Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication [2LP VINYL]

Product Information

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. Throughout the loudness wars, vinyl releases often avert excessive dynamic range compression and clipping by featuring a different, more dynamic master. All versions of Californication officially released in 1999 (as well as the 2019 picture disc release and 2014 digital remaster), however, seem as though they have the same ridiculous clipping. Other released versions of Californication—some official, some unofficial—feature different masters and sometimes different mixes of songs. 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.

Explaining and attempting to fix up the clipping and dynamic

One Hot Minute, mastered by Stephen Marcussen, is the first Red Hot Chili Peppers album that can be described as a participant of the loudness wars. This is a zoomed-in version of the song “Parallel Universe” from the “Unmastered/Unsequenced” CD-R. Notice how the peaks are flattened, but not horizontal. Horizontal flattening would imply the signal was clipped. Universally Speaking”, by contrast, has an odd, clipping-like hiss over the top of its vocals, but features a waveform that looks like this: 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. I could lie with the shit sound, but I must have cleaned the record 10 times and my needle thinking I was crazy.For me Californication is an album which I play along to, and when my brother and I get out the guitars to have a jam, the Chili Peppers staples, "Californiation", "Otherside", "Scar Tissue", "Road Trippin'" and "This Velvet Glove" are what we regularly turn to (usually spliced in with some choice moments from Bloodsugar...). It is a record which, when played correctly by two trained and highly professional musicians such as me and my brother, can have enormous bonding qualities, and I like to think that it has brought we two siblings closer together. Vote up content that is on-topic, within the rules/guidelines, and will likely stay relevant long-term.

Californication (2012, 180g, Vinyl Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication (2012, 180g, Vinyl

While I don’t hear the clipping distortion on the vinyl sections of the video, an assumption the video presents, that higher DR values (as determined by a program) means that the vinyl IS more dynamic, is a bit erroneous. The imperfections of vinyl can create the illusion of higher dynamics when in fact it is derived from the same compressed master. This is a great detailing of that concept (made by the same video creator, funnily enough).

Tracklist

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.

After downloading the remastered Californication, I wanted to After downloading the remastered Californication, I wanted to

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. 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. Since the bad old days of the late 90s and 2000s, things have eased off a little. Some balance restored in recent years, partly because the industry recognized there is a problem, but also because of changing listening habits. 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. 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: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 Lyrics and credits sheet has the original 1999 layout and does not report any info about the remaster process. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are a particularly good example, as their 1991 classic Blood Sugar Sex Magik stands in stark comparison. Here, the dynamics are superb, the mastering compression is mild, and in my opinion, it’s one of the best recordings to come out of the 90s. Explaining and attempting to fix up the clipping and dynamic range compression of every RHCP album from *One Hot Minute* to *The Getaway*! 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.