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Rebel Heart album - sound quality


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I took a test on NPR on sound quality (like, high quality, lossless, standard, whatever) and I completely failed the test. My hearing must be awful because I have no idea what's bad about the sound quality. It all sounds crystal clear to me :lol:

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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.

Hey! No need to be offended! It's not a personal attack at Madonna. It has nothing to do with her contribution to the track. The vocals, lyrics, composition, etc are fine. It's just difficult for me to listen to due to that horrible distortion on the drums. I can't listen to it.

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Hey! No need to be offended! It's not a personal attack at Madonna. It has nothing to do with her contribution to the track. The vocals, lyrics, composition, etc are fine. It's just difficult for me to listen to due to that horrible distortion on the drums. I can't listen to it.

Neither do I.

For example I love WAOM but the distortion makes me enjoy the song far less

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Unfortunately it's also Madonna herself that also like the autotuning/vocal manipulation because she thinks it adds to the song / artistic process. It's her prerogative as the artist at the end of the day.

I think this was Mirwais' influence probably sparked by Impressive Instant. I actually love it when she deliberately manipulates her voice in an experimental way. I LOVE how Mirwais did that effect in Hollywood where her voice gradually becomes normal to low pitched. She then did the same effect with Price during the middle 8 of Sorry. I can't remember the interview but she said she doesn't use backup singers anymore because she can just duplicate her own voice and change the timbre like in Devil Pray with Cher's cameo during 1:16. However there are some instances where the voice manipulation doesn't really work like in Revolver. There are some that aren't fond of the deliberate tweak of her vocals in Ghosttown but I'm personally fine with it.

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Brilliant!

Autotune has nothing to do with this. There is noticeable difference between the vocals in the verses compared to the album version because in the album version there are 2 voices singing at the same time,one in a lower register and one in the upper register

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The miximg is a mess, thank you Demo. Can't she hire Spike again? How can a perfectionist like her be happy with something like that? Is she deaf?

I think as you age your ears just become less sensitive, especially for someone who's been exposed to loud sound throughout her life.
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I doubt she's going deaf. But I can't think of an explanation as to why she's ok with the way the last few albums have sounded. Maybe it sounds fine before the masters go to the presses. Maybe she hasn't heard the way they sound on CD.

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Hard to say who is going deaf or not, lol, but maybe they aren't taking into account how their product sounds on different systems/formats.... it still doesn't explain the lossless issues and what not. Someone is not doing a quality control job.

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Here you go!

http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/how-well-can-you-hear-audio-quality

I got every single one wrong and the only one that I got right I just guessed because they all sounded the same to me :lol:

Oh dear, they all sound the same! I guess i just need that Madonna releases the same level of loudness, no distorssion and her voice isn't muffled and i will be happy, because i 'm very very deaf too!

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Also, from my understanding that test is more about bits and lossless and all of that (all of which I'm clueless about). I understand people's complaints here are more with the mixing. Like some songs you can barely hear Madonna's voice and the music is SUPER loud. Or her voice sounds, like, off. Muffled.

I just don't hear it in Rebel Heart, but again, I don't have a trained her. The MDNA Tour DVD / CD though. That was AWFUL.

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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.

This is one of the reasons I didn't enjoy the album initially. The voices, I could barely understand what she was singing in some songs. The CT tour helped changed my opinion on this because it allowed the songs to shine.

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

This.

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...

Yes for Mark Stent! He's great.

Yeah, she did a lot of work on the MDNA tour, and I think I remember her addressing all the issues around the release and apologizing.

from wiki:

"In an online chat with website Reddit, Madonna addressed the concerns regarding the mastering issues with the DVD and Blu-ray in Europe, saying that she was horrified about the glitches and her record label was solving it. She concluded by saying that "[I] spent 6 months editing and doing the sound mix for the DVD the last thing I want to hear is that the fans aren't getting the fruits of my labor."[42] On September 23, 2013, Interscope Records announced that they were recalling all the Blu-ray discs issued in US, after hearing continuous reports of glitches in the sound from consumers, adding that an "error in manufacturing" compromised the 5.1 audio of the discs"

The MDNA tour audio was horrible. IGTTYAS blows it out of the water. Even S&S puts it to shame.

I think the most significant and noticeable differences are how crisp and clean dp and gt sound.

This. From LFL to GT it sounded great. Then UB plays and it's too loud. It's up and down from there onwards.

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Got 3/6. Coldplay was easy, as I had the CD way back then, and knew what sounds to look for. Mozart's was pretty obvious too. Have to admit I luckily guessed Vega's song. It was near impossible with Katy and Jay-Z, and Neil's... well, I just failed on that one, lol.

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