The official RHCP website has revealed the covert art for the new album, Stadium Arcadium, which will be released on May 9. The new single is Dani California (which is available for prelisten in the official site).



For the people who already listen to Dani California: what's your opinion on the new single?

I think the new single Dan California is great. I heard it from the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUYuNqc0T_g

What I really like about it is the last solo, it has that flanger sound, then it goes into an amazing solo that really makes the end of the song.

i didnt really like it when i heard it the first time but its grown on my a bit. Not sure about how the album will be baced on that song.

My fav song is still Cant Stop by a long way.

I liked it very much, and the video with the impersonations (Kurt Cobain) was good, right up when they do themselves is the best. Great sound; the whole band are masters!

The album will be here soon, and sadly, as with the previous two RHCP albums, the mastering has been done by Vlado Meller. He has gone the hyper-compression route again, although the album sounds better to me than By The Way and Californication, in the case of the later, how can't it sound better?

Today I bought the Australian Dani California CD single, and it shows the same hyper-compression mastering style that non-fans of Vlado Meller do not love. I have created a petition regarding having RHCP's Warner CDs remastered, the petition is here.



It obviously includes a heap of clipping, and a clipping related glitch so noticeable even non-audio geek (is that the right term?) fans are complaining about it. See:

Yes, it's sad that this is the on-going trend in music industry. This problem has been discussed for years now between broadcasters, but no apparent solution. IMHO, it would only help if major broadcsaters (as well as buyers) would simply reject buying and playing hyper compressed CDs.

The sad truth is that this trend actually came from radio. People abused (and still do) improvements that were made in FM audio processing. Instead of having cleaner audio, the mentality of "louder is better" somehow set in and some PDs demanded the processors to be cranked to the max (or very near). Then others followed and then suddenly we had record producers wanting CDs to "sound like radio". The mastering engineers are pretty much helpless here. They can only make recommendations to not go the loud route and preserve quality and dynamics, but it's ultimately the decision of the one with the money in hand - producers...

Bob Orban and other processing designers are also helplessly watching their boxes being abused.

Whenever this topic comes around, I recommend the following two articles - maybe education will ultimately help? Fingers crossed

The first article (Over the limit) is by Rip Rowan from www.prorec.com:
http://www.prorec.com/prorec/articles.nsf/...6256C2E005DAF1C

The second article is co-authored by Bob Orban (from Orban) and Frank Foti (from Omnia) called "What Happens to My Recording When it’s Played on the Radio?"
http://www.orban.com/orban/support/optimod...e_Truth_1.3.pdf

Lastly, it's worth reading these comments taken from Mastering forum:
http://www.digido.com/portal/pmodule_id=11...dder_page_id=51


Regards,
Goran Tomas

P.S.

Btw, also like the new single!

Hopefully the CD is filled with more good stuff like that!

I find that if I am able to explain the issues to people on the RHCP fan forums, that many of them will understand what I'm saying, and support my position. I think this is a case of the major record companies under rating their fans. It really annoys me because I love this music, but the last 3 RHCP albums have sounded like varying degrees of bad.

The Rip Rowan Over the Limit article is one I direct a lot of RHCP fans to in order to understand the issue. I wasn't familiar with the other two articles so thanks for those.

Some good news regarding Stadium Arcadium, the vinyl version is going to be mastered by Steve Hoffman straight from the 30 IPS master tapes. Warner will be releasing two versions, a 4 LP 150 gram set, and a 4 LP 180 gram limited edition deluxe set.

Too bad, never expected so much clipping!

So the album came out yesterday, the 9th. Any further analyzations or thoughts on the mastering or otherwise regarding the quality of the cd? I've only listened to a small portion of the cd and I like how it contains a lot of the funky elements that made BSSM so great, but also the musical maturity of BTW. Plus a lot of extra heart and love me sensi. I'm not sure what to be listening for regarding the quality of the mixing (and/or) mastering of the album. any pointers or examples?

I was just discussing the LOUDER IS BETTER thing with a friend on IRC last night (Thursday), so I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered this thread a few minutes ago. That Rip Rowan article was fantastic, although I have to say I'm disappointed in what happened to Vapor Trails and that yes, I noticed the quashed sound and ruined dynamics when that album was released - Rush is my favorite band of all time.

Oh well, we're all going deaf it seems, so the recording industry is just helping us out.

