Dynamic range - extinct

alien

alien

New member
6db

That number is killing me. I remember when people complained that vinyl had no dynamic range, and nowadays everything is squashed into a mere 6db of dynamic range on final. Everything is compressed to the quietest part of the song, clamped down like hell, and set to a high output so every CD is ridiculously loud.....

WHY!??!?!? :(
 
What's funny is that DVDs are the exact opposite. I'm been seriously thinking about slapping a compressor on my DVD player just so I can watch a movie without the remote control in my hand. It's like they're mixing for the home theater crowd, but I just wanna watch a movie being able to hear the dialogue without the explosions waking up the kids.
 
mshilarious said:
What's funny is that DVDs are the exact opposite. I'm been seriously thinking about slapping a compressor on my DVD player just so I can watch a movie without the remote control in my hand. It's like they're mixing for the home theater crowd, but I just wanna watch a movie being able to hear the dialogue without the explosions waking up the kids.
Click to expand...

My DVD player has a compressor built into it for exactly that reason.
 
alien said:
6db

That number is killing me. I remember when people complained that vinyl had no dynamic range, and nowadays everything is squashed into a mere 6db of dynamic range on final. Everything is compressed to the quietest part of the song, clamped down like hell, and set to a high output so every CD is ridiculously loud.....

WHY!??!?!? :(
Click to expand...


whats the big fuckin deal? I happen to like how it sounds. I don't want to have to turn up a quiet part just to hear it, and then only to have my ears and speakers blown out when a loud part kicks in.
 
alien said:
6db

That number is killing me. I remember when people complained that vinyl had no dynamic range, and nowadays everything is squashed into a mere 6db of dynamic range on final. Everything is compressed to the quietest part of the song, clamped down like hell, and set to a high output so every CD is ridiculously loud.....

WHY!??!?!? :(
Click to expand...

Why has pop music gotten more distorted, more sexually explicit, ruder, and basically less musical over the years?

It's all part of evolution, pushing things to the limit, and then when people get bored with it changing all of the rules again like it's something new and innovative.

I've seen a few articles where MEs discussed putting a label on the CD calling them "dynamically enhanced". Basically meaning that they didn't squash them as much as the current "standard". I guess if you make it "hip" and hype it up enough the trend will reverse.
 
mshilarious said:
What's funny is that DVDs are the exact opposite. I'm been seriously thinking about slapping a compressor on my DVD player just so I can watch a movie without the remote control in my hand. It's like they're mixing for the home theater crowd, but I just wanna watch a movie being able to hear the dialogue without the explosions waking up the kids.
Click to expand...

I hear ya!
I live in a noisy neighborhood and I have to crank up the volume so much for dialogue, then some music kicks in and BAM!
And I always get real pissy when I miss dialogue in a movie, I mean they're telling a story, I might want to hear this stuff!
 
The new trend is going to be one note for forty minutes really fukin loud. Hey dude! Have you heard F# by the Onlytones yet? It's totally fucking f#!
Yeah I heard it but I'm more into G-flat by the One Trick Ponies. That F# shit got too much dynamic range. I think that they added an octave somwhere in there, bunch of art rock posers.
 
Be Loveless said:
The new trend is going to be one note for forty minutes really fukin loud. Hey dude! Have you heard F# by the Onlytones yet? It's totally fucking f#!
Yeah I heard it but I'm more into G-flat by the One Trick Ponies. That F# shit got too much dynamic range. I think that they added an octave somwhere in there, bunch of art rock posers.
Click to expand...

Yeah man, G-flat sounds much darker than F#. I heard that some new artsy progressive rock band is coming out with a chord for their next album. How pretentious! Next they'll be doing 25 minute drum solos.

BTW, did you hear Jenna Jamison's new album? Now she is a great vocalist!
 
masteringhouse said:
Yeah man, G-flat sounds much darker than F#. I heard that some new artsy progressive rock band is coming out with a chord for their next album. How pretentious! Next they'll be doing 25 minute drum solos.
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One of my future projects is refretting a lute I got to a 19-note scale 'cause F# and Gb are NOT the same note.

