THe problem didn't come when mixing, it's not clipping of the individual tracks...it's clipping on the actual CD master. The master is so compressed, that many of the digital samples that make up the CD are clipping. Yes, it's on every disc, and yes, there are many many threads about it. Just do a search on google for:

10,000 days, clipping

Anyway, it sucks. If you can't hear it, you're lucky...but it's there.

Yeah. I'm seriously envious of my friend who can't hear it. I want to like this record, I really do... but I can't even listen to it with headphones on.

Also, keep eq settings flat.

Can you here it or there it?

Then you have a defective copy and should return it for a proper one.

I just got done reading the Tool interview in Revolver magazine. I think it is interesting that Maynard said that a possible title for the album was "I Smell Poo".

Also, there is Danny holding the very hard of hearing object up to his head.

The Sennheisers I hear about look good and have to sound great. I must have a listen.

This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. My other Tool _mp3s_ sound fine without the bullshit. Why should I have to bend over backwards to get this cd to sound like it should? Like that would even work anyway...

Sorry guys, I should have put more time in searching since Resonance pointed out that there's already a thread about this. Thanks for not flaming me though :-)

Maybe, in time, Tool will do something like what Nevermore did with Enemies of Reality. (For those who don't now, Nevermore recorded an absolutely crap-sounding record with a guy they'd never worked with before. Everybody hated it, so in the end they had their tried-and-tested producer remix the album: waaaay better)

We could start a petition to have Botrill do it properly? :-p

rush's vapor trails had the same "problem" I believe.
I am no audio technician, but as a musician, I've had music mastered before at least.
on this album it's just mastered to be as close to peak as possible (compression). so when your eq boosts certain freqs, it pushes those into distortion. that's why the cd sounds so much "louder" in comparison to previous tool records.
I kind of had the opposite problem with lateralus, it sounded as if the bass was undermixed and you had to eq it up.
if you were to listen to 10,000 days with no eq, and theoretically in a dead room, you would have perfection.
but who listens to cds in those circumstances?

I highly doubt these issues got past the band.

this is happening because tool sucks now because they broke their deal with Satan....

You brake deals with him you pay big bitches!

Tool Released a Riff album...Congratulation Tool!

koop gewoon een nieuwe ?

.

i hear none, and i'm trained to listen for it

wierd

Turn down the bass.

Not the problem. Flat eq, different stereos, all other Tool sounds fine. Try again.

Is it something to do with the fact they've compressed the audio to fit 80 mins of music on a standard cd?

If i remember correctly an audio cd only holds 70 odd minutes of uncompressed audio?

just a stab.

I hear static clicks and white noise clearly on my headphone rig (grado HF-1, Portaphile v2^2 Headphone amplifier and lossless recording on a 4g Ipod.

very annoying, i cant listen into the recording as I did with Lateralus, its clearly obvious

on my loudspeaker system it is less obvious, my system is fairly resolving, but I think the recording is mastered for loudspeaker playback?

sorry for my ignorance, but what sort of distortion do people hear? I've listened with a crappy set of headphones via PC, in my car, my DVD player (my CD player is on the blink). I can only hear popping with the PC-headphones thing, but nothing else and not with any other medium to play the disc. What should I be hearing?

I wonder if this has to do with the HDCD encoding. I hear the distortion as well, mostly on Vicarious. I'm thinking that the extra bits that are only readable by and HDCD player make all the difference in the world. Odd that Lateralus sounds fine, though.

Another thing, if I rip the CD then I hear some digital beeps in a few songs, most notably on Right in Two. Again, Lateralus is fine but Aenima exhibits these noises on Third Eye. This could be due to the amound of data on the disc but, I must repeat, that Lateralus is fine.

I'm wondering if people with HDCD systems hear these distortions?

I should add that the sound isn't really the distortion of the music itself. It's more of a scratchy type of sound. It appears to be a part of the recording but I think that it may be due to the HDCD endoded music played on a regular system.

