NIN.COM / HTDA_

[TPD]

here's the screen cap of the petition that some horrid vandals took over!

[sin]

Lolz to Zombie Jeff Ward.

[chimera]

Needs more blueberry pie.

Here's my beef:

But I feel like I've done good work, and there's still an audience there. I'm not looking out at the crowd and seeing a bunch of orthodontists. It's new faces that look like the old ones, if that makes any sense. It feels valid to be back."

I get that you want to be relevant, Trent, that you don't want to be part of the nostalgia museum, but don't diss the GenXers (of which you are one), the people pushing 50 (again, of which you are one) who made you A GOD.  We're not all lame, and besides, you're kind of lame too now.  But what I'm saying is: if you want our money and our love, again, then don't act like you're cooler than the people who bought your shit and made you relevant in any era.  You don't owe us anything, but the least you could do is be thankful you didn't fuck it all up by your own hand (which, again, you almost did).

[r00]

He's becoming a money grubber and it is beginning to bother me. 

First off,  his tour is so ridiculously priced, especially compared to previous NIN tour prices.  Second, his official web store is a fucking rip off, especially for someone that has bitched in the past about overpriced retail albums and even told people to just torrent it for free.

The pre-order of the deluxe CD on nin.com is $20.00 plus $7.99 shipping.
I can order it for $15.99 on amazon.com and with my prime account pay no shipping.

The only difference is I could download the "audiophile" mastered version from nin.com if I bought it from them.  So fuck you, Trent.  I am taking you up on your own advice and saving $12 while I download the audiophile mix for free off bittorrent.

[chimera]

And like Teddykins was saying, SO LAME  to let the paymasters at Columbia railroad him into an over-compressed mess (or, as the King of the Mastering Engineers Doug Sax puts it, "Extra Cheese") while allowing us in his grand beneficence to own a reasonable version of it.  Oh, but wait, the other one isn't bad, oh no, it's just...uh, hey, look over there! 

Don't piss on me and tell me it's Pouilly-Fuissé, Mikey.

Because an excellent example of what a recording should sound like that's not compressed to death is Incitare - and it's mastered by Bob Ludwig, the guy who started the Loudness War in the first place.   But he's realized the error of his ways and it's a beautiful thing.  If you want something LOUD then use the volume.  You can have dynamics without compressing the shit out of a mix.

[r00]

It's all making cents now.

I am waiting to listen to the full album when I receive it, but I will openly weep if this is the beginning of a release cycle based on predicted consistent fan based earnings at the expense of quality material.

Remember the Al.

[Goose]

He's becoming a money grubber and it is beginning to bother me. 

First off,  his tour is so ridiculously priced, especially compared to previous NIN tour prices.  Second, his official web store is a fucking rip off, especially for someone that has bitched in the past about overpriced retail albums and even told people to just torrent it for free.

The pre-order of the deluxe CD on nin.com is $20.00 plus $7.99 shipping.
I can order it for $15.99 on amazon.com and with my prime account pay no shipping.

The only difference is I could download the "audiophile" mastered version from nin.com if I bought it from them.  So fuck you, Trent.  I am taking you up on your own advice and saving $12 while I download the audiophile mix for free off bittorrent.

This is the downside of going back to a major label.  I'm pretty sure he lost his rights to charge reasonable prices for things again in exchange for the distribution and marketing deal he got.  I've seen other bands in the past who had their own store on their site get asked "why are the prices so bloody high", and if they answer at all, the answer is usually something along the lines of "the label makes us do that so we aren't in competition with ourselves at record stores".

[tim]

I've been listening to it on the livestream on the guardian site. I like it, though The Slip excepted, there isn't a NIN album I haven't liked on release.

Not sure if I need to spoiler, but erring on the side of caution.
[spoiler]
The first half of the album is strong. The motivic development is very NIN, and there are hooks that remind us of past songs, slipped in every so often without dominating. The soundworld is different, though, and the formulaic loud-LOUDER-loud-LOUDER-loud-LOUDER-veryquietpianoandhushedwhispering-LOUDER pattern is resisted. Everything is a weak track. Too many tracks after it sound muddy, which hopefully is the stream mix and will be better on the proper version. I can't help thinking there's too much variety on the album, though. Trent's strongest albums have exploited a particular dynamic to create a consistent feel, generating an intensity that allows him to explore  and exhaust the range of nuances available within that dynamic. I would have preferred him to take the feel of Copy of A and explore that over a whole album. I'm glad to have this album as it is, I just feel it could have been better.[/spoiler]

[luna]

I've listened to it several times in the past few days and I just feel like he didn't put enough effort into it remember the lead up to Year Zero? fuck that was excellent. I'm sure most of these songs will sound better live (maybe the next tour will be more affordable?) but either way it just feels so thrown together.

[tim]

The lead up to Year Zero was excellent. It generated so much excitement that I think I enjoyed the album more than it was worth! For me, there are few tracks on that album that stand up now. In contrast, With Teeth has grown on me. I still think there are weak tracks on it (Sunspots, Getting Smaller), but there's less than half of Year Zero I'm bothered about now. Maybe I'm wrong, but I reckon I'll feel about this album how I feel about With Teeth in a few years' time.

[chimera]

After listening to the monologue-disguised-as-an-interview I'm willing to give it a bit of my time, it's just that those first two songs disappointed me greatly.  I don't think anything could come close to Year Zero that he will ever do again, frankly, but that's okay.  But W_T didn't really age well with me, I liked it much more when it first came out, now I can't really be bothered with it save a few songs.  But I can listen to The Fragile and Year Zero anytime I crave being a NINnie again.

[luna]

The lead up definitely made it even more exciting but either way I freaking <3 YZ

I tried to listen to W_T recently and I really don't like it, there are a few good songs but overall it just doesn't do it for me

I need to listen to his whole monologue thing when I have a chance

[TPD]

Lolz to Zombie Jeff Ward.

that was mine.


as far as loudness, trent always buckles and likes the loud. the phm master was horrible. i think ludwig did that one too, but if he knows how to mix better than that i'm guessing this is all trent's doing.
I dunno. very meh to the whole thing. the lp's grown on me but it doesn't really challenge me or intrigue me.
it's just there. some great production and some cool ideas but… meh.

[TPD]

closing track is bitch, tho!

[chimera]

as far as loudness, trent always buckles and likes the loud. the phm master was horrible. i think ludwig did that one too, but if he knows how to mix better than that i'm guessing this is all trent's doing.

Mr. G told me a few years back that mastering engineers generally have to turn their backs on common sense if they want to remain in business OR somehow convince their clients with a bit of sleight-of-hand that they've compressed something more than they actually have (or the third option of getting them to realize the current aesthetic is a bad idea).  He said that's why he always has the same clients when it comes to mastering assignments, the ones who know that he won't add "extra cheese" and they either have to accept that or find someone else.

Sometimes pushing the limits can work, like with the first RATM album, which is generally cited as the first time a master was almost punishingly loud with total in-your-face dynamics, and of course that was Bob too.  Unfortunately, it started several trends, and brickwalling was one of them because you had lesser engineers not really getting the point of what Bob did with that record.