Was ARTPOP mastered poorly? (DJ's comment)

[eifulien 2,276]

Wow, finally something actually interesting to discuss about the album. Unfortunately, I have no professional knowledge in order to give an informed opinion, but I hope you keep the discussion.

Did someone read the whole piece from gagajournal that someone shared earlier? http://gagajournal.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/gagalacan-ARTPOP-and-discourse-of.html That person dug really really deep into ARTPOP. It was an interesting interpretation.

Also, I will check now the difference between mixing and mastering, and their meaning cause I haven't got a clue. Compression, dynamic range reduction, loudness level enhancement and the consequences of them - it all sounds very interesting, if someone has time and wish, please enlighten us! 

It is kinda obvious that I love ARTPOP, but doesn't mean there aren't things I dislike about it and a specific aspect about it is how some songs that I heard from the iTunes festival ended up sounding different, and by different I mean they were less enticing for me to listen. It is hard to explain it when I don't have the right terminology, but for example songs like Aura and Swine kinda never really explode on the album versions. I know the vocals of Aura were changed, but there's sth about the music, the richness of the beats is harder to hear (maybe in order to better hear the vocals?), and especially at the end after "behind the burqa" line it feels like, well it doesn't lack bass, but it lacks depth, like it has been flattened out or sth. (sorry if I sound ridiculous I'm struggling to find good words). Swine also lacks the roughness, it sounds like overpolished. The worst for me are Sexxx Dreams and ARTPOP, they lack life. Especially SD from a favourite in Swinefest it is my least favourite behind Dope and JnD... These vocals that have been added after "damn you were in my sex dreams" [you were in my], they killed the mood for me. Like it sounds so muffled and the music is not allowed to speak, to transmit the sexiness of the beats.  And I don't know if it is a coincidence or not but I don't have this issue with the songs that I first heard as album version.

On a positive side, I really like her vocals on the album. I know they have been modified a lot, sometimes they are so synthetic, they kind of merge with the music (Aura, MJH [cause I love I love, cause I love love] - at first listen I didn't even know if she is saying words or just making sounds, Donatella - whose chorus I can't hear to date ). To be honest ARTPOP was a huge struggle for me, as a non-native speaker. Figuring out the lyrics without looking up them in the booklet or on the Internet was a mission impossible, and I assume for many non-English speakers. But overall, I love the sound of the album, to me it is cohesive enough, yet it channels qutie different genres. I'm not sure whether the mixing/mastering process have anything to do with this, but let's assume it is related. 

[XoXoJoanneGaga 629]

8 hours ago, Didymus said:

BTW and ARTPOP are both terrible.

I mean, it's almost off-putting how The Fame is so superior in terms of mixing and mastering compared to her next records.

Yea The Fame has pretty brilliant and intricate mixing and the mastering is really clean. I'm curious as to how that happened, you would think her debut would have the most generic and loud mix job especially for a top 40 pop star

[darkchylde 14,857]

 

[Born Brave 2,072]

The brutally honest truth of the matter is that the ONLY 2 Gaga records that are pristinely mastered are The Fame and Cheek to Cheek. Cheek to Cheek might be one of the best of all time from the mastering aspect. 

The Fame Monster suffered some serious bass heavy washout, SHICD is a prime example and even Bad Romance, the crown jewel, suffered from it but it was widely overlooked for some reason. 

Born This Way is literally the worst offender with the exception of Heavy Metal Lover and BJAF and Y&I and maybe MTN. A lot of people blame the over production but I blame the layering.. it all fits if it had just been layered correctly. The re-release for Mastered for iTunes helped some but it couldn't save tracks like Highway Unicorn and BTW. It was just a train wreck! I own a pair of $700 planar magnetic headphones and a super amazing amp and not even they can clean it up. The fatigue is horrendous. 

ARTPOP was an improvement but it's flaws can be blamed on DJWS honestly, Let me explain.... *Paul if you read this I'm sorry but I have to spill the tea* MANiCURE, Sexxx Dreams, Applause- they all suffer from what I refer to as "Obnoxious Thud Drum Syndrome". The drum sounds come out so THUDDY and off target that it literally is a buzz kill. Out of all the freaking drum components and mixes you could choose from from your elaborate arsenal you had to choose the absolute shittiest drum sounds? I mean, layer it with a kick drum that sounds REAL or give it a more sub kick. GOOD Electronic Songs are not washed out by heavy thudding drums. DWUW is a prime example, no heavy thuds there, a good kick effect. Now maybe it's not Paul's fault at all.. maybe Davey messed this up but I doubt it because his job is to play finetune not reconstruct. 

Did you know that when determining winner, The Grammy board takes mastering into consideration? 

[Born Brave 2,072]

9 hours ago, Hecturr said:

I mean, if you listen to fashion of his love , you can hear this terrible noise in the background. it kinda gets washed out in the album version ,but you can still hear it. Can't say i heard anything like that on ARTPOP 

Its there on Electric Chapel too! And I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE REFERRING TO!!! sorry for all caps I was just excited someone finally mentioned this too.