So at my time here at Full Sail i have, against my best planning, learned a thing or two. So things are music related and other things are we'll say life relate. But today i want to talk to you about two issues that effects anyone who listens to music.
The Loudness War
In today's popular music there has become a battle for the loudest album. Record labels have pushed the level of volume on a CD to the point of destroying the music. This mostly happens at the mastering stage of the album. The maximum volume coming out of the CD causes two things. (1) A complete lack of dynamic range and (2) ear fatigue for the listener. Dynamic range is the range between the softest sound and the loudest sound in the song. You might have hear this on a CD where the soft piano is as loud as the screaming singer or whatever. This is accomplished through the use of compresses and limiters. Now for you dont know what compresses and limiters do i will tell you. A compressor "compressors" a sound when something crosses over a determined threshold. when the sound crosses the threshold the compressor will push back the sound at a determined ratio of 2:1 or 3:1 and so on. Meaning that at a 2:1 ratio for every 2 dB over the threshold the sound will be compressed back 1 dB. A compressor will stop working when the sound drops back below the threshold. So what the compressor just did is bring the loudest sound closer to the softest sound. You then can bring the whole track up in the mix without clipping. This is every useful with say a singer who throughout the song has soft parts and loud parts. if you turn up the track to hear the soft parts your loud parts will clip creating distortion which is bad. So you can use a compressor to solve the problem. Now a limiter is the same thing as a compressor when the compressor's ratio is set at 8:1 or higher. Meaning that no sound is allowed above the threshold. So on a limiter when a sound reaches the threshold the limiter in turns "flat lines" the sound. In the audio world flat lining means distortion.
Now bring us full circle in the mastering stage of an album they only use compressors and limiters. This is how they take the softest sounds and make them the same level as the loudness sounds. They also create distortion. Plus with the lack of dynamic range we have a lack of emotional effect. and the distortion and volume level also causes ear fatigue.
The thing is people have gotten used to this sound. Most people dont know what music should sound like. We have lost quality for volume and we are at the same time killing our hearing. Its sad.
There is another issue I want to talk about but i'm ready to go to bed so...i won't.
p.s. i dont know if anyone understood what i was saying. sorry about that.
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5 comments:
I feel you. Tell us about your life lessons.
"The loudness of war" your so melodramatic. I would ask what the reason for the increase in volume is. If all the major producers are making cds louder, what is the purpose? Is it because we like to pop those cds in the car and crank that shit? If so are they not just giving customers what they want? If the average customer cannot tell the difference in dynamic range, but they want it to hit loud and hard then shouldn't the producers be giving the customers what they want? How is your opinion of what music should be better then the person buying the music? (obviously I am just playing devils advocate, but it is something to think about)
good post I look forward to the next one.
I once had a Boss Compressor/Sustainer on the pedalboard....
that's why i roll with the classics (by my standards)...back when music was good and drug-induced...
also... nanaowrimo.com ...write 50,000 words of a novel in november...seattle is awesome...yeah expensive...but you can live around there for a reasonable price
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