LOUDNESS WARS - aka- super huge post time

[smopo24]

here is an article explaining how this "louder is better" mastering philosophy has fatigued ears for a long time now. this interview with a label excutive confirmins that a technique known as shredding (no, not van hagar or steve vai) is being used to boost the percieved volume of major label albums, and may be contributing to the downturn of cd sales. enjoy:

http://www.austin360.com/music/conte...9/28cover.html

XL Recording Studio Guide 2006

Everything Louder Than Everything Else
Have the loudness wars reached their final battle?
By Joe Gross


"You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like — static."

— Bob Dylan in Rolling Stone magazine


The ranting of a cranky old man? Perhaps.

One man's opinion? Hardly.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

In August, an open letter from a music industry executive on the state of commercial compact disc mastering and manufacturing was sent to an industry tip sheet/e-mail list run by a music pundit named Bob Lefsetz.

The letter was written by Angelo Montrone, a vice president for A&R (the folks who scout and sign music acts) for One Haven Music, a Sony Music company.

"There's something . . . sinister in audio that is causing our listeners fatigue and even pain while trying to enjoy their favorite music. It has been propagated by A&R departments for the last eight years: The complete abuse of compression in mastering (forced on the mastering engineers against their will and better judgment)."

This compression thing has been a topic of discussion among audiophiles and music fans for nearly a decade. But hearing a music industry executive cop to it was pretty unusual.

The letter was almost immediately reprinted online in audio discussion forums.

"The mistaken belief that a 'super loud' record will sound better and magically turn a song into a hit has caused most major label releases in the past eight years to be an aural assault on the listener," Montrone's letter continued. "Have you ever heard one of those test tones on TV when the station is off the air? Notice how it becomes painfully annoying in a very short time? That's essentially what you do to a song when you super compress it. You eliminate all dynamics."

For those already confused, Montrone was essentially saying that there are millions of copies of CDs being released that are physically exhausting listeners, most of whom probably don't know why their ears and brains are feeling worn out.

He continued, citing an album that proved very popular with Austinites.

"Just to prove that the 'super loud' record has no correlation to actual sales, when we mastered the first Los Lonely Boys record I went to the session and specifically told our mastering engineer NOT to make this a loud record. Could it be that a record that actually had dynamic range could compete? Two and a half million records and a year of constant airplay of 'Heaven' confirmed my suspicion. Loud records are for the birds."

Loud records? Can't you just turn it down? Well, yes and no.

Let's say you go to the store to buy a CD, a brand-new CD of a popular rock band. The group is your favorite, you've been looking forward to this CD for some time. You have the band's other recordings, you've seen them live, perhaps you've even heard the new songs once or twice at a show.

You buy the CD. You take it home and throw it in the CD player. You couldn't be more excited as it starts to play.

But something weird happens as you listen to it. You like the songs, but you don't really want to listen to it for very long and you're not entirely sure why. You take it off. A few minutes, later you put it back on. Same thing happens: You like the music, but you still want to take the CD off. It's more than a little weird.

Condolences. You are officially a casualty of the loudness wars, the ongoing competition among bands, labels and A&R folks to make ever-louder albums.

[mikegee]

that's very interesting!

perhaps it's a marketing ploy haha ie: if the band issues a super loud cd, and if you the consumer like the band and the songs, but dont like the production of the cd you bought, maybe, just maybe, you will buy their new live cd, in hopes that it isnt mixed so loudly. more $ for the record company? yes! perhaps to offset illegal downloads? hmmm... just an idea... haha

but actually, this has been done before right? phil spectors "wall of sound" production from the 60s, similar concept...

[dolivas]

It's more like the misuse of compression by major studios. Compression rather than being applied to give a cleaner fuller mix of music is being applied rather to make music radio friendly or stereo friendly.

What better way to make sure your music can play nice with other music than to make it sound very uniform in volume and dynamics. Usually artists who aren't really into getting involved in the final mixdown entrust producers or wherever they send their recordings to do a proper job at mixing it. However, I imagine those studios put a lot of pressure on them to give them a very compressed samey sound. Great for them who want to have their music used in commercials, radio, tv shows but sucky for us who like dynamics in our music and some semblance of human sounds.

