Loudness War
Loudness War Posted on: 30.08.2013 by Alane Pecaut Im studying to be an audio engineer and music producer in Stockholm, Sweden and the main thing we've been talking about has been the mastering process which have led to what we say is "the Loudness war". I've been reading around on this community
and on the blogg and i've found lots of mastering tricks to find that "delicious" distortion. I've also read that good sound quality is a dealmaker in the electrodance world and i bet everyone has seen the Deadmau5 interview on youtube where he practically stomps on Dubstep cause of its audio and mastering. So basically what im asking and wondering about.. Are some of you guys actively working to end this "Loudness war"? | |
| Tesha Freudenstein 01.09.2013 |
Originally Posted by Tarekith
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| Monserrate Rupnow 01.09.2013 |
Originally Posted by jollelolle
I get to see both sides of the loudness wars in my profession. While there's slowly been a shift away from the super distorted and overly-compressed sound that most people believe of when they say "loudness wars", there's still plenty of artists that want it that loud. Even if it knowingly messes with the integrity of their song. The number of times I have artists choose a heavily distorted master that's super flat sounding compared a slightly less compressed master, shudder... It's a rough generalization, but mostly it seems to be the bass music types after this sort of sound still, they want it loud as fuck no matter what. Oh well, it's their music. And I 100% believe DJs are responsible in some part of the loudness wars continuing. Most artists I know who want it super loud do so because they don't want DJs flipping through tracks on Beatport to get to theirs and skip it becuase it's quieter then the rest they are previewing. Is it right? No, but it happens all the time. |
| Rena Estabrook 30.08.2013 |
Originally Posted by Tha Gooch
Music released in the 70s and 80s sound way better than music released today. |
| Nedra Fresneda 30.08.2013 |
Originally Posted by Tha Gooch
I believe it's a great idea that you can listen to how the artists really intended a track to sound before it is "Apple earbud ready". It might be redundant with a lot of types of music but it still has it's place. |
| Janeen Tarricone 30.08.2013 |
Originally Posted by iambiggles
I refuse to push my tracks to the max because for bass music it kills a lot of the low end. The major problem is that most music consumers are listening on crap speakers, headphones and in environments where dynamic range doesn't matter. Think about the stock iPhone buds while on the bus or the standard speakers in a normal car. In those cases your not going to get the benefit of the increase in dynamic range, so the overly compressed, louder tracks are actually better here. There are far less of people out there that have good headphones, proper speakers, and a proper environment to listen in that can fully appreciate the full dynamic range that comes from a properly mastered track. So if you are an artist and your goal is to sell music or become popular to the masses, you pretty much have to over-compress it. If you don't care about selling it, becoming popular, or you only want to sell to the very niche market that wants a properly mastered track you can. It sucks, but it's just the way it is. |
| Qiana Castellucci 30.08.2013 |
Originally Posted by R01
http://dynamicrangeday.co.uk/ |
| Alane Pecaut 30.08.2013 | Im studying to be an audio engineer and music producer in Stockholm, Sweden and the main thing we've been talking about has been the mastering process which have led to what we say is "the Loudness war". I've been reading around on this community
and on the blogg and i've found lots of mastering tricks to find that "delicious" distortion. I've also read that good sound quality is a dealmaker in the electrodance world and i bet everyone has seen the Deadmau5 interview on youtube where he practically stomps on Dubstep cause of its audio and mastering. So basically what im asking and wondering about.. Are some of you guys actively working to end this "Loudness war"? |
| Monserrate Rupnow 02.09.2013 | |
| Hank Guidas 02.09.2013 | What is the loudness war explained to a non-producer guy? Never quite understood the compressing term either |
| Tesha Freudenstein 01.09.2013 |
Originally Posted by Tarekith
|
| Monserrate Rupnow 01.09.2013 |
Originally Posted by jollelolle
I get to see both sides of the loudness wars in my profession. While there's slowly been a shift away from the super distorted and overly-compressed sound that most people believe of when they say "loudness wars", there's still plenty of artists that want it that loud. Even if it knowingly messes with the integrity of their song. The number of times I have artists choose a heavily distorted master that's super flat sounding compared a slightly less compressed master, shudder... It's a rough generalization, but mostly it seems to be the bass music types after this sort of sound still, they want it loud as fuck no matter what. Oh well, it's their music. And I 100% believe DJs are responsible in some part of the loudness wars continuing. Most artists I know who want it super loud do so because they don't want DJs flipping through tracks on Beatport to get to theirs and skip it becuase it's quieter then the rest they are previewing. Is it right? No, but it happens all the time. |
| Alane Pecaut 31.08.2013 | That kind of depends how they master the tracks. Is mastering done before the mixing or is it done after the mixing. To release an unmastered track when the mastering is done after the mix then that wouldnt be much problem but my personal experience is that studios often master before the mixing so they can prevent destructive mastering artifacts |
| Rena Estabrook 30.08.2013 |
Originally Posted by Tha Gooch
Music released in the 70s and 80s sound way better than music released today. |
| Nedra Fresneda 30.08.2013 |
Originally Posted by Tha Gooch
I believe it's a great idea that you can listen to how the artists really intended a track to sound before it is "Apple earbud ready". It might be redundant with a lot of types of music but it still has it's place. |
| Alane Pecaut 30.08.2013 | Well, you really don't believe that DJs can somewhat contribute to the ending of Loudness war. If Djs started to sort their music also depending on the sound quality (Just a waveanalyze in traktor can fix that) and then when you are at the club you can just kick the overall volume up a notch. Atleast some people are gonna react that the music you are playing are actually sounding a bit better then the guy before? |
| Janeen Tarricone 30.08.2013 |
Originally Posted by iambiggles
I refuse to push my tracks to the max because for bass music it kills a lot of the low end. The major problem is that most music consumers are listening on crap speakers, headphones and in environments where dynamic range doesn't matter. Think about the stock iPhone buds while on the bus or the standard speakers in a normal car. In those cases your not going to get the benefit of the increase in dynamic range, so the overly compressed, louder tracks are actually better here. There are far less of people out there that have good headphones, proper speakers, and a proper environment to listen in that can fully appreciate the full dynamic range that comes from a properly mastered track. So if you are an artist and your goal is to sell music or become popular to the masses, you pretty much have to over-compress it. If you don't care about selling it, becoming popular, or you only want to sell to the very niche market that wants a properly mastered track you can. It sucks, but it's just the way it is. |
| Sonja Roybal 30.08.2013 | When I get home, I'll link an article regarding the loudness war in drum and bass and how it's hurt the music. It became about engineering rather than creativity. Tunes are squashed and compressed to shit. It's all mid bass and absent of sub bass. There's been a somewhat successful movement against it recently. |
| Qiana Castellucci 30.08.2013 |
Originally Posted by R01
http://dynamicrangeday.co.uk/ |
| Trey Brune 30.08.2013 | This has only ever been an issue for people who are too lazy to adjust the volume. |
| Janell Selser 31.08.2013 | I'm not sure what DJ's can do to stop the loudness war, that's kinda up to the artist. I read recently that NIN is releasing two versions of their album a shitty loud version for cd and iTunes and an audiophile version. I'm not sure who's still waiting for a new Nine Inch Nails album but having more choices for the fans is always a good thing. http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/28/46...sitation-marks |
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