"mastered at "Gateway Mastering Studios" in Portland, Maine."

There is your problem. What was problaby a beautiful mix complete with dynamic range was sent to one of top mastering houses to be made "radio competitive" by crushing the life out of it with a limiter. Sadly this is all too common these days.

i bought the album today at last and yes i had no problems whatsoever until i listened to right in two and i heard the digital bleeps once or twice but nothing to cry about, ive never heard this on any tool record, or alas, any new record that ive bought. But the rest of the CD seems perfect for my ears, but that kinda distracted me while i was listening to right in two, oh well, you cant have your cake and eat it....

The clipping and distortion is most likely the result of them trying to fit this music onto a single standard CD. Compression is a bitch, and more and more bands are stretching the lengths of their albums.

However, none of this does anything to explain the hissing/white noise I hear all over this record.

A lot of the times it sounds like you are playing this on cassette or something. I hear it on the drum/bass break on Vicarious REALLY bad. And the hissing/white noise comes in and out during Jambi. The rest of the record is fine for the most part, but I hear it a wee bit on rosetta stoned and really bad on Right in Two.

This bothers me more than the clipping/distortion because the clipping distortion is without question the result of compression, and with the way CDs are mastered these days I"m pretty much used to it.

But this hissing, there's no excuse for it in the digital age.

The only 'digital' that was used for this album as far as I understand is a transfer to Pro Tools for storage.

http://gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php?t=67213&page=3&highlight=Joe+Barres i
http://www.mcdman.com/barresi.html

Mastering Stage...sure I'm sure it was touched digitally there.

My understanding is this album was recorded entirely to 2" analog tape....mixed on an analog console...and probably mixed down to 1/2" analog tape to send out for mastering.

All the hiss and noise you guyz are hearing is 2" tape...everyone has become so used to ultra quiet noise floor of digital tracking and mixing that this noise and hiss you hear becomes intolerable for some.

I do miss Bottrill's work...I found it especially 3 dimensional..but Joe Barresi did a fantastic job capturing the meat of Justin's bass and of Adam's guitar tones....I'm sure they employed him based upon his work with the Melvins and Tomahawk.

Have any of you ever heard a really old blues recording?

I hadn't noticed the distortion and white noise until I read this thread. Now that I can pick it out, I know one of the reasons why I like the mood of this recording. It is raw, pained and broken. Also, the distortion is exponentially more obvious when you listen to it at maximum volume. Remember to protect your ears people, don't listen to music too loud. At the standard level for safe listening on my walkman I find it impossible to notice the distortion and curiously I find other things clearer, like the spoken voice in the background of Vicarious.

I'd suggest going about it like this, folks, if you're having problems with it. Personally, I can't hear a damn thing :D Poor bastards, it sounds great to me. Dunno. I'd try not to worry about it, though.

Meh who cares. I'm just waiting for the vinyl release. Then we can kiss all that digital ass goodbye.

My eyes just rolled out the back of my head. Not this theory again.

I wish you people would quit quoting this guy (resonance). It defeats the purpose of having him on "ignore."

JOE BARESSI SUX MONKEY ASS

Im from Uk. I definately have 'clipping and popping' sounds on my disc. I have tried it on every stereo. I have tried my mates copies....same thing. Rosetta stoned is full of them. Very.....annoying I guess

I hear them the most in rosetta stoned, it does seem to be the most musically dynamic song too

^^

True statement.

I do! Quick, harbong, come and join me in the dead room!

The album was recorded analog i believe...maybe thats why, i have convinced myself i don't hear it anymore though :D ... btw i emailed blair about this some weeks ago, the bastard won't reply...

that is actually true, i listen 10,000 Days with my bass settings on -1

nice and clear.

Those hearing distortion need a better pre-amp.

-dvn

Yeah, I know about Nevermore. They did remix it (same music, complete seperate album) and it DID sound way better. I'm not a big Nevermore fan but that's a cool bit of rock trivia.

As for the Botrill petition, where do I sign?
:P