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Rebel Heart album - sound quality


Guest Medoner

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Guest CzarnaWisnia

I've never heard an album with so many mixing problems, it's embarrassing. Also, the dynamic range is a flatline. I guess they went too fast because of the leaks, I'm surprised Madonna let it happen.

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What? American Life is incredible, the same with Confessions. The bad quality isn't only Madonna's fault, it's that 99% of people are listening to music in mp3 with little headphones or from the computer to some computer speakers

Sometimes i feel i'm the only one who listens to music in a big stereo with big speakers. Most people i know listen to music nowadays from the computer. The incredible quality of cds is not there anymore.

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The vocal mixing of "Confessions" remains atrocious and people gives it a free pass because they just love the music. The vocals of Hung Up/Get Together sound so LQ and muffled and it's not some intended "electronic" vocal effect.

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I re listened to the album on Apple music and found that the mastering issues I previously had weren't really an issue anymore. I don't know if it's just because I don't hear it or I'm missing it, but it sounds better.

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Guest eroticerotic

I think the sound quality on unapologeticbitch and hold tight are not good. All the rest sound like they were fixed but when the first six were released in dec there were definite mastering issues. Looks like they were fixed over time except for those two.

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Guest Medoner

I think the sound quality on unapologeticbitch and hold tight are not good. All the rest sound like they were fixed but when the first six were released in dec there were definite mastering issues. Looks like they were fixed over time except for those two.

unapologetic bitch is sooooooo bad! arghghg i hate it because i do love the song the feel and idea to it but damn that quality is a mess

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I dont know where you guys are getting this.

I have high-quality Pioneer headphones and listen to WAV files, and they sound perfectly fine.

No distorsion at all.

There are so many little details I still discover on every listen.

I just love this album so much!

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Guest Medoner

There's a fan made mix of L4L on M-Infinity which uses her unmixed demo vocals and my GOD it sounds fucking amazing!!!

Anyone have a link to this mix?

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Loads of problems with sound quality for me for the last 3 albums.

Getting worse each time.

I never noticed anything like this with previous albums.

The worst thing for me on RH is the volume fluctuations (BIM too loud, Wash Over Me too low)

Also distortion on Rebel Heart track.

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I once tweeted that Demo guy to ask what the heck happened when mixing the album. No response, but I suppose my tweet did seem shady, lol. He deserved the question though.

The mixing issues I find most problematic are the fuzzy part of "Messiah", fuzziness later in WAOM (and the song is lower in volume), Borrowed Time in general sounds staticy or something, the distorted drums on UB (not sure if it is intentional but they sound like this to me and I don't like it), overly-distored drums on 'Rebel Heart' song, mixing of her voice on L4L and certain other songs, quietness of Hold Tight...

Most of these issues aren't as obvious when i play the album on my computer speakers (and adjust volume accordingly on songs), but they are VERy obvious on my living room system and in the car.

I find this to be the worst mixed album of all of her albums, though the material is obviously good and I have zero issues with some other tracks.

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Yes, Stuart Price is to blame for the low vocals on Confessions, but that pales in comparison to all the fuck ups Demo has done. Pharrell's tracks on HC sound pretty good, but Timbaland's tracks sound crappy. That's Demo's fault. Voices is unlistenable thanks to him.

Demo destroyed William Orbit's tracks on MDNA. He made all the layers the same volume. Any ambient sounds meant to be in the background got cranked up to 10. And I have no idea what he did to the vocals. Some Girls and Love Spent are quite a mess, which sucks because they are great songs. They were disrespected by Demo's incompetence. But Madonna's ok with it, I guess. *groan*

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Voices is unlistenable? WTF? Are you listening to the same album that I am listening too? Voices is a gem. Go to the doctor.

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Guest bluejean

Well they just meant because the beat is distorted. Which it is. I will give them that. I don't personally find it unlistenable because of that.

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Guest Medoner

I honestly think all of HC is sharp and damn smooth. I guess i can hear the distorted drums or whatever on voices but i like it how it is

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She needs Spike Stent back, or someone who actually knows their craft. Granted, these professionals cost top dollar, but you'd think it would be worth it to have the very best...

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She needs Spike Stent back, or someone who actually knows their craft. Granted, these professionals cost top dollar, but you'd think it would be worth it to have the very best...

True. I've always appreciated Mark "Spike" Stent. Was disappointed when he was absent from her recent albums. I just looked him up to see what he's been working on -- some big names, so he's still very much active. I wonder if the issue is money or time ... she seems to have been 'rushed' the last two albums (Orbit complained about the accelerated timeline on MDNA, and we all know the hacker moved the release timeline forward for RH)... or if she's just moved on with different creative teams.

(Incidentally, Spike Stent's Wikipedia page lists Hard Candy as one of his credits. I must admit I'd forgotten if he had done any work on that album. I'll have to go back and look at the liner notes to see what his involvement was ... Wikipedia lists him as responsible for "audio recording/audio mixing." Surprising!)

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True. I've always appreciated Mark "Spike" Stent. Was disappointed when he was absent from her recent albums. I just looked him up to see what he's been working on -- some big names, so he's still very much active. I wonder if the issue is money or time ... she seems to have been 'rushed' the last two albums (Orbit complained about the accelerated timeline on MDNA, and we all know the hacker moved the release timeline forward for RH)... or if she's just moved on with different creative teams.

(Incidentally, Spike Stent's Wikipedia page lists Hard Candy as one of his credits. I must admit I'd forgotten if he had done any work on that album. I'll have to go back and look at the liner notes to see what his involvement was ... Wikipedia lists him as responsible for "audio recording/audio mixing." Surprising!)

She seems to just like this Demo guy's sound for whatever reason, and knowing that she personally worked on the MDNA live album with him makes me wonder if her hearing is going a bit these days, lol.

Yeah, Spike did Beat Goes On, She's Not Me and Give It to Me. All the really bad, distorted, compressed stuff was Demo.

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She seems to just like this Demo guy's sound for whatever reason, and knowing that she personally worked on the MDNA live album with him makes me wonder if her hearing is going a bit these days, lol.

Yeah, Spike did Beat Goes On, She's Not Me and Give It to Me. All the really bad, distorted, compressed stuff was Demo.

Haha! I almost wrote that in my previous post -- whether she just doesn't hear the difference on Demo Castellon's stuff. Slightly disconcerting news. For MDNA, at least, he was responsible for the sound of "Gang Bang," which was a significant change from the Mika-sounding "Bang Bang Boom" demo recording, so ... at least he has some positive contribution to her oeuvre.

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I dont know where you guys are getting this.

I have high-quality Pioneer headphones and listen to WAV files, and they sound perfectly fine.

No distorsion at all.

There are so many little details I still discover on every listen.

I just love this album so much!

Sorry but this is a LIE.

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