BurnabyJoe Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 I can guarantee just about every user on here has an iPod or an mp3 player. When you put it on shuffle have you ever noticed some songs being WAY louder than others and thus having to adjust the volume all the time to prevent your ears from bleeding? This is what has now been dubbed the "Loudness War" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war This effects EVERY genre, what's the point in spending hundreds even thousands on good sound equipment if the source sucks? I bring this up because as a person who loves music, and cares what it sounds like, I want to share this information with you. Some of you may already know about this phenomenon, but a majority of the population doesn't, myself included up until a few months ago. Watch this youtube video first: I'm no audiophile myself, but this video explains the loss of DYNAMIC RANGE. The punch of the snare disappears, they louden up the quiet parts of the song to match the snare's loudness. If you we're to crank the beginning of the video real loud it would sound PERFECT but the end of the video does not. Why do record companies do this? Similar to extremely loud commercials on TV, when you hear a song on the radio the louder one is supposed to catch your attention, but you are losing tremendous sound quality just because of this cheap marketing scam. Big difference in punch and clarity eh? When you look at the audio in a visual like that it looks so absurd, when you think audio you think of those peaks and valleys not a big wall of sound in this loud cuts. Another great example is this video, comparing the dynamic Guitar Hero tracks (yes the video game) to the ACTUAL CD which is a pile of crap, and you can hear it: <<<< BEST EXAMPLE This effects mp3's, CD's, and even new Vinyl LP's. It effects all genres. The record companies think we all want loud garbage quality and don't care. There is nothing wrong with LOUD! the key is YOU have the volume nob, and turning up great quality music sounds amazing! Turning up this loudness crap just cripples your ears. If you have any CD's or LP's before say 1991 you are generally clear of this. I have G'N'Rs Appetite for Destruction on CD and it is mastered very good. But many CD's I currently own are mastered horribly. Even bands like Metric, who aren't heavy and loud to begin with. ***Another good tip!! Don't assume "Digitally Remastered" means better! I have both copies of Nirvana's first album Bleach on CD. The one released in 1989 and the recent re-release from 2010. Yes believe it or not the 2010 release sounds WORSE! We need to end this loudness war and GET WHAT WE PAY FOR. Even if you don't pay for music you have to be pissed off, what happened to listening to your favorite music in good quality? http://www.dynamicrangeday.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wizard of AZ Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 I CAN'T HEAR YOU YOU NEED TO SPEAK UP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trek Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Yes. Some of the brand new tracks sound like they are clipping. I dont know why studios master the tracks like that, it sounds terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buggernut Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Even if you don't pay for music you have to be pissed off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aGENT Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 I hate to be the bearer of bad news (especially as I agree with you) but most people don't care and it's unlikely to change thanks to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Money Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 I enjoyed the irony of Songs For The Deaf (QOTSA) being in the examples of the Wikipedia article. I hate it it when I get distortion on the drums when turning up a great song. I hope they curb the trend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostViking Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 The only time when I actually enjoy something being 'loudened' is with DVDs/TV/Movies. I hate when I rent, buy, or download a movie, have to set my speakers to maximum volume in order to hear the quiet parts, and then face a thundering explosion of loud when the loud parts come in. If I was going to watch on a home theater setup, it would be great to have the peaks and valleys all over the place, it does sound way better. However, if I'm on my laptop at 3am and want to watch a movie, it pisses me off to no end. My Lord of the Rings Extended DVD collection is the classic example. I literally cannot hear any of the whispering or talking, even with laptop set to max volume, yet the music and shouting and fighting is way too loud to be played in my apartment (my laptop speakers are actually fairly loud). Its like dynamics gone mad, and its really frustrating. Most DVD players and computer movie players don't have a normalize function to fix this either (I can do it myself with Vdub and Audition, but its really time consuming). Loudness is very useful for late night movie watching, particularly in an apartment. Its also good for music, people like to set their headphones, car stereos, etc. to a certain volume. With great dynamic range you can't set a particular volume, you are not in control of how loud your music is. But the good, ol fashioned peak/valley does sound awesome. Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon is a great album, complete with a massively dynamic range that just oozes musical goodness from every orifice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 It's annoying to me in that there is no consistency between old and new music. A standard should've been set long ago. However, i believe new music is louder partly because there is way more sound being generated, period. By computers. All those vocal effects and background loops didn't exist in the past. Even the ridiculousness of sampling and looping Public Enemies "Fear of a Black Planet" is quiet by today's standards. And that's kinda sad, considering the effort that went into Fear as opposed to most albums today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoggyDepot Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 What you said makes sense, but it's interesting to note... the wiki article includes albums like Appetite for Destruction by Guns n Roses, Dirt by Alice in Chains, Songs for the Deaf by QOTSA, and Angel Dust by Faith No More - those are absolute CLASSICS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverpig Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 It's annoying to me in that there is no consistency between old and new music. A standard should've been set long ago. However, i believe new music is louder partly because there is way more sound being generated, period. By computers. All those vocal effects and background loops didn't exist in the past. Even the ridiculousness of sampling and looping Public Enemies "Fear of a Black Planet" is quiet by today's standards. And that's kinda sad, considering the effort that went into Fear as opposed to most albums today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Voucer Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I usually buy the remastered disc if my old copy was transferred from an analog source. I sometimes hear hissing when I turn the volume up. I do agree clipping is a bad thing, though. I used to normalize my audio to -95.0 dB, but now I set it to -92.0 dB. The audio on the actual discs, however, should be set to a lower volume to prevent clipping. There certainly should be some regulations in place. My old Trooper album has this disclaimer on the back side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurnabyJoe Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 The Doors - 1988 Wolfmother - 2006 RHCP - 1995 GNR - 1987 Linkin Park - 2003 Just examples of CD's from the 80's that sound great, and everything else since the early to mid 90's that has gone to hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurnabyJoe Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 Last one: 1991 - Loreena Mckennit's the Visit (What a recording should sound like) 2009 - Metric's Fantasies (Goes to show this goes beyond hard rock and heavy metal) I have rap and jazz recordings that look like this wall of noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzle Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I bet most people on this board use the stock ipod earbuds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoGuitar Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Yep..it's all gone to crap... Your resident Audio Engineer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nux4lyfe Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I am a audio engineer myself and I cannot help but shake my head every time I get a client who destroys their song by asking me to master it as loud as possible...great example of a horribe mastered Album is Eminem's latest one, great cd but man did they do a crap mastering job..too loud! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoGuitar Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I am a audio engineer myself and I cannot help but shake my head every time I get a client who destroys their song by asking me to master it as loud as possible...great example of a horribe mastered Album is Eminem's latest one, great cd but man did they do a crap mastering job..too loud! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaBestPlaceOnEarth Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 It's like night and day listening to a recording from recently and a recording from back in the day. I don't know about this loudness was but you don't have to be a genius to recognize that sound quality's been going downhill. I mean, I love loud music but that's to be achieved by better equipment on the part of we the listeners, not on the recording end where it's got to be about quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nux4lyfe Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 How did I not know there was another Audio Engineer on these forums?! If we get a few more we can start our own sub-forum with topics like: Pre-Amps - Who makes the best? and Digital Consoles - No longer a total pain in the butt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoGuitar Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Sarcasm or are you for real? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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