WhazUp

Regarding why Monsters was leaked alongside The General, not that I think they are the same song like the way Rocket Queen's two sections are but I do still have a theory of them being linked in some way

Like, maybe they were originally side-by-side on the followup to CD or something and were meant to be played one after the other.  Both have Beltrami orchestration and you can easily interpret the lyrics to Monsters as some anger and then closure to The General

8 hours ago, JAxlMorrison said:

Hell yeah. How much time have you spent on forums as a GNR fan?! Bitching is the #1 reason to be here for some. I’m sure some are legit, and I’m sure some here are enjoying some sweet beautiful “herd mentality” as someone said earlier. It’s a pile on. 

I get what you are saying, but to me I have seen no post that leads me to believe they are making up hearing the clipping Emporer's New Clothes style, just to have something to complain about.  The clipping is pretty prevalent as has the loudness wars in the music industry in general - and to me I am seeing more or less a reaction to that rather than it being merely hyperbolic complaining by those who hate everything about GNR nowadays

2 hours ago, JAxlMorrison said:

You speak for…everyone? Not just yourself?

Are you suggesting that there are people here who, even though there is obvious clipping on these tracks, are making up the fact that they are hearing audible clipping on these tracks just to bitch about something?

I don't have much in the way of GNR vinyl but I do have a 180g reissue of Appetite that came in this box with a AFD cover T-shirt, I have the banned cover (original pressing) and Chinese on vinyl that I got at Best Buy the day of the album release

13 hours ago, timoteo said:

Ahhh the gaslighting continues!!!

Up earlier in this thread check out both my description of what to listen for as well as the timestamp I cited - the clipping is objectively there on the recording.  Hope this helps in terms of assisting in what to look for in hearing it

43 minutes ago, JAxlMorrison said:

Either exaggerating or flat out making up another reason to bitch. 

Clipping always bugged me no matter what band - Vapor Trails by Rush for example suffers the same fate in its original mix as does 10,000 Days by Tool at various points in its mix/mastering

I don't think it is controversial to make the suggestion that overuse of compression and pushing everything into the red in the mastering phase is not a pleasant trend in music since the 90s

I think the only impact it has had is to make hardcore nuGNR fans rethink what the phrase "big guns" means in terms of unheard songs and setting expectations too high lol

5 minutes ago, betterman said:

I dont really hear it (Spotify) and I have heard it on several tracks from other artists. Maybe im going deaf ate somebody is exaggerating

With headphones try listening to specifically the drum fill that occurs at 1:28ish to 1:30 that brings the first chorus to an end - you will hear some light crackles/popping noises that bounce around the stereo image due to the drums.  While I can hear it throughout the duration of the song, to me this is one of the more prevalent examples

31 minutes ago, Trell said:

Hahahaha thanks mate😅 maybe invest in some decent headphones and actually listen to the apple music version. Sounds like youre just hating on it cos you dont like the song

I do have to chime in just because I did some listening this weekend - the Apple Music version is the same verbatim mastering as what I have heard via the Quobuz 24-Bit/48 kHz high resolution version, clipping and all

All digital versions are sourced from the same mastering - I can't speak to what was pressed on wax on the vinyl single but all digital versions - be it streaming, or digital download, all have the same mastering and flaws due to the loudness-wars liberal use of limiting and bringing the audio past the dB threshold to induce clipping

1 hour ago, timoteo said:

Please share an example of said clipping 

In the chorus especially it is pretty audible, in particular if you listen to the kick drum hits

You will hear it sound distorted, but not in an intentional way like electronic/industrial music where the drums can intentionally all sound overloaded for effect - in this case it will sound similar to if you blew out cheap speakers.  "Crackling" is the best descriptive term I can use for it

3 hours ago, Route66 said:

I am a pro musician and studio engineer. I worked with Guns. It's not the best but that is how Axl wanted it

Lol sure

I thought the show I caught this year had great flow, personally I am glad they are still delivering such decently lengthy shows when they could easily coast doing way less.  Gotta give Axl and everyone credit for that

30 minutes ago, evilfacelessturtle said:

Brickwalling is one thing. Clipping is another. I'm no Metallica fan but I highly doubt Death Magnetic is clipping all over the place.

Death Magnetic, at least the album as was mixed and mastered for official release in 2008 (the Guitar Hero stems are a different story) indeed has clipping all over the place

7 hours ago, Cstephenson88 said:

I am probably overthinking this one but, what if the mix of the General is ugly and rough intentionally in order to reflect the ugly nature of the subject matter? 

I get what you are saying, but I don't think really overly compressed and pushed-to-the-red clipping is a part of that - though I think the distorted vocal effects are obviously a part of that intention

The compression and clipping are nothing more of producers buying into the whole loudness wars thing and sacrificing audio clarity for the sake of wanting things to "seem" louder

It is really hard to say "best" but giving some of my personal favorites:

Felt Forum 1988

The Tokyo 1988 shows

Paris '92

Ritz '91

Argentina shows 1993

On 12/11/2023 at 7:17 PM, eggers said:

I had a good listen on my B&O headphones and I don't hear anything you people are on about.

The clipping is fairly obvious to my ears, it sounds like your headphones/speakers are blown out in certain moments of loudness or thumps (in this case the drums especially in the chorus of The General).  That crackling sound that cheap speakers get when you use them too much, except it is embedded within the actual audio file due to the cutting off of sonic information when you bump everything into the red to maximize loudness

On 12/6/2023 at 2:53 AM, Gimmick said:

Could he not play without looking at his hands? That was always weird to me.

If you are wearing an oversized uncomfy helmet, even guitarists who can go off muscle memory would be distracted and impeded for sure

I agree with many others, I am not quite sure the relevance of a "versus" thread with a fanmade approximation of a song that ended up being a totally different song, to the song that ended up being not the same song lol

Just now, alfa75 said:

Any chance all the distortion, clipping, etc are all part of some device to create this dark, chaotic, ambience? I would not put it past Axl ti do this.

You can sound dark and mysterious and have ambience without the kick drum in the chorus making it sound like your speakers are malfunctioning and blown out due to clipping - this is just another botched mixing job by someone catering to the Loudness Wars trends

Maybe the GNR version of Izzy's composition "Down By The Ocean" that Axl cited in the forum chats?

22 minutes ago, Route66 said:

Get better headphones sweetheart

 

I have got some sweet open-back cans and closed-back, as well as a modestly decent monitor setup for my own mixing projects, this official release is the same mix as the leak

7 minutes ago, Route66 said:

Then, It's better right?

Is the question about the fidelity being better, or it being the same mix like you originally asserted?