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Re: Bob Ludwig talks a little bit about mastering Chinese Democracy
Saw this over at MSL's site. I just recently started browsing over there.
Skip to around 6:30. Bob Ludwig talks about mastering CD, that Axl had it mastered a few places before coming to him and that Axl was not willing to back off of having a dynamic sounding album.
Original thread on MSL's site. http://mistersaintlaurent.proboards.com … hread=8851
Quite a few interesting threads and info there from time to time....
Re: Bob Ludwig talks a little bit about mastering Chinese Democracy
Ludwig says Axl had CD mastered in "quite a few places" before coming to him, which is really a suitable piece of the album's lore. Picture this; Azoff, Uni and BestBuy come to a deal, November launch, big money. Everybody wins. They turn to Axl... who's still running around wild trying to put the album together, running the final mixes through multiple mastering houses. If there ever was an "obsessive genius" period, Axl sure as hell plowed through it with CD.
Bob's reactions are cute; note his expression as he puts away from the CD intro. The dude may consider Axl to be a bit loony (now when's that ever happened), but he appears sincerely fond of his work on the album, nor is he sounding embarrassed about the musical side.
- Me_Wise_Magic
- Rep: 70
Re: Bob Ludwig talks a little bit about mastering Chinese Democracy
Not directly related, but that's what I've always said: If you can get the average person to put ALLLLLLLLLL the baggage aside that comes with CD, they'll more often than not tell you that it's a good rock record.
I concur. That's what some of my friends told me when i showed them most of the record. A ton of people have warmed up to it and said they liked it after a couple years of being released.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Bob Ludwig talks a little bit about mastering Chinese Democracy
Interesting.
The "soft" master is highly noticeable when compared to other modern records.
For my part, in general, it's non-pc to say, but I tend to appreciate loud masters in rock music.
The hipsters talk about dynamic range but to me that's best left for classical music. Seriously where's the "soft" moment in having a rock band in the room with you? The 100w marshall amps? The scream Axl would pull out? The slight pain as a guy like frank hits the snare or cymbal.
I don't buy it.
There used to be soft moments in records only because there had to be. If you recorded drums how drums actually sounded you'd have no headroom left for anything else on the record...so you had to have them quiet. But in real life rock music is loud. So turn it the fuck up - forget about dynamic range and go to town is what I say 
Re: Bob Ludwig talks a little bit about mastering Chinese Democracy
Interesting.
The "soft" master is highly noticeable when compared to other modern records.
For my part, in general, it's non-pc to say, but I tend to appreciate loud masters in rock music.
The hipsters talk about dynamic range but to me that's best left for classical music. Seriously where's the "soft" moment in having a rock band in the room with you? The 100w marshall amps? The scream Axl would pull out? The slight pain as a guy like frank hits the snare or cymbal.
I don't buy it.
There used to be soft moments in records only because there had to be. If you recorded drums how drums actually sounded you'd have no headroom left for anything else on the record...so you had to have them quiet. But in real life rock music is loud. So turn it the fuck up - forget about dynamic range and go to town is what I say
Seems to me like you don't understand what the "loudness war" is all about.
Or you just give the impression you don't understand. If that's the case, my apologies! 
This video explains the concept pretty clearly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPwqhJhDjYI
The are many many parts on many ChiDem-tracks that would sound very different had it gone through the "loudness war" process.
Thank God Axl is a stubborn guy!
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Bob Ludwig talks a little bit about mastering Chinese Democracy
Nah I get it I just don't necessarily agree.
Well actually I agree when they go too far like on death magnetic.
But I don't agree more dynamic range is always good in general.
To me it seems like in that video, the whole songs original mix is dictated by those drum hits. They maxed out the level and so everything else had to be made quiet to accommodate them. But that mix doesn't at all reflect what the band would be like in real. Would the drums hit that much louder than the other instruments in person. I feel like it's eccentricities of the recording process that we used to be stuck with but now can avoid.
I'd rather the mix where everything is prominent like it would be in real, even if that means the drum has less punch...what this video doesn't mention is when you turn it up yourself to hear the other stuff that was recorded soft...the drums can become too loud...or distort your speakers....it's not always good to have range.
What is the actual reason it's good to have really soft bits and really loud bits in a song? Makes sense in soft classical music - but does it make sense for megadeth? The video says it's better cos a loud mix sounds flat when you reduce it's volume...but I don't listen to music very softly either.