So my next record is gonna be 25 minutes of F# followed by 15 of Gb. Less Gb 'cause you just can't HANDLE too much of that note.
 
i cant remember the name of the band but the song is called D minor 7 diminished....i dont even know how to play it but it sounds cool. as for the compressor on the dvd player.....i dont have kids so i turn it up and jump when explosions come out of no where. and about that "dynamically enhanced" hell yeah go for it....as a matter of fact...you can change things by making all the cds like that...they did the same thing with dvds and that freaking widescreen bullshit...i find very few dvds that arent widescreen and it still annoys me to have to large black bars across my square tv. hey while your at it....fix the dynamically enhanced cds so they can only be played on a certain kind of cd player and thus make people go out and buy something else just to hear it
 
Hum.

Interesting. Any of you listened to a vinyl record recently? Its a whole other league. We arnt talking about having to ride the volume dial all the time, it is possible to have a big dynamic range without having to turn the volume up and down all the time, and it is seriously noticable. The thing is that since digital came along, everyone is trying to milk it for all its worth. And because you are strictly limited at 0dB with a digital format, unlike analog formats which you can push a bit and it will still sound good. And so, everyone discovered the wonders of compression and started this whole 6dB range.

However, in films, there is a completley different matter. There should be loud parts and quiet parts, but not to the extreme that you need to be in a cinema in order to hear everything clearly. There should be some level of compression (whether thats by riding faders... or whatever) so that dialog is boosted when there are no explosions going on... and so that the explosions are still impressive at that volume.
 
goldfish said:
Hum.

Interesting. Any of you listened to a vinyl record recently? Its a whole other league. We arnt talking about having to ride the volume dial all the time, it is possible to have a big dynamic range without having to turn the volume up and down all the time, and it is seriously noticable. The thing is that since digital came along, everyone is trying to milk it for all its worth. And because you are strictly limited at 0dB with a digital format, unlike analog formats which you can push a bit and it will still sound good. And so, everyone discovered the wonders of compression and started this whole 6dB range.
Click to expand...

Vinyl is an interesting point. One of the reasons the volume issue wasn't pushed as far as digital is because you would end up with having the record skip. Since the record comapny would fear having to recall product and going through a great expense, they were are bit more convervative. Not only has dynamics changed because of this, but the amount of bottom end as well. It takes a greater excursion of the needle to produce low frequencies at higher volumes and this might cause a track to be a bit too close to the next also causing skip. So there are limitations to vinyl just as the 0Dbfs limitation exist in digital. It's just a different type of limitation.

As far as compression, this isn't anything new. Just abusing it to the extent that we're able to now without the media being faulty is what we call "progress".
 
masteringhouse said:
Since the record comapny would fear having to recall product and going through a great expense, they were are bit more convervative.
Click to expand...

Funny enough - noone seems to care about that part... How many of you have bought CDs that simply cannot be played on your player (esp. in cars a.s.o.). Here in Europe, esp. in Germany it IS a problem. New laws protect record companies to an unreasonable extent. I should be able to return CDs that say they can be played at every home cd player but don't on mine. When I try to return them in the store, I get laughed at. No court would allow me to suit the store because the financial interest is too low for me...

BTW: there were times when the search was for dynamics... I rememeber the late 70s/early eighties when expanders had to be in every audiophile's stereo...

aXel
 
I'm beginning to believe the record company decision makers a) listen only to mp3s, so that's their sonic reference and b) are marketing to young persons who have permanently damaged their hearing from listening to everything through 18" woofers. I may be wrong, but it explains a lot!
 
masteringhouse said:
I've seen a few articles where MEs discussed putting a label on the CD calling them "dynamically enhanced". Basically meaning that they didn't squash them as much as the current "standard". I guess if you make it "hip" and hype it up enough the trend will reverse.
Click to expand...

That is genius!

The funny thing is how just by claiming the old way is better--but proclaiming it a new way--will get people to respond like the cattle they are.
 
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