Yeah, this is definitely not a keeper. A real shame, since there's little metal well done in 5.1 as it is, and this one was so promising - 96/24 both DVD-Audio and DTS, decent bonus material. But the remastered CD sounds much, much better than this disc. As fredblue said, the 5.1 is more like double stereo, and all the music is buried somewhere deep in the speakers, sounding thin and never really coming out. On the plus side, I liked the design of the menus.
Yeah, this is definitely not a keeper. A real shame, since there's little metal well done in 5.1 as it is, and this one was so promising - 96/24 both DVD-Audio and DTS, decent bonus material. But the remastered CD sounds much, much better than this disc. As fredblue said, the 5.1 is more like double stereo, and all the music is buried somewhere deep in the speakers, sounding thin and never really coming out. On the plus side, I liked the design of the menus.
Lord knows there's enough music here for an adventurous mix. Why? Why? WHY?
Gave it a 4. The menus are nice and this is a *great* album. I picked up the remastered anniversary edition awhile back and the stereo mix on that release is ten times better than it has ever sounded. On the other end of the spectrum, we have this DVD-A. It is horrific. Metal mixes are usually a dice roll to begin with, but even the mediocre ones are pleasantly interesting (see: Metallica's black album).
I'm not sure how this passed even the most basic of engineering standards' quality control protocols. The kick drum is nowhere to be found. The guitars are very hot and in your face. The vocals are buried. It's a complete mid-range holocaust. Listening to this makes my eyes water...and not in the weepy, "Wow this is amazing" kind of way... Since I began to collect 5.1 mixes of albums, I've had some disappointments - there are plenty - but this one takes the cake. What an incredible waste of an opportunity. Easily one of the 5 worst mixes I've heard.[/QUOTE]
Agreed. The EQ is terrible and the guitars hurt my ears. Fantastic musicianship. I would love SW to get hold of Megadeth tapes for 5.1 releases.
I just received this disk over the weekend out of curiosity. The price was cheap enough to take a chance on it.
On first listen, I agreed with everyone's comments but I had to play with the levels a bit to see if a good mix was hiding in it. I listened to the center solo and it didn't seem right. After trying to balance the levels with no success, I took a chance and tried reversing the phase on the center. After rebalancing the channels, I fired it back up and :yikes. Still a bit mid heavy, but the bass and drums are now more prominent. The vocals are also improved. The mix now seems to make sense and the drum panning around the room now sounds right. I went to the back of my AVR and verified that the center was wired correctly before I swapped it (I knew it was but wanted to be 100% sure) and it was. Now I just need to rip it and correct the center phase.
Anyone who still has this, reverse the phase on the center and give it another try. You may be pleasantly surprised by the result.
The treble is also a problem. The guitars are extremely bright.
How do you adjust it? I have tracks ripped and save on my laptop. This is an album I have wanted to alter.
The treble is also a problem. The guitars are extremely bright.
How do you adjust it? I have tracks ripped and save on my laptop. This is an album I have wanted to alter.
In Audacity you could try using the Equalization Effect on the channels that need it?
Can you swap the phase in Audacity? I can't seem to change an individual channel.
Separate the 5.1 wav into individual mono wavs in Audiomuxer...