The Metal Advisor

Re: Floyded or Not Floyded?? I've got a few guitars with floyd trems. Once you've used it, you can't go without it. (but it is a pain in the ass sometimes...)

Re: metallica? People insist Metallica sold out because of the change in style between ...and Justice for All and Metallica (The Black Album). Hell, there's even people that say they sold out before.

Re: Shoutbox & Facebook Connect While it won't concern me because I gave up Facebook a couple months ago, what is Facebook Connect?

Re: Greetings From the Desert Land Welcome! We need more people like you around here. I love discussion, and based on your posts, you're sure to provide it. Hope to get into one with you sometime.

Re: powerviolence! I like Agoraphobic Nosebleed... but they're grindcore (to be fair powerviolence is heavily influenced by grindcore).

Re: TMA Discussions Part II: Physical Copies vs. Digital Fil Not really. It depends on the format. Quite a few people avoid MP3s all together. Of course, this depends on if you're educated on the subject or not (meaning knowing what to use). MP3 = compression Lossless/FLAC = compression, but with no loss of audio data. This is exactly what you have on the CD sound quality wise, but saves you a bit of space. WAV/AIFF = Exactly what is on the CD. Quite a large file. Then there's even higher resolution files, not to mention other formats.

Re: Records, CDs, or MP3s? I have quite a few CDs that are over 20 years old. No problems whatsoever. As for the vinyl vs. CD comment, it's analog vs. digital. Of course it's going to sound different. Depending on mastering, compression, and such, modern albums on CD many times sound worse than their vinyl counterparts.

Re: Periphery - Self Titled Debut. It's not even his clean vocals. I can't stand his harsh ones.

Re: Death

Re: Good metal bands ^ Yeah, A Day to Remember isn't metal. We Came as Romans isn't either.

Re: The Meaning of Life Dude... That begs the question: Will you even know what happens? As for the thread, I have nothing to add at the moment. I suppose I could philosophize. Edit: I didn't see you made a thread about death.

Re: TMA Discussions Part II: Physical Copies vs. Digital Fil ^ As I understand it, very little profit goes to band when a record is sold (unless they're mega superstars or something). I buy records because I like to, nothing more. You're better off buying the merch or going to a show if you want to support them.

Re: TMA Discussions Part II: Physical Copies vs. Digital Fil Both of you, excellent responses. The experience is big part of physical music. I find I prefer the sound signatures of most hi-fi CD players over those of digital audio players. I have yet to try the Hifiman HM-801 the apparent king of digital audio players when it comes to sound quality. That's on my list. It's true the convenience of digital music far outweighs that of "physical" music. It's easy to categorize and sort, and it's often a cinch to find your favorite tunes. However, if you lose all your music, you'd be hard pressed to find FLAC and Lossless files for "free" or even on site that sells files. There are sites like HD Tracks that offer high quality tracks, but I've found that they are sparse on metal. Of course, if MP3 compression (aside from ~320kbps) doesn't bother you then this isn't an issue. I've fought with the space issue many times before. I don't even know how many CDs I currently have (I'm guessing 1,500 or more at this point), and I have a bunch piled up on floor waiting for sorting. Now that is royal pain in the ass. Somehow it's quite satisfying when I'm done sorting as I can browse through the shelves and see how I've categorized my music (a simple pleasure for me). Vinyl is another story as it has to be stored upright so it doesn't warp, and it has to be cleaned periodically. I suppose that is the real pain in the ass. Cassettes can unravel, but you know how that goes. Like anything else, if physical formats are taken care of properly they have little chance of breaking. There's the issue of CD rot, but I doubt that will happen in my lifetime. In a nutshell, fragility of these formats in not a problem for me. As for portability, yep, I take my digital audio player everywhere I go. Digital music players have spoiled us in that area. Physical formats definitely can't compete here. I like your practical outlook, Holy Terror. P.S. CDs will play the exact same way every single time unless you severely scratch them. Vinyl will if it's taken care of and your turntable needle's performance is kept track of. Cassettes, well, they don't sound great to begin with, but I like 'em anyway.

