Comments on: Volume Wars: Dynamic Range Strikes Back with Campaign, Plug-in

By: Pleasurize Music! « discrete music

Pleasurize Music! « discrete music — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:56:49 +0000

[...] Kirn at Create Digital Music did a post on the Pleasure Music Foundation back in March. The Foundation aims to put the [...]

By: MUSIC|MEDIA|DESIGN » Create Digital Music »Dynamic Range Strikes Back!

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:01:44 +0000

[...] Digital Music has a piece on the latest front in raging Loudness Wars, which I highly recommend: Dynamic Range Strikes Back with Campaign, Plug-in. Campaigning against hyper-limited, over-loud CDs is nothing new, and largely a failure. CDs, [...]

By: wheatonna

wheatonna — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 23:15:04 +0000

It’s all well and good to consider digital distortion or brick-wall compression as an esthetic choice, but if I never get past track
four on an album because my ears are tired –regardless of the volume knob– then there’s a problem.

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 07:07:17 +0000

All the best with the campaign.
There can be no LOUD without soft.

By: Place

Place — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:20:12 +0000

@Steve

The problem I have is that I really *want* to listen to the new Metallica album. It’s supposedly a return to form for them (which is to say, picks up where I stopped listening to them, right after “Justice”.) They’re a band that meant a whole lot to me way back when. I can’t stand the sound of the new album. Sure, the world won’t end if I don’t listen to it, and there’s plenty of other great metal out there to dig on instead. It just disappoints me that the mastering on the album has become a barrier to enjoyment of what could be meaningful music.

The main point of the debate is that we should have a range of options available to us, as producers. These should be aesthetic choices, not market driven rules.

BTW: me = working class, middle aged, fit, mixed ethnicity and living in a medium sized town. Don’t think I’ve driven up the price of anything lately.

By: Skye

Skye — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 07:57:46 +0000

I think some of these comments are grand generalizations. I’m 22 and can easily hear DR differences from records of yore. So what if they weren’t released when I was born? Is that my fault? No. Can I still listen to them if I want to? Yes. Was there a lot of good music before my time (and will there be after it)? Yes.

Some people here put it as if you grew up between a certain set of years, you can’t know what dynamic range is. That’s garbage. I would also advise to them to check out most soundtracks, classical, and jazz recordings even of this era if they want to talk to anyone about dynamic range. Those records are still being mastered with quite low RMS powers, and they sound great. (Of course, hearing the soundtrack to The Dark Knight, it seems loud mastering is slowly seeping into this field of music as well).

Think before you add a comment.

By: Polite

Polite — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:20:01 +0000

I have enough trouble mixing my music to be “loud enough” let alone having to worry about it being “too loud” yet. >_>

Sigh. So much to learn. So little time and money.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 10:09:29 +0000

It’s been almost 3 years and http://www.turnmeup.org/ still haven’t posted their finalized criteria…

By: Kassen

Kassen — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:26:33 +0000

Steve; being born in ‘77 I only have the haziest recollection of the era but I still prefer vinyl. One part of that is certainly the sound but another is the tactile interface. I don’t think this has anything to do with nostalgia, actually I experience the toy turntables I use for my DIY sequencer (through playstation to USB converters) as slightly futuristic; it’s “grab&drag”, a bit like a mouse except you can do it with your eyes closed if you’d like.

More generally; the screen of my portable mp3 player cracked so I put it in “random-all” mode (this was a bit tricky to do without much of the screen…) and left it there. I now wish it had a plugin like this and would turn down the volume for those overly limited tracks. to be clear; I respect everybody’s artistic intent but I also respect my ears and I’d just like to enjoy listening to music. If it’s too loud too much of the time I’ll turn it down a bit (or wear earplugs).

Frankly I think that’s the one thing these records are achieving; they’ll be turned down a bit.

By: salamanderanagram

salamanderanagram — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:12:12 +0000

just ran through some of my favorite artists – all of whom i knew were guilty of over-compression and saturations – tipper, vibesquad, glitch mob, etc.

none of it has the suggested dynamic range, all of it fits into the “unfit for consumption” range.

and it’s also my favorite music, so i guess i will ignore dynamic range complaints from now on…