CD's Released after after year 2000 That Are "NOT" Compressed/Brickwalled/Loud

Walter Becker's Circus Money (released 2007?). Mastered by Bernie Grundman, right? Nice and smooth on the ear!

Musically though, one of the fastest ones to land in the "To sell" box! Reggae auto-pilot groove... A pale follow-up to his first album...

 

I feel its a good CD and I enjoy it....I have the factory reel to reel also so I do have something besides the first cd edition to compare it with. I bought the 2001 remaster on the basis of the Amazon reviews which were mentioning how the remaster was an improvement. I am new to this forum so I did not know the bad reputation it supposedly has over here...

 

I think Bernie Grundman did a nice job on the Michael Jackson anniversary reissue as well, especially Off The Wall.

 

Great idea for a thread. It wouldn't hurt to keep this in list form (like we do for the thread on pre-emphasis CDs). An easy way to find quieter CDs would be to load all your stuff into Foobar and sort it out by ReplayGain value (if you use it). Those that require less adjustment can probably be added to the thread (a waveform analysis on your part would confirm).

Here are a few contributions:

Autechre - Untilted & Quaristice
Burial - Untrue
Death Cab for Cutie - We Have the Facts... & The Photo Album
Franz Ferdinand - Self-Titled
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Raise Your Skinny Fists... & Yanqui U.X.O.
Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy

 

As much as I love Mr. Sax's work, Diana Krall's Christmas Songs from 2005 is really loud (the CD version that is). Maybe someone messed with his mastering.

 

headaching-----------

 

Calbi is a bit hit or miss for me.

 

+1 That one sounds great. One of the best-sounding CDs of the year. Engineered by Al Schmitt as well.

 

The Rod Stewart remasters of Atlantic Crossing and A Night on the Town that came out last year are not compressed and sound great as well. Very old school, quiet mastering. There is a thread about them so I won't belabor it here. The Definitive Rod Stewart was produced by the same team (Andy Zax and Cheryl Pawleski) and it shares the same style of mastering. No loudness issues at all.

 

Petty's Live Anthology.

 

Thomas Dolby-Golden Age Of Wireless remaster.

 

Thanks for that information. I didn't realize The Definitive Rod Stewart would come with that recommendation. Time to fill in a hole in my collection.

 

Tina Turner- The Platinum Collection 3CD- 2009 (not kidding! less compression than the 1991 and 2005 compilations!)

 

Recently bought Bill Callahan's Sometimes I Wish we were an Eagle and was pleasantly surprised how uncompressed it was. Great music too.

 

Are you sure??? Summerteeth sounds awful (great music, though), totally brickwalled with lots of digital clipping, and all the post-Summerteeth albums are pretty much crushed as well. I haven't heard the latest S/T album, so I am not sure about that one.

 

Are you sure??? This one sounds brickwalled to my ears--everything more or less at the same volume. I am not a fan of the music, so that doesn't help much, either.

 

This is one of the worst sounding remasters I have ever heard. The life was completely sucked out of the music by digital NR. Just horrible what Astley did to that album.

 

I don't know which one he was referring to - the post is from 10-22-2008.

Which album are YOU referring to?

 

Dig Lazarus Dig on both counts.

 

I like it and that is all that really counts I do not mind being its lone defender. I must confess that I just have the analog reel as far a non-digital source goes; I will make it a point to pick up a used Apple/Capitol LP edition and see how wrong I am. My tape is indeed old & 3 3/4 speed so maybe its not completely up to snuff

 

Both GAoW and The Flat Earth were very nicely done, IMO.

 

This may seem random, but the Ryan Adams cd 29 sounds phenomenal. It's very warm and dynamic. It was mastered by Erick Labson and Steve Holroyd. Frustratingly, Adams' two other albums that were released the same year as that one (2005), Jacksonville City Nights and Cold Roses are both brickwalled and sound a little harsh.

 

after listening to his eighties albums, then putting on Dig.... it sounds VERY loud, very boomy.

 

Here are 3 CDs I own

Franz Ferdinand S/T (as mentioned in previous pages)
Kasabian S/T
Dido - Safe Trip Home

 

Leonard Cohen - The Essential
Mastered by Bob Ludwig