ManipulatorGeneral has it spot on. Music's lovely, Architects of Fortune is an amazing opener. But, the poor snare drum has absolutely nowhere to go and it sometimes ends up sounding like a tomtom instead of an exciting drum. When everything gets busy, it shouldn't make you want to pull your hair out because of all the overwhelming crackling and popping going on. I listened to Nine on a vintage hi-fi system and it was unfortunately a tiring experience. Not to mention trying on the album on headphones. So I'm reduced to enjoying 2-3 songs at a time and no more.
It's all so sad, I wish there were dynamic mixes avaliable to buy, if only online, that's completely fine. Like DT did with their latest album, setting the volume back a bit (ReplayGain asks for -4,6dB) and putting out a 96/24.
This problem started to get serious 15 years ago. It's 2012. We have amazing microphones, preamps, amps, such capabilities, yet we butcher it all in this way. I believe not a SINGLE fan of this band and prog in general would complain about the album being too quiet.
So in the end, it turns out that recordings made in the 60s have a far cleaner, natural and superior sound than most modern records, of any genre.
Maybe I'm overreacting, but there are no signs of this ever stopping and I hate it. I hope some day, people will look back at this era of recordings and laugh.
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