm on my 3rd listen and it keeps getting better and better, I think it encorporates a lot of the specific sounds from their past 3 albums(Idiotech, Pulk/pull Revolving Doors, Electioneering and Motion Picture Soundtrack)
 
Originally posted by: tweakmm
I'm interested to see what other people think of the album
I'm on my 3rd listen and it keeps getting better and better, I think it encorporates a lot of the specific sounds from their past 3 albums(Idiotech, Pulk/pull Revolving Doors, Electioneering and Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Click to expand...

Personally its getting better with each listen, I totally dig it.

EtOH

 
Ive had a little over a day to digest it, and Ive been listening to it quit a bit. Im very pleased with the album, it didnt hit me from the start the same way Kid A did, but its holding onto me as well as OK Computer.
 
Originally posted by: EtOH
Originally posted by: tweakmm
I'm interested to see what other people think of the album
I'm on my 3rd listen and it keeps getting better and better, I think it encorporates a lot of the specific sounds from their past 3 albums(Idiotech, Pulk/pull Revolving Doors, Electioneering and Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Click to expand...

Personally its getting better with each listen, I totally dig it.

EtOH
Click to expand...

Soo true, good thing ive got my ticket to Glastonbury so I can see em LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Originally posted by: EtOH
come on Fausto, Stone Mountain was an amazing show. Idioteque reverberating off the mountain was killer.
Click to expand...
I completely agree that it was a great show, but you have to admit the weather was awful. I might as well have been swimming it was so damn humid. 😉

 
I am interested in listening to this new album...I have no clue how/what usenet is. Will someone PM me with help/maybe a place to DL the album? I have tried to DL and listen to a couple of songs from Kazaa but they are crap...like no audio but fuzziness. 🙁
 
Haha ...tried to get it throught usenet...and I had no luck..I read the tutorial and still dont get it! 🙂 I just used Kazaa to find them. Had to try a couple of times to get good files. I guess waiting a couple of days it leaked out a little farther. I am not a big fan of Radiohead. This was for my girlfriend. However, I thoroughly enjoy this record. It's got an edge that I like. The only other songs I really like are Creep, Paranoid Android..and prolly 2 more I can't think of. I however love their videos...all of them! Thanks guys/gals!
 
It's truly a wonderful album. It's nice to hear something real again. Apparently this leaked album is from February. Jonny, Colin, Nigel and others have said it is not the final release. There has been more mixing done since this version.
 
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