Question about Mastering

  • Thread starter Thread starter philbagg
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I work at a radio station and turn the volume up on cds that are lower and have dynamics. They sound just as powerful as the extremely loud cds and even better most of the time coming over the radio.
 
Done the same. Did some experimenting overnights... Had project in where there was a clear "cut" in the tune and worked on it as two individual pieces. The first half was sitting around -8dBFS, the second half where the mix "wanted" to be (at around -14dBFS). Put the tune on and let the station's output stage do the rest while listening to playback in real-time.

The big difference was how the whole thing opened up and sounded wonderful at the second half. It was striking - Nothing subtle. No difference in apparent volume on OTA, just a far better sound with a whole lot less "squishiness" going on.

Anyone who thinks that they need their music "crushed" to compete *on radio* is sadly mistaken...
 
noisewreck said:
I think what confused RAMI in LeeRosario's post is a bit of poor wording... or rather it seems to me there is a word missing there....

First Lee says "extreme dynamics in mastering are detrimental to the overall quality of a radio mix". And then he says "older mixes tend to do better on the radio *because* they have dynamics in the original master recordings"

So, first he says that extreme dynamics are bad for radio, then he says that a lot of dynamics are good for radio...

I think (and correct me if I am wrong Lee), there is a word missing in the first sentence...
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Exactly!:cool:
 
Massive Master said:
Done the same. Did some experimenting overnights... Had project in where there was a clear "cut" in the tune and worked on it as two individual pieces. The first half was sitting around -8dBFS, the second half where the mix "wanted" to be (at around -14dBFS). Put the tune on and let the station's output stage do the rest while listening to playback in real-time.

The big difference was how the whole thing opened up and sounded wonderful at the second half. It was striking - Nothing subtle. No difference in apparent volume on OTA, just a far better sound with a whole lot less "squishiness" going on.

Anyone who thinks that they need their music "crushed" to compete *on radio* is sadly mistaken...
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I love this place sometimes! :D

The one downside I can see in this yin yang is fed a (relatively) dynamic mix, subsequent smash can alter your foreground/background balances.
 
Thanks guys, I've learned a lot :)

Now, lets discuss how to end the loudness wars :cool:
 
philbagg said:
Now, lets discuss how to end the loudness wars :cool:
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I suggest the "Clockwork Cheney" technique; we take the producers and artists and other Gordon Gekkos who insist that the loudness thing is actually a good thing or a necessary thing, and force them to listen to that crap non-stop until they beg that we put them on a waterboard instead.

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
I suggest the "Clockwork Cheney" technique; we take the producers and artists and other Gordon Gekkos who insist that the loudness thing is actually a good thing or a necessary thing, and force them to listen to that crap non-stop until they beg that we put them on a waterboard instead.

G.
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Man, and I though I was being mean :eek:

I still like my method better... at least it provides for population size control, which in the long run will be good for the environment. :D
 
noisewreck said:
I still like my method better... at least it provides for population size control, which in the long run will be good for the environment. :D
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Well, I'm kinda squeamish about offing kids born after 1988 or so. Not only are they still kids, but they just honestly don't understand or know what they're missing because their entire musical experience has been during the volume wars. It's not their fault.

You don't shoot the school kids for the crack dealer in the schoolyard. It's the brain-dead adults who still think it's a good idea to crush their mixes that have no excuse, and should be tied to a chair with headphones krazy-glued to their heads, plugged into a ClearChannel playlist set on infinite repeat.

G.
 
Man, you had to go and bring up kids into this equasion didn't you? :(

Now I am sad. We don't want kids to die. So, OK... I'll concede to your method :)
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Well, I'm kinda squeamish about offing kids born after 1988 or so. Not only are they still kids, but they just honestly don't understand or know what they're missing because their entire musical experience has been during the volume wars. It's not their fault.
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I'm 19, should I leave? :(
 
philbagg said:
I'm 19, should I leave? :(
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:). Not at all! Stick around. :)

But I would suggest listening to some lean, pristine, vinyl LP recordings on a quality turntable/stylus/cartrige sometime, if you ever get the chance.

Not because of the vinyl itself, which has it's own limitations, but because it's about the only way left these days to ensure that you're listening to a recording that hasn't been mastered or re-mastered for maximum RMS. Even old albums on CD can't be trusted any more because so many have been shanghaid and re-masterd into the volume wars.

What you hear may not sound right to you at first because it will be different than what you're used to, but the more you listen to the original dynamics critically and in detail, the more you'll understand what's missing from today's mastering styles.

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
:). Not at all, but I would suggest listening to some lean, pristine, vinyl LP recordings on a quality turntable/stylus/cartrige sometime, if you ever get the chance.

Not because of the vinyl itself, which has it's own limitations, but because it's about the only way left these days to ensure that you're listening to a recording that hasn't been mastered or re-mastered for maximum RMS. Even old albums on CD can't be trusted any more because so many have been shanghaid and re-masterd into the volume wars.

What you hear may not sound right to you at first because it will be different than what you're used to, but the more you listen to the original dynamics critically and in detail, the more you'll understand what's missing from today's mastering styles.

G.
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I know what you're talkin about man, I listen to an awful lot of underground
80's metal with fairly decent production, and I doubt these have ever gone to
be re-mastered as a lot of people just wouldn't buy them. I like music that
sounds natural :D
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
I suggest the "Clockwork Cheney" technique; we take the producers and artists and other Gordon Gekkos who insist that the loudness thing is actually a good thing or a necessary thing, and force them to listen to that crap non-stop until they beg that we put them on a waterboard instead.
Click to expand...


a_clockwork_orange.jpg
 
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