Comments on: Welcome To The Land Of Loud?

By: D. Freeze

D. Freeze — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:29:11 +0000

I have had to get out of the mastering business because there is just no way to convince a young band that quieter is better, and I just can’t bear the sound of it. The term Audio Sausage applies to this technique! And it’s so counter productive, the radio stations turn the louder songs down to match the quieter ones, and on a compilation the same thing happens to preserve the mastered “sound” of a song. A compilation I examined had Nickelback peaking at -5.0 db! to match volume with a Bedouin Soundclash song, which was peaking at -0.3 db! So all you mixing and mastering,engineers that are pushing this brand of audio sausage, please give your head a shake!!

By: Twitted by cparrey

Twitted by cparrey — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:01:26 +0000

[...] This post was Twitted by cparrey [...]

By: Studio Manifesto | Are music festivals worth your time and money? | Studio Manifesto

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:17:18 +0000

[...] big business artificially embedded loudness into its product, robbing fans of the dynamic subtleties of the art form, why wouldn’t they do it to live [...]

By: Studio Manifesto | Online Outlets Dedicated To Fighting The Loudness Wars | Studio Manifesto

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:33:23 +0000

[...] like to recommend you read “The Loudness Wars: Why Should You Care?” and “Welcome to the Land of Loud” as well as other posts in our Loudness Wars category here on Studio Manifesto. You can also [...]

By: Studio Manifesto|Metallica’s Death Magnetic - Another victim of the Loudness Wars

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:48:36 +0000

[...] more insight on the loudness wars check out Welcome to the Land of Loud, and listen to the BBC Radio 4 discussion of the Death Magnetic loudness issue [...]

By: Studio Manifesto|Filtering The Web - Custom Aggregation Constructs

Studio Manifesto|Filtering The Web - Custom Aggregation Constructs — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:48:12 +0000

[...] Welcome to the Land of Loud [...]

By: John Andrews

John Andrews — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 02:18:46 +0000

I’m 74 years old. My first HiFi was a 10 Watt Bogen amplifier with a pair of 6V6 output tubes. That drove a folded horn corner speaker enclosure with an 8″ speaker. I tinkered with a variety of stereo devices in the early days and I still enjoy good music. I have watched the rise and fall of music quality over the years. Most (not all) canned music today is really poor quality. I am appalled, offended and frequently pained at the local music here in Knoxville, Tennessee. My wife and I went to a blues concert recently. The lead band was so loud that we left the theater and waited in the lobby till they were done. It was too loud in the lobby, too.

Your blog hit a sweet spot with me. Please keep it up and spread the word that good music is not necessarily loud music.

John Andrews, Knoxville, Tennessee

By: Studio Manifesto

Studio Manifesto — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:10:19 +0000

Of course I’m looking for criticism. I find that I get more out of most blogs by reading the “after post” discussions and arguments. And your point about Guerrilla production is well taken. Sometimes a lo-fi treatment is the intended and suitable aesthetic – but there is a big difference between an intended artistic lo-fi treatment, and unintended and uncomplimentary sonic crappiness, resulting from bad sound engineering.

By: Mike Tuchscherer

Mike Tuchscherer — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:13:42 +0000

Very enlightening – I was somewhat aware of these issues, but now feel much better-informed.

By: Black Rogers

Black Rogers — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:09:37 +0000

Imma do wat scup3s m3 na moast duck3ts. Crnk it lowd bitch3s. Crnk it r3al lowd. W3n i rol trew yur hud, Babys b3in born d3af for g3n3r@ions!!!

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:08:59 +0000

Can’t wait for the guerrilla tactics post, i might be a hard sell there. I absolutely love the sound of old punk and motown recordings done without science. If great technical care was applied to ‘Negative Creep’, it would have sucked.

and anyways, aren’t the “pros” with the technical knowhow the ones who ruined mainstream production in the first place?- – -

hoping your looking for critics as well- – -Bill

By: Daley

Daley — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:08:25 +0000

It’s sad to see that such a creative process such as mixing or mastering has been reduced to a corporate decision as opposed to an artistic one. It’s also sad that it’s become exhausting (at least to the ears) just to listen to music these days. Keep the posts coming!

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:07:36 +0000

Yet another thing ruined by people with too much money. TV ads squeeze in more exposure by drowning out the kitchen radio. Walmart sells mp3 players with rolling back quality. Radio stations want to be the hottest thing on the seek dial, literally.- – -
Better quality recordings are naturally a better product, hopefully greed is re-aligned and instead of telling us we can now fit 18 million songs on our new cell phone, they’ll advertise that we can fit 2 million that sound good.

By: Dot

Dot — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:06:58 +0000

Thanks for the insight. I’m coming from the marketing side and you certainly offer a new angle to consider in combating the label-purported mythology surrounding “piracy”.

By: Chris Sokoloski

Chris Sokoloski — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:06:22 +0000

Yes, lots to think about. Hire a pro, people!

By: Roger Tutt

Roger Tutt — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:05:26 +0000

Great points being made here !
Two of my favorite albums – Black Sabbath’s Heaven & Hell and Iron Maiden’s Piece of Mind – so heavy / powerful – yet are “friendly” to the ears due to the dynamic balance in the sound presentation.
Keep up the good work.
Roger Tutt

By: Freddy Gabrsek

Freddy Gabrsek — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:04:22 +0000

Very eloquently stated my friend. In fact I was just taking a break from mixing a tune when I read this. And it hit me, I’ve had an uneasy feeling about the way the tune was shaping up….my normal modus operandi is to start the mix very stripped down, just the bare rhythm section and vocals. My aim is to get this punchy with each element being complimentary to the whole. Now, once I’m happy with this I’ll move on to incorporate all the bells and whistles….effects, automation, compression etc. …..but….I noticed that instead of the mix getting fuller and richer it actually became less dramatic and wimpier! Why? I had a heavy limiter strapped across the output buss and as I added more and more the limiting got heavier and heavier. So I shut the limiter off and you know what, the mix instantly got it’s punch and pizzaz back! I should have known this…i did know it! The loudness war can creep up on you, it’s insidious. The protege teaches the mentor…LOL.
But seriously,
Thank You,
Freddy Gabrsek
Producer / mix engineer