Loudness War

"Why can't the recording industry learn from the most succesful album of all time - Thriller - recording & production quality counts!!"

Good question.

I suspect some in the industry do and some do not and many execs have not been able to put two + two together yet that most people do value quality, albeit to different levels. Audiophiles are the extreme fringe unfortunately, so I doubt the music industry will ever systematically cater to the audio kooks standards.

Unfortunately, cost management is a big thing for businesses today. Guys with a track record who do things well, like Quincy and Michael, tend to be expensive (excessively so often) compared to the average Joe and profits have to be assured. Education and new talent in an industry is the best hope for both quality and cost containment.

Shadorne, is Thriller (original lp) regarded as a model of excellent production and mastering? my lp copy of Thriller has much more sibilance than the majority of my other records, irritating to listen to, not that it couldn't be caused by other things.

I would say Thriller is up there with the very best of recordings - absolutely. I have never found the sibilance and issue but there is plenty of attack so the midrange is not recessed as it is on many rock/pop albums (this will add to sibilance as attack is in the 3 to 5 Khz rangew hich overlaps sibilance from 3 to 7 Khz).

Frankly the balance is extremely good IMHO - after all Thriller cost nearly a million dollars to produce at Westlake Studios (one of the top notch studios in LA)

BTW - Michael Jackson used Westlake speakers most of his career - absolutely awesome speakers - you rarely see them outside of studios though.

Not just the Thriller stuff, but the latter post Quincy Jones stuff on the Essential MJ collection is also of similar quality with excellent dynamics, perhaps even better in some cases. The attack of the percussion on much of this collection could induce heart attacks in some on my system!

Even the early Jackson 5 stuff sounds very good for the most part.

When I listen to random tracks off my music server including the cuts from this collection mixed in, these cuts always distinguish themselves as being in the top echelon in regards to dynamics, along with a few other discs, some new and some old.

Listening to music produced differently off a music server randomly really lets you take notice in the production and sound quality differences from title to title. It also works well to identify differences between two or more different versions of the same tune off different CDs played back to back.

Shadorne, is Thriller (original lp) generally regarded as a model of excellent production and mastering? my lp copy of Thriller has much more sibilance than the majority of my other records, irritating to listen to, not that it couldn't be caused by other things.