I use Replay Gain on all my encodings to a level of 92dB, just up from the "industry standard" of 89dB because I don't consider it that severe and, for most of the CDs that I have encoded to FLAC, they're too damned loud anyway, with consistent levels above 96dB. The 92dB I chose helps with the older stuff that barely peaked at 89dB also, like Genesis - Genesis which I encoded to FLAC earlier tonight. At the default levels, it was just weak compared to anything current, but at 92dB with the others, I never have to touch the volume at all.

I miss the truly dynamic stuff, really. Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms is still at the top of most peoples "best sounding CD/best recorded CD" lists, mine included. It's my definitive CD for any and all listening tests that I do because it really is that well done considering it's been out for 20 years plus now. Simply amazing piece of work which will stand the test of time.

bb

I encourage anyone who wants to hear a good version of Stadium Arcadium to buy the vinyl LP version.

It was mastered by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray straight from the 30 ips analog master tapes. And has been mastered to preserve the dynamic range on those tapes (it is being presented on 4 LPs, so only about 15 minutes per side).

It will obviously be a much better version of the album than the hyper-compressed CDs. So I think we should buy the vinyl edition to show Warner Bros. that we care about sound quality. Sell your CD edition if need be, and have the LP version transfered to CD if you want to hear Stadium Arcadium wtihout the hyper-compression.

Even Warner Bros. executives have called the vinyl test pressings "The definitive version of Stadium Arcadium"

I'm not sure if it's funny or not that the vinyl gets the high quality release. It's certainly annoying.

I have had Stadium Arcadium about a month now and is a bit dissappointing IMO. Some tracks are OK but the production quality is poor. Could have made an OK single album. Not recommended!

I completely agree with you. But I am at least happy that it is receiving a proper mastering treatment. I am happy that if a person wants to they will be able to go into a store and hand over money for a well mastered version. The same can't be said other recent RHCP albums like the Warner Bros. Greatest Hits, By The Way and Californication.
I really like the music, I don't think it is fair for us to analyse the sound quality so much at this stage. My reasoning for that is simple, the hyper-compression has ruined the mix of some songs.

I am going to hold final judgement on sound quality until after I've heard the vinyl version.

I think its entirely fair to criticise the quality considering this is marketed and sold as a CD. I paid something like £12 for mine and it was the first Chilli's album that i have bought. If there is a better mastered version then this compressed stuff should never be released IMO. Suppose its all about the money but this smacks of a sell out. If the producers/artist's don't care about the quality then I for one will not be buying any other Chilli's material. Will just do a download as the quality won't matter Yes i agree that music is first but surely you have can both

Oh I certainly think it is fine to criticise recent RHCP CDs, I do that more than most people!

But I don't think it makes much sense to make aesthetic judgements about the sound mix based on a badly mastered CD.

I agree that that is currently the only available form the music is in, but when the LPs come out there will be a different story to tell.

I wish the mass released CD version offered the best quality as well. But the whole industry seems to think that the CD release is the lowest common denominator version. That is obviously terribly sad from my perspective, but I'm just glad to have the opportunity to buy a properly mastered version, the same can't be said for the previous two RHCP albums.

"For people to steal a poor sound quality version because some asshole put it on the internet is sad to me." Flea, RHCP.

Well Mr Flea, you didn't hear the CDs final mix then did you? Garbage in, garbage out.

The recording / mastering quality is a bit of a red herring here. The real problem with Stadium Arcadium is that the Chili's have forgotten how to write a decent song and have churned out a load of banal "dad rock" instead.

I'm glad I stole this off the net instead of buying it.

Yeah, I pointed out the irony of Flea lamenting lossy compressed files, when the mastering is so bad.

I'd point out though that the mix seems to be fine. In fact the vinyl mastering engineer was amazed at how good it was.

Here is an image comparing the vinyl mastering (top) to the CD mastering (bottom) of three songs on Stadium Arcadium.

A picture paints a thousand words.

I've bought the CD (the week it came out actually and barely listened to it) but I'll certainly try and find the vinyl version via p2p. What a crazy situation.

That capture was created by the mastering engineer. They played back a test pressing on the lathe that was used to cut the master, then fed the signal through their (very expensive) analog to digital converters, then fed into the computer...

