What are "dynamics" ?

It's not age, it's genre. The style of music sets the dynamic range and if you stray out of the expected dynamic range for that style it sounds wrong. You could record a modern track with natural dynamics and it just wouldn't sound right. Equally you could record an orchestra playing classics and squash silly and that would sound wrong too. So age does have a link to this, but only from listening preferences. I could record modern music, but I choose not to, because I like material with wider dynamic range. When I have to record music I hate, I just process it appropriately, which usually means the quest for consistent loudness!
 
Actually, controlling the dynamic range can be one of the big challenges in mixing.

In the idea world where every track is listened to in a perfectly quiet environment you could simply leave the dynamic range as it stands. Alas, in the modern world music is very often listened to in very noisy places--ear buds on a train or bus, in a car on a freeway, that sort of thing. In circumstances like that, if you leave the quiet bits where they naturally sit, they become almost inaudible compared to the peaks. Or, if you simply bring the quiet bits up then the loudest parts will be well into clipping (i.e. you can't). This is where compression comes in. You have to control the dynamic range to something that works in the real world without taking the "air" out of the music.

...all part of the challenge!
 
There are several things at work here, but the term dynamics usually means the relation between instruments in the mix as well as the changes in perceived volume (I emphasize perceived) The actual numerical volume on the faders have nothing to do with dynamics. It is how the instruments stand out in the mix relative to each other. Mixing drums bass and vocal first is always a good idea since that is the instrumentation most people hear anyway. Bringing in the other instruments carefully actually makes the mix sound better instead of doing all the instruments first and then adding the vocals in. (The song is about the beat first and the vocals next) The relative volume between sections allows the song to breathe. Drummer know that to make an accent, make the hit right before the accent quieter and do NOT hit the accent harder. When the instruments bunch up in a heavy sound, the drums should remain the same, not get louder. The tendency to compress a mix to make it sound louder on playing is not a good idea. The real sense of olume is in the important parts of the song standing out, not in the whole thing crushing together. If you want your mix to stand out louder then just adjust the mix of the parts to make what is important the loudest. I hope that helps.
Rod Norman
Engineer

grimtraveller said:
At the risk of sounding totally clueless, what exactly are "dynamics" as you understand them ? The word comes up here in relation to compression, mixing, mastering, tracking/performances, the loudness wars etc, and it seems to me that different people mean different things when using the word, which simply confuses the issue.
Looking it up online , far from clarifying things, seems to bring more fudge.
What do you understand by it ?
Click to expand...
 
I didn't read the whole thread so excuse me if this has already been mentioned.

I've heard the word dynamic be used in the same way that people would use it in everyday conversation.
"Steve is a dynamic young man, always out doing something!"
Some people simply mean that a song is interesting or catches one's attention when they call it dynamic.
 
It's down to context.

A "dynamic personality" is different from a "dynamic microphone" and both are different from discussing the dynamics (dynamic range) of a recording.
 
Dynamics is one of those cute audiophile terms that hypocrites and phonies will bend and distort to fit their own bias and agenda.
 
Greg_L said:
Dynamics is one of those cute audiophile terms that hypocrites and phonies will bend and distort to fit their own bias and agenda.
Click to expand...
That might actually have been a great point worth thinking about if you'd then explained what you understand by 'dynamics.'
 
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