The End of the Loudness Wars

[poundingmetal74]

A great blog post by a mastering engineer. He talks all about GNR's new album being mastered to sane levels (finally) and how Metallica's awful mastering job may cause a real shift in the industry (good god I hope so!)

Loudness War is Over Blog

I've done numerous posts on this board about records being too loud and hopefully this will return music to how it should sound. Maybe it'll lead to more CD players having a built in compression button so you can make your CD incredibly loud if you so desire.

 

[Trans-Siberian Outcast]

I've been occasionally checking in on that guy's blog for a few months now. I hope he's right about the trend going back to a more dynamic sound...but I'm not holding my breath. Most of the younger generation feels that loudness (noise to my ears) trumps all other aspects, the extreme metal fans in particular.

 

[tsorl]

So it took a stubborn, uncompromising bastard like Axl Rose to turn the tide, eh?

 

[Hawk]

I've been occasionally checking in on that guy's blog for a few months now. I hope he's right about the trend going back to a more dynamic sound...but I'm not holding my breath. Most of the younger generation feels that loudness (noise to my ears) trumps all other aspects, the extreme metal fans in particular.

I am an extreme metal fan although not young, and I hate the loud masterings of the last few decades. Still, I get your point TSO .

I guess people have to educate themselves about this. There is a lot of mis or un-information about this subject.

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Listening to: Opeth - Hex Omega - 2:17 / 7:01

 

[poundingmetal74]

Not sure if I've shared this already or not, but everyone on this board should check this out:

Our producer Glenn mixed and reamped this track. It's a joke band done by a bunch of metal producers called Clipping Death - Check out the song "Mastered by Muppets" - it's absolutely hysterical, being about the awful mastering job on Death Magnetic.

 

[desert_demon]

It's strange for a metal fan to be saying this, seeing as how we all like to turn it up to "eleven", but I hope it IS true that the tide is turning to more sane levels of mastering volume. If I needed an excuse to buy Chinese Democracy, then this is it.

 

[Wyvern]

I hate the need to play my music loud. I like a good production that allows me to set the input in my tape recorder under 5 (out of 10) and I never play the music in my system above 2 (out of 10), but I like to put it at 18 (don't know the maximum) in my car and depends if I want to listen awake or go to sleep I use 4.2 or 2.2 in my CD player above my bed.

But basically I have never like it too loud, I enjoy metal but I hate noise and distortion. That's whay I seldom go to bars, I hate to scream just to have a conversation with a person next to me.

 

[Trans-Siberian Outcast]

I am an extreme metal fan although not young, and I hate the loud masterings of the last few decades. Still, I get your point TSO .

Right, you're OLD SCHOOL extreme.

Not sure if I've shared this already or not, but everyone on this board should check this out:

Our producer Glenn mixed and reamped this track. It's a joke band done by a bunch of metal producers called Clipping Death - Check out the song "Mastered by Muppets" - it's absolutely hysterical, being about the awful mastering job on Death Magnetic.

That spoof is hilarious! Highly recommended that everybody go check this out. The funny new lyrics are in the blogs section of the Myspace page, open them in a new window and follow along with the song. It's great!

 

[desert_demon]

But basically I have never like it too loud, I enjoy metal but I hate noise and distortion. That's whay I seldom go to bars, I hate to scream just to have a conversation with a person next to me.

Thai is EXACTLY how I feel. I seldom go to Clubs for that same reason. Well, that and because they play crappy techno music.

 

[Wyvern]

Thai is EXACTLY how I feel. I seldom go to Clubs for that same reason. Well, that and because they play crappy techno music.

Well I never go to clubs, but metal and rock bars here also play at a volume that kills the essence of the music. I mean the idea is people relaxing, having a good drink, sharing with friends being the music a background to feel fine. The minute you turn it into a giant psychotic jukebox the whole thing goes down the drain.