Do you have Clockwork Angels? I know the same guy produced Snakes and arrows and CA, but I'm not sure who mixed and mastered them. I like Snakes and arrows too, although (I'm sure you would agree) -8db and 8,000 overs seems like a sloppy job. I wonder how well CA would stack up. My metering options are not what yours are. I tend to use the percieved loudness in T-racks for a visual, but it doesn't have a running average...so it's hard to tell.

About the Loudness Wars: all the purists say "that's what the volume knob is for- turn it up" why not " that's what the volume knob is for, turn it down"
 
Not like there has ever been much subtlety in guitar pop. It's not like classical whatsoever. All the loudness wars guys should buy the PONO system for perfect acoustics 

I don't care if it sounds good. Some stuff sounds awful while some...like the Van Halen cd, All my meters would suggest that it should sound like crap, but I like it. It has only about 5db of dynamic range but they got away with it in my opinion. Some people hate it. Whatever works...works.

I don't have Clockwork Angels. I only became a Rush fan a couple years ago, so I've not built up a collection yet.

My perception of Clockwork Angels is that the mixing/mastering is better than on Vapor Trails, but that's not saying much.  The songs are still growing on me.  It's hard to say with absolute certainty which album sounded best because the compositions are different.  I'm one of the dinosaurs who thinks that Moving Pictures was their best sounding album ever.  It's hard to top that.

Yep, Moving pictures is great. I've always liked counterparts, but I'm 44 so all the 70's stuff I heard in the late 80's early 90's. I guess it was around 87 or 88 that I got into Rush. I have all their stuff including the dvds. They are at their best live I think. "All the worlds a stage is really good" The early digital recordings bother me more than the modern stuff.

i have an original release CD of HEMISPHERES, and when i put it on back to back, with say, the new Queens of the Stone Age album, you can barely hear it if i play QOTSA first, and then play the rush disc...
 
but once i volume match it, man does it sound good.
 
 

I only became a Rush fan after watching Beyond the Lighted Stage. Recommended for anyone who likes music documentaries, but essential viewing for Rush fans. Prior to that, I only knew them from the few tracks that got regular radio play, which I didn't like at all. I was pleasantly surprised to find that those tunes do not represent the band's best work.

Great movie! I have that too. I believe that dvd is what finally put them in the Hall of fame. Rush is one of the few old bands that are still getting better in my opinion.

batsbrew
i have an original release CD of HEMISPHERES, and when i put it on back to back, with say, the new Queens of the Stone Age album, you can barely hear it if i play QOTSA first, and then play the rush disc...
 
but once i volume match it, man does it sound good.
 
 

Yeah those first cds were about the same as the albums. How long ago was it that cds started to come out...1985 or so? I know they got louder in the mid nineties, the remasters or whatever and of course now they are uber loud. Which isn't always a bad thing. I imported one song each from Rush clockwork Angels, Van Halen A different kind of truth and Steely Dan Two against Nature. They are separated by about 5db each with SD being the quietest. All 3 sound pretty good to me.