Hey peeps, this is fresh from my blog. It kinda has a cynical attitude, so don't be scared by it. I had a ton of fun with this one. Let's get some good discussion going; feel free to disagree, raise some points, and we'll have a ball. ------------------- Physical Copies or Digital Files? The Modern Day Music Dilemma Modern day is interesting. The local records stores we all know and love are rapidly disappearing due to lack of profit or they are being subsidized by bigger corporations that stock nothing but the typical shelf fodder. All that remains are chain stores that I would rather not step into to look for music. Thank god for Amazon and online distros. You would have to be living under a rock for the past decade to not understand why this is happening. The fact of the matter is records don't sell like they used to. People don't want a hard copy of their favorite music anymore. They would rather obtain it illegally, or pay for a digital file. Pay for a digital file, you say? Yes. Personally, I would never think about paying for a digital file as A) I like to have something tangible. It makes little sense to pay for music I can't touch, especially when a hard drive crash could potentially happen, wiping out my music collection. I want the best quality possible. I won't touch a MP3 with a 10 foot stick unless it's correctly encoded to a verified 320kbps. Go ahead, call me picky. With a CD, I can rip the albums to my computer in FLAC or Lossless and have CD quality audio at one click. Then I can take those files and convert them to 320kbps MP3s for my digital audio player. iTunes and similar places should be ashamed that they swindle people out of money for a lower quality recording. I suppose I'm not the poor sap paying for a digital file, though. It's true. I like having a massive album collection, whether it's composed of compact disks, vinyl, or cassettes. Heck, I'll even include 8-track. The feeling of standing in a room surrounded by music is a sensation unlike any other. I can't explain it, but when I walk into a room full of music, I get very excited. It isn't the same scrolling through a screen deciding what to listen to. It's sterile and it doesn't evoke any emotion from me. I like browsing shelves of music. Yes, I primarily listen to music off of my computer and digital audio player. Am I a hypocrite? Absolutely not. 99% of the music stored on my hard drive I own a physical copy of. The rest I got from a friend. I can certainly say that my experience isn't the same as putting a record on the turntable or popping a compact disk into a hi-fi CD player, but I have enhanced my computer-based setup quite a bit. I use audiophile grade headphones plugged into a tube amp which is routed to a great DAC plugged into my laptop. It's sterile picking the music, not listening to it. I tend to listen to music this way because it's convenient. In the end, I guess I have nostalgia for something I barely experienced. The digital file era has been upon us for quite a few years now and it isn't going anywhere. For the most part, I've lived in the age of internet where people feel entitled to have everything right at their finger tips. "Hey man, have you heard the new Iron Maiden album?" "Nope. Let me go download it really quickly." Screw that. -TMA The original post can be found here: http://metaladvisor.blogspot.com/2011/07/physical-copies-or-digital-files-modern.html

Re: What Are You Listening To? Miles Davis - "Deception"

Re: Judas Priest or Motorhead? While I enjoy both acts, the choice is easy. I pick Judas Priest based solely on their material from the '70s. Priest hasn't topped that material and never will. It is among the best.

Re: What gear do you have ? ^ I'm gonna need to think about that one. They all have something I like about them. They're like my children.

Re: Periphery - Self Titled Debut. ^ Agreed. The vocals keep me away from Periphery. It's a shame.

Re: How Metal Affects You I don't think I misinterpreted your message, I was just trying to point out that metal isn't the only type of music that has a strong sense of belonging and such. I feel a lot of people put metal on a pedestal and neglect to look at how other genres of music "cultivate." As of now, I see your post as essentially saying metal is above other types of music in fan devotion and in unification (and similar aspects), which, to be frank, I can't agree with at all. For my first request, I'm not exactly sure how it's strange. You're basically saying that no other style of music has united people since the '50s in the same way that metal has. I think that's very odd as it brushes aside every type of music that's come along since then. You did acknowledge other styles, but you said "very few." This may be an issue of wording, but I don't see "very few" styles. It's true that there weren't as many as many as modern day, but it certainly wasn't "very few." Regarding the brotherhood comment, you did indeed acknowledge other fanbases. However, we just have a big difference of opinion here. I've explored numerous styles of music and tried to experience them at one time or another (not saying you haven't). I've found that more often than not, the deeper one goes into a genre of music the more one will find that they have a cult following, often times similar to metal devotionwise and unificationwise. I feel some people are so deep into metal they neglect to consider how other genres are. These traits aren't exclusive to metal, rather mutual across music if one is really "into" a style. As for this... I believe I understood that, but I did write that post at ~2:00 a.m. I saw your post (and still do apparently) as saying metal has a stronger sense of whatever (may it be A, B, or C) than other types of music. In my experience, I just haven't found that to be true. I know you were trying to say metal defied a downfall/superficiality/insert word of choice here (and it has!), but it isn't the only music to do so and I don't see it as stronger than another style that has done the same thing (think eurobeat). In any case, if it was matter of misinterpretation, that's what I get for reading your post that early in the morning. I knew something might come back to bite me in the ass. I'm trying to get some extended discussion going on this forum; I don't mean to come off as strong. It's just been severely lacking.

Re: hey Welcome, dude. Feel free to ask your questions right here. We will be happy to help.

Re: How Metal Affects You Warning you now, I am going to provoke you. This is a bold claim. Care to back it up?

Re: Sheet!

Re: Sheet! ^ Wow, that's screwed up. Does anyone know what the motives of the crazy dudes were or were they just nuts? Of course, they're nuts even if they had motives.

Re: Sheet! Scott Ian posted something about it on his Twitter. I still haven't read about what happened. Glad you're okay.

Re: The Metal Advisor Discussions Part I: Bands of the Same @Valfar: Incubus is another good one. Nice contribution. Personally, I'm pretty neutral toward this issue and don't mind bands sharing names. It's especially fun when I tell one of my friends I'm going to play some Poison and then they get smacked in the face with some death/thrash. They expect the American Poison. I must admit, however, that doesn't happen very often as I literally have no friends into metal or hard rock. It's a rough life. My whole fraternity thinks I'm a freak for liking metal. But I'm getting off topic. Excuse me.