Comments on: The Loudness War – Why Should You Care?

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

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:32:17 +0000

[...] reading this post, I’d 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 [...]

By: Remi Stevens

Remi Stevens — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 03:16:51 +0000

whoops, you can go in and capitalize your name there if you like man

By: Remi Stevens

Remi Stevens — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 03:15:14 +0000

Great stuff shawn.

Although i’m not sure that the general public perceives louder as better- but the general marketplace? yea, its all
over loud.
People have extremely short attention spans these days. To make quick money you’ve got to do what Freddy suggests and hit them fast and hard. Want to sell CDs? Make it impossible to hear your competition and they cease to be competition.
I bought six ipods before the first U2 vertigo commercial had finished airing. . . .2 still work.

other real world comparisons:

Politicians shouting overtop each other to be heard and drown out opposition.

Movie previews that contain all the movie’s best explosions.

Squeaky wheels getting the oil.

By: James Pew

James Pew — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:41:11 +0000

Good points here Freddy. We are lucky to have a mastering engineer who takes the path less traveled and makes sophisticated and subtle artistic decisions when mixing & mastering.

By: Freddy Gabrsek

Freddy Gabrsek — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:04:29 +0000

Good article Shawn!
It’s interesting that when I master a project like 48 Caliber for example I will of course add compression and limiting to a degree (that is the essence of the sound of rock after all), but I like to keep the average RMS no hotter then -12.5 db. I find that at this level most of the dynamic range is kept intact and all I’m doing is limiting peaks that are very short…you don’t hear that as an artificial loudness artifact. But compared to a lot of un-enlightened commercial releases it is still quite a bit quieter. I was a bit shocked the other day when after mastering a 48 Caliber mix I put on a new release CD by Harry Manx (a folk singer and acoustic musician) and it was soooo much louder than my 48 Caliber master that it made me think for just a fleeting moment “Damn! Maybe I should master 48 Caliber louder” but after listening to a few songs the Harry Manx CD started to get on my nerves with it’s relentless in your face, ear fatiguing drive. So my point is that the while the max. loudness trend initially sounds more exciting it can’t be tolerated for any long periods of listening….it’s just a dog and pony show, designed by the new digital media hawkers to get you in the carnival tent and empty your pockets of your music buying cash before you even knew what hit you.
Rant over
Freddy

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 21:07:39 +0000

If only compressors were included along with the EQ on most consumer devices! We might not even be in this mess. Of course most people don’t even understand their EQ so…

By: Nate

Nate — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:17:43 +0000

This is the must-read!!
Good job Shawn.

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:16:14 +0000

Very interesting Shawn.. I can’t help feel tricked and manipulated by the studios who will do just about anything to ensure their financial success…. money seems to be the defining motive… how sad!! Thanks for enlightening my eyes and ears!

By: Mike Skelton

Mike Skelton — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:03:00 +0000

Nice article. Makes me glad I’ll be interning at Euphonic Sound where they don’t over compress.

By: Drew Osborne

Drew Osborne — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:22:53 +0000

shawn,

nice article man. its an important issue for anybody that loves music.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:16:09 +0000

It’s totally Rick Rubin’s fault lol