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| This article from Media Guardian recently observed "Albums are getting louder and the sound quality is suffering. Audiophiles and engineers despair of the trend, but who is driving it?"
Well, I think the mastering engineers, at least, know who's driving it... it's the artists and producers who insist on judging the quality of CD mastering purely in terms of loudness comparisons with other CDs.
The truth is that, whatever we do as artists, producers or engineers, music lovers will play the CD at the volume they want. They do, after all, have volume controls, and are not afraid to use them.
By making CDs Extremely Limited we are not only destroying natural dynamics, we are also reducing the clarity and making CDs which are far more difficult and tiring to listen to.
I've lost arguments and jobs over this a number of times. You master something and make it sound as good as possible, just the way the client and musicians agree they want it to sound; you transfer it at the maximum level possible without destroying it, then they take it home and complain that it's "just not loud enough".
"But if you turn it up, does it sound good?"
"Oh yes."
"Well, there you are then."
"But we shouldn't have to turn it up, why does it sound so quiet?"
"Compared to what...?"
Blah blah blah... You can't tell them they're being paranoid and you can't tell them that the loud chart CDs they're comparing it with all sound shite because they're totally over-processed and over-compressed. We have been chasing LOUDNESS so long that hardly anyone appreciates any kind of open-ness or dynamics any more. Clients think you're incompetent and you begin to think that everyone in the army is out of step but you.
Whatever you think of Dire Straits, go back and listen to the original CD of Brothers in Arms. Most of it tickles along quite happily at around -10/-7dBfs but the drums leap out and when you turn it up it sounds fantastic. And that was a massive big selling CD. Did anyone complain that it sounded quiet? No, they didn't, they just turned it up and used it to demonstrate hifi systems.
I live in hope that one day another big name act will have a big success with an album which has real dynamics. Perhaps, then, today's producers and artists will wake up, smell the coffee and start producing CDs that people want to turn up, not turn off. |
Is it loud or is it just Extremely Limited ?
General Discussion -> Post-production and mastering
