New Iron Maiden Album Not Mastered

[xnorfin]

I first heard about this a few weeks ago, and was somewhat sceptical about an internationally acclaimed band choosing to not master their new album.
Now, I must confess that Iron Maiden have been my favorite band for the better part of twenty-two years, so I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one!


Producer Kevin Shirley had this to say,

Spoke to 'Arry [Steve Harris] on Friday, who has decided against mastering the IRON MAIDEN album, and I'm quite pleased about that, although I did like the mastering job we did in [New York City]. It means that you will get to hear the new album exactly as it sounded in the studio, no added EQ, compression, analog widening, etc., and I must say, I am pretty happy with the end result. I think some tracks could use a smidge more top end, and others a bump of bottom — but I know 'Arry well enough now to know how wary of outsiders he is, and I fully expected he may have done that, so I made sure I was happy with the results when I printed the mixes in the studio. So, that'll fire you guys on the BB's right up, no doubt!


After listening to the album, it sounds good, but there is a noticeable lack of definition throughout.


I'm curious to see what your thoughts and opinions are on this matter.

Was this a bad idea?

Did they cheat us (the consumer) by not releasing the best quality album that they could?

Should they have just released a special edition copy with a mastered version and a raw version?



P.S. Kevin Shirley uses Pro Tools extensively in the editing and mixing stages.

[cary chilton]

J Welch?

Well I think they wanted it to sound like a live performance. Sounds like it worked!

[jasonjbundy]

Unfortunately I bought this boring POS sounding CD. I will do my own mastering job and enjoy that rather than the dreadful commercial version.

This is one area where the record label really should have put their foot down.

Kevin Shirley ruined Dream Theater and now he ruins Iron Maiden.

What was Steve Harris thinking???

[Kryst]

That sounds exactly how jasonjbundy worded it. A "POS". I'm not a fan of the band, but I don't know how I'd like it if a band I am a fan of would do this. But really, is it Steve Harris' fault? I mean, does being a famous rock band for YEARS mean nothing in the face of the corporation? What I mean is, they've been around for a while now, they've paid their dues... If they were against the idea, would anyone care if they announced they didn't like it unmastered?