How Do The Melvins Rank In The "Loudness Wars"?

[meezer]

......and do you care?
http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list?artist=Melvins&album=

[Rusty Shackleford]

http://productionadvice.co.uk/youtube-loudness/

Youtube has moved to loudness normalization, and now it's easier for everybody to hear and hopefully understand that making music as loud as possible actually makes it smaller compared to music with more dynamic range. 

There is a ceiling and nowhere to go but squashed.  Music is NO FUN when treated like commercials.  I think everybody can hear and feel the effect of music with a relatively large dynamic range, even if they are ignorant to the reasons why. 

[DC]

Guh. Mixing everything in the red is awful. They got the radio going 24/7 with a mix of bro metal, bro country, and class ic rock in a 7/5/1 ratio. Every time a Skynyrd song comes on they dime is so it can be heard over the cacophony then Tobey Keith's newest date rape country jam comes on and it peels the paint off the walls.

ASA is definitely the loudest album they have.

[Rusty Shackleford]

http://prorecordingworkshop.lefora.com/topic/19406090/Is-Youtube-Ending-The-Loudness-Wars#.VQxs6Bg8KrU

Here's a discussion on Terry Manning's excellent Pro Recording Workshop forum about the YouTube change. 

Btw, among a life of Top Shelf music accomplishments, Mr. Manning is responsible for the perfect edit between ZZ Top's Waiting for the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago. 

[Chief Ten Beers]

IMO all of the Melvins albums (on CD) sound great. Stoner Witch & aSA are slightly brickwalled though. You know how you tell? Play the CD on a stock vehicle stereo, the Tom Waits test. That's how he checks to see if his CDs are mastered right. If you have to turn the bass 1 notch down past mid-point for it to sound good, then it's brickwalled. Simple as that.

I'll take jacking up the bass on "Bullhead" or Karp's "s/t" any day over bass/low end clipping where you have to turn it down for it to sound right.

[Bro Hammer]

I love the tape saturation you can get on cassette recording nosey stuff but other than that I think recording in the red just fucking sucks. I'm tall so I need plenty of head room. I wonder what Hold It In comes in at? It's funny that Bullhead is perfect and that's the album people bitch the most about for it being too quite (myself included).

[(the) Razor]

I find it quite fun to turn up Jesus Lizard's Goat record which sounds amazing, but it is annoying having to turn it back down when something else comes on after.

I think the issue is not only loudness but how it is mixed too. Personally I think Melvins best is Stoner Witch whether it is maxed or not. No album can touch that in terms of recording and drum,vocals, bass and guitar placement. Even the wine glass sounds amazing on that record. I think the studio gear on that must've had a pretty big budget and access to high end equipment...even after 20 years of modern advancement Melvins records do not sound that good.

I find that Secret Chiefs 3 also mix their work very well. Their live album (Billy Anderson I believe) is one of the best live recordings I've heard. Oh and California too is sublime.

[Dumpster D]

There was a time when Music was actually made by people playing instruments.

[meezer]

There was a time when Music was actually made by people playing instruments.

In lab coats?   

[Rusty Shackleford]

It's funny that Bullhead is perfect and that's the album people bitch the most about for it being too quite (myself included).

It's only quiet relative to the music around it.  Bullhead breathes, and its dynamic range is a big reason why that record is still completely captivating and has so much depth to the image. 

[homeless_dad]

Recently listened to Houdini again on my car stereo and was impressed how well it sounded.  The sound level is quality.

[black stallion]

Personally I think Melvins best is Stoner Witch whether it is maxed or not. No album can touch that in terms of recording and drum,vocals, bass and guitar placement. Even the wine glass sounds amazing on that record. I think the studio gear on that must've had a pretty big budget and access to high end equipment...even after 20 years of modern advancement Melvins records do not sound that good.

[Rusty Shackleford]

I think the studio gear on that must've had a pretty big budget and access to high end equipment...even after 20 years of modern advancement Melvins records do not sound that good.

A&M, one of the world's great studios.  Add to that Garth Richardson and Joe Barresi and you've got a good chance for great sound.  I bothered Mark D before a County Bucks show and he mentioned that Mr. Barresi was most responsible for the sonics of Stoner Witch. 

[Bro Hammer]

It's funny that Bullhead is perfect and that's the album people bitch the most about for it being too quite (myself included).

It's only quiet relative to the music around it.  Bullhead breathes, and its dynamic range is a big reason why that record is still completely captivating and has so much depth to the image.

Exactly. It's only when played in a shuffle with other music that it gets to me. Everything else is so loud! Bullhead on it's own though, when you can crank it on a decent stereo is exactly "captivating". It has and will probably always be my top Melvins record.

I don't wanna get off topic but one of those Stoner Witch type albums for me that imo is recorded well and sounds amazing is the first QOTSA album. I have a buddy who's an engineer and he always uses that album to A/B his mixes.
I agree though that regardless of it's apparent lack of dynamic range Stoner Witch is one of the best sounding albums out there.

[Rusty Shackleford]

I don't wanna get off topic but one of those Stoner Witch type albums for me that imo is recorded well and sounds amazing is the first QOTSA album.

Joe Barresi made the first Qotsa album too.