What I am going to do is buy the vinyl, then complain to Warner Bros. that the CD sound quality sucks. At least they are giving us a properly mastered copy which will just show up the CD for how bad it is.

Sorry to hijack but are there any Mars Volta fans here? They're touring with RHCP this fall. Also I hope that Vlado Meller guy doesn't touch TMV's new album they're working on with some RHCP members.

just wanting to breathe a small amount of life in this thread--

so apparently the vinyl has been released; has anyone else made their conclusions of the sound quality? Possibly found a digitized version of the vinyl? that's probably an illegal question, I will gladly buy the vinyl, unfortunately its not as portable as cd/dm. You would think that the absolute best quality would be found on the latest medium, but such is the irony of our age progression and capitalism. wah

to Estimated Prophet: I am a mars volta fan, can't wait to see this duo this fall...probably albany or quebec city......also a dead phan

I don't think Meller mastered the 2nd Mars Volta album, but he did the first cos it was a Rick Rubin production.

Comparison of LP and CD of the song Stadium Arcadium

It's nice to finally hear the song get progressively louder - as intended.

Stadium Arcadium from LP

Stadium Arcadium from CD

Many people are dissapointed with the sound quality of the last three RHCP albums on CD. In this thread I have provided some MP3s that compare the CD version of Stadium Arcadium, with the the same excerpts taken from the vinyl LP version.

The transfer from LP to digital was performed with a good turntable, and a professional CD recorder. I have WaveGained the files so they are roughly the same loudness (generally we perceive louder sounds to be of higher quality, hence it is only fair to ensure both samples are close to the same loudness when comparing them). However, this means the MP3 samples will be a lot lower in volume that listening to the CDs directly. If you want to compare the samples at the regular CD loudness, turn up your volume control!.

I encoded the files from WAV to MP3 using LAME 3.97, with the setting " -V5 --vbr-new "

REMEMBER: The samples feature 45 seconds from the CD, 5 seconds of silence, then the same 45 seconds from a digital transfer of the vinyl LPs.

1.) DANI CALIFORNIA
2.) SNOW (HEY OH)
3.) CHARLIE
4.) STADIUM ARCADIUM
5.) HUMP DE BUMP
6.) SHE'S ONLY 18
7.) SLOW CHEETAH
8.) TORTURE ME
9.) STRIP MY MIND
10.) ESPECIALLY IN MICHIGAN
11.) WARLOCKS
12.) C'MON GIRL
13.) WET SAND
14.) HEY
15.) DESECRATION SMILE
16.) TELL ME BABY
17.) HARD TO CONCENTRATE
18.) 21ST CENTURY
19.) SHE LOOKS TO ME
20.) READYMADE
21.) IF
22.) MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER
23.) ANIMAL BAR
24.) SO MUCH I
25.) STORM IN A TEACUP
26.) WE BELIEVE
27.) TURN IT AGAIN
28.) DEATH OF A MARTIAN

I encourage EVERYONE who is interested in hearing Stadium Arcadium at its best to buy an LP version! Doing this will show Warner Bros. that we care about the sound quality of RHCP's albums, and are dissapointed with the poor quality of the CDs. We are effectively being ripped off, personally, that annoys me!

The vinyl can be transfered to CD if that is more convenient, but it will mean you get to hear the album in the best quality possible.

The vinyl can be bought from several online stores:

AcousticSounds 150 gram180 gram
ElusiveDisc 150 gram180 gram
Amazon (U.K) 150 gram
And of course: eBay

How about if someone with a high quality LP to CD transfer sold the copies on ebay with genuine copies of the CD with it?

I saw an LP transfer on a private BT tracker around the time Stadium Aracadium came out. I didn't download it myself, but people said it was better than the CD version.

But really, I'd rather see someone do a needle drop on Californication. Please oh please someone with expensive equipment.

sorry for the ignorance, but why does something like this happen on a particular album, but not on another? the Chili Peppers are on of my favorite bands and I hate to think I'm not hearing them the best I possibly can.

All RHCP albums since "One Hot Minute" are badly mastered, though Californication is arguably the worst, and tops most peoples "worst mastering" list.

The CD was mastered by Vlado Meller (avoid him like the plague if you can), while the vinyl was mastered by Steve Hoffman, who has a name for being an "audiophiles' engineer". Ironically the best possible way to listen to RHCP is buying the vinyl, or, of course, seeing them live.