Thirdly, I do agree you have a point about the mastering however. What you have brought up is called "the Loudness War" and has been touched upon in numerous internet blogs and youtube videos over the last few years.
It might be a different conversation altogether if they'd listened to the vinyl version - usually, vinyl releases are mastered to include the dynamic range that's been squeezed out of CDs. Not sure if that's true of the new Foos, but just about eveything I've wound up with on vinyl in the past ten years has had more dynamic range than its CD counterpart.
That's why when you look in most stereo/audiophile magazines these day and read the ads - LO AND BEHOLD! TURNTABLES! NOT CD PLAYERS! It's like the '70s all over again!
Granted most of these new turntables are ridiculously priced ($3,999? Kiss my.....) People are better off buying vintage equipment anyway. They perform better too.
I heard something about the Foo's new album being mastered on analog. But the trouble is most major labels have completely forgotten the ART of mastering an album. And it is an ART, not a race to see who can be the LOUDEST heard on 2 inch laptop speakers, cell phones and 'earbuds'.
The last time I bought a CD, it was
Little Voice by Sara Bareilles and I damn near blew out my speakers with the volume on
4! Same thing with my friend's MP3 of "Animal" Neon Trees. It's just obscene how the labels get away with this. Which is why I found this article interesting:
http://stereogum.com/1098892/old-albums-outselling-new-albums-for-the-first-time-ever/news/Now this is what's gathered by Soundscan for today's sales. But you have to wonder how many more than what's being reported here are being sold by vintage vinyl/CD shops. Maybe people are tired of not just having their ears ripped off, but their wallets too with most of the new narcissistic TMZ show off "stars" in pop music in general that comes out today.
I guess it really does come down to ART. You either got it or you don't. But in a way, it's kind of sad. Young people SHOULD have music that
speaks to them and THEIR generation - Not
SCREAMS at them. and almost NONE of today's pop music (which often gets thrown carelessly into Alternative radio playlists on a lot of stations) does. Maybe for 13 year olds, but not for everybody else.
