Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication [2LP VINYL]

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I edited this album to fix up its clipping, and I was able to get its dynamic range from 5 to 12! I also edited the b-sides from the “Dani California”, “Tell Me Baby”, and “Snow (Hey Oh)” singles! While the 2014 digital remaster of Californication has as much rampant clipping as the original release, it features a slightly different mix of “Savior”, one with “all in the hand” vocals during its outro. (I couldn’t find a posting of this mix on YouTube, so this is the passage in question on my “dynamic edit” of the release.) Anyone know anything about this pressing? https://www.discrepancy-records.com.au/red-hot-chili-peppers-californication-us-2020-issu This is the original 1999 US pressing. Please note there is a 2012 remaster which is externally quite similar to this.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication (Vinyl Remaster Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication (Vinyl Remaster

It suffers from the same inconsistency as all their albums do - nobody would have missed songs like "Purple Stain" or "Right On Time" - but this is the closest they've come to a solid, consistent listen. Also, I've seen Elusive Disc list Bernie Grundman as the mastering engineer as recently as the One Hot Minute reissue and then it was pulled down. Oddly enough, yesterday Bernie wasn't mentioned and today he is. While all previous Chili Peppers projects have been highly spirited, Californication dares to be spiritual and epiphanal..." - rollingstone.com, Greg Tate, June 24, 1999 Original is written as '0 9362-47386-1 9' and the numbers in the middle are below the gaps left by the shorter bars. The CD and 24-bit version streaming on major platforms were easily the worst the bunch. Everything just sounds terrible.Anthony's vocals clip audibly and frequently. It is shrill beyond belief, and still headache inducing even 23 years later.

Oddly enough, John Frusciante remixed “Can’t Stop” and “Universally Speaking” for their single releases to bring the guitars and bass more to the forefront, and the vocals of “Can’t Stop” sound even MORE compressed 3 than they were in the album mix. The single mix of “Universally Speaking”, which was also used for the band’s Greatest Hits album, still has the vocal distortion present on the album mix. The 2014 remaster of By the Way is pretty much identical to its original release, except it has a slightly different mix of “Universally Speaking” that is missing a few guitar lines and plays at a very slightly slower speed. Sadly, there are countless records out there (particularly from the late 90s and 2000s) that are the victim of poor quality mastering. Californication” and “Universally Speaking” also feature different mixes than their album counterparts on Greatest Hits, but I already noted and edited them in their respective album sections. Vlado Meller mastered this album, and will continue to master all of the band’s digital releases until The Getaway, but returned again for the band’s upcoming album, Unlimited Love. Meller is rather infamous for his digital mastering work, often audibly clipping the albums he works with, and Californication is perhaps his worst example of that. There are certainly ways to make loud and dynamically-compressed masters while avoiding making it sound THIS distorted. The solution is generally to have a quieter master. Even one or two less decibels of loudness would lower the amount of distortion on this album significantly, and it would STILL be considered a loud master. John's guitar technique had deteriorated by this point from not having been tested or exercised in two years, so there are no virtuoso performances like those that we have come to expect from him on this recording, but that is an advantage, I think, as the simplicity of the songs is the key to their genius. Flea's bass playing is simple too, but highly inventive and harmoniously effective. This was a time when the Chili's were playing with each other, delighting in each other's ability, and pushing each other along, which is why this is probably the most satisfying post One Hot Minute record they have yet released. Hell, even Anthony's sex rap nonsense seemed to take on an unusual poignancy for the first time.

Californication (1999, 180g, Vinyl Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication (1999, 180g, Vinyl

Living Colour Time’s Up-I had the original CD and it sounded like a really good production with plenty of power. I recently bought a single album version Epic 466920 1 that is anaemic and limp compared to the CD.It also is very quiet perhaps because both sides are very long.I wonder if compression has contributed to make this vinyl sound so bad.There is a double album pressing that might be much better sounding. I think this release has been bastardized over the years and that originally was a first pressing but manufactured at a different facility. My copy has the double rings like so many Warner Bros pressings of the time but has these matrices: Another unofficial version of the album was an “Unmastered/Unsequenced” version that was leaked in 2011. Despite what its title may imply, this release faced a ton of compression on its signal, resulting in distortion comparable to the original retail release. What this album needs is a complete remix from top to bottom, just imagine how good it could have sounded. Sadly I doubt we will ever know. I know we have been discussing this in the a RHCP thread but I thought it might be appropriate to start a new thread for those not following that one and to bring attention to this particular album title.The mastering process of a vinyl record can make or break the overall sound quality. The mix engineer can get everything right, from the initial microphone technique to the final mix, but if the mastering quality is poor, the record will fall at the final hurdle. Lyrics and credits sheet has the original 1999 layout and does not report any info about the remaster process.

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication (2020, 180g

It’s important to note that the dynamics are not being restored with the “Perfect Declipper” program that I use, but rather, they are being approximated. While one may not be able to “declip” an album as one would be unable to “unbake a cake”, I find the results here to be a convincible attempt at doing so. Only in the most extreme examples have I heard the program produce odd artifacts that would appear unintended in the album’s mix. I think it’s also important to note that dynamic range compression is not an inherently bad thing. It can tighten up performances, add grit, and help remove dynamic outliers that would take you out of the mix.A similar-looking compression was also applied to One Hot Minute a few years prior. I would argue that use of it complemented the messy aesthetic of One Hot Minute's production. The production on Californication is far more basic and straightforward though, so creating relentless distortion through compression or clipping doesn’t really fit, in my opinion.

Californication [2LP VINYL] Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication [2LP VINYL]

Finally, we have the picture disc. What you’ll notice right away is an increase in underlying surface noise. Picture discs are renowned for their added surface noise as a byproduct of how they’re made. In terms of the master, I’d say this was the same master as the original, sadly, as the distortion on the guitar solo is still very clear. Interestingly, though, the overall volume is lower than the original. What Does a LOUDNESS WAR Master Look Like?As you can hear, the original master is squashed and compressed to a level of unacceptable distortion. The snare is reduced to a hard crunch rather than a crisp snap, and the symbols take on an aggressive edge that is fatiguing on the ear. Worst of all, the slide guitar solo is audibly distorted. With less audible distortion on this release compared to Californication, my ears were instead drawn to how much of a mess the band sounds when they have no dynamics to breathe with. The choruses especially sound like a band trying to fit both themselves and their instruments into a telephone booth. Interestingly enough, the vinyl release of this album was also mastered by Vlado Meller, but doesn’t seem to be subject to the clipping of the original release! 5 Some consumers turned to the vinyl copy in the hope of salvation but were sorely disappointed to find it was the same “squashed” mix as the original CD, just pressed to vinyl. It wasn’t until 2012 that the record finally received a proper remaster, specifically for vinyl, when Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering was tasked with cutting the record for a 180g re-pressing. You would be better off buying the Cd as it sounds much better and you receive a lyrical booklet which is not contained with the record.