[smopo24]

Originally Posted by mikegee

but actually, this has been done before right? phil spectors "wall of sound" production from the 60s, similar concept...

no, the wall of sound was used to give a fuller sound to the arrangement of a song. 3 pianos, 3 drummers, 5 guitarists, etc, etc, all in the same room to give the performance more life and immediacy. the modern recording industry is doing something different than that. they are trying to make their songs stand out from other songs on the radio by making people percieve them as louder, thus (in theory at least) better.

[Whoopysnorp]

The worst-mastered album I've personally heard is Drake Equation by Tub Ring. The album itself is pretty rad, but you can actually hear the compressor pumping and breathing on the program material, and of course it's atrociously loud and hard to listen to. Trey Spruance from Mr. Bungle produced the album; I really hope he wasn't the one responsible for that mastering decision.

The worst-mastered major label album I've heard is the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californication. The album itself is complete dreck for the most part and I can't believe I paid good money for it, but to make matters worse it is overly hot to the point of being distorted in some parts. I've heard that Rush's recent Vapor Trails is a bad offender in this regard as well.

[Nubus]

Originally Posted by smopo24

But something weird happens as you listen to it. You like the songs, but you don't really want to listen to it for very long and you're not entirely sure why. You take it off. A few minutes, later you put it back on. Same thing happens: You like the music, but you still want to take the CD off. It's more than a little weird.

Condolences. You are officially a casualty of the loudness wars, the ongoing competition among bands, labels and A&R folks to make ever-louder albums.

I thought it interesting that the above linked article mentions Los Lonley boys' first record because that happens to be my mother's favorite CD. I wonder if her appreciation has anything to do with the dynamics.

"Just to prove that the 'super loud' record has no correlation to actual sales, when we mastered the first Los Lonely Boys record I went to the session and specifically told our mastering engineer NOT to make this a loud record. Could it be that a record that actually had dynamic range could compete? Two and a half million records and a year of constant airplay of 'Heaven' confirmed my suspicion. Loud records are for the birds."

[Professor Riffs]

Originally Posted by Whoopysnorp

The worst-mastered album I've personally heard is Drake Equation by Tub Ring. The album itself is pretty rad, but you can actually hear the compressor pumping and breathing on the program material, and of course it's atrociously loud and hard to listen to. Trey Spruance from Mr. Bungle produced the album; I really hope he wasn't the one responsible for that mastering decision.

Yeah the mastering job on Drake Equation is such a shame. I love every song on the album but it's for this very reason that I rarely listen to it. Normally I don't care about mixes or mastering or any of that but this is truly a ruined album. I read an interview with Tub Ring and they said Trey was awesome to work with but they hated how the album turned out.

[mikegee]

its interesting... there's a few bands that are doing the opposite (in my opinion) and recording at really low, soft volumes. some Tool songs sound really really soft, and have a very subdued tone, like they are miles away from the mics... i think its a cool technique anybody else notice this?

[smopo24]

Originally Posted by mikegee

its interesting... there's a few bands that are doing the opposite (in my opinion) and recording at really low, soft volumes. some Tool songs sound really really soft, and have a very subdued tone, like they are miles away from the mics... i think its a cool technique anybody else notice this?

there are quite a few records that i have to crank on my head phones (nada surf's high/low or the s/t stone roses record for example), and it amost won't get loud enough. i have to consciously remember to turn it down before i put on another cd!

[McLean]

In the recordings that I make for myself and my clients, I try really hard not to use a compressor (or any effects) at all. This goes espcially when doing the main or original tracks. If there is any processing involved I like to do it post so I have more control over the whole project. I prefer to not use a compressor when tracking vocals and other instruments. It makes me have to work hard to get a good sound an still keep from peeking. I think processors muddy up the nice natural sound of the vocals and or instruments. In my opinion, why buy super expensive mics to just dirty up the sound with all of that processing. Well, maybe that is the justification for the super expensive mics in big budget studios. Use that mic and poop on the sound with a processor just to make it end up sounding like a SM57.