Help me, I'm a victim of the volume wars

[XLR]

So I'm doing some work this AM, and I started spinning the Cranberries' "No Need to Argue" ...
So then I decided to see what the "modern" version would sound like, presumably awful, so I opened my limiter and crank it up a few dB . . .




. . . and I liked it better

L i s t e n . t o . y o u r . m a s t e r e d . v e r s i o n . a g a i n . t o m o r r o w . a n d . I . b e t . y o u . d o n' t . l i k e . i t . a s . m u c h... T h e . 2 4 . h r . p s y c h o a c o u s t i c . j u d g e m e n t . e f f e c t...

 

[SoundAsleep]

Or maybe it was just a phone-in mastering job

G.

Just because the engineer has a job; doesn't necessarily mean he knows what he is doing
I hear ALOT of commercial music that I think has alot to be desired.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Just because the engineer has a job; doesn't necessarily mean he knows what he is doing
I hear ALOT of commercial music that I think has alot to be desired.

Absolutely.

This is true of any vocation. One of the Rules Of Modern Life I have learned is that - regardless of the vocation - only about 10% of those holding a job title are REALLY good at their job, maybe another 20% of them are OK to good at it, and the other 70% are in the wrong line of work. It's no different with audio engineers.

G.

 

[Robert D]

Numbers aside, the make it louder button isn't neccessarily always evil, and some mixes have room for what some would consider improvement. One man's beautifully dynamic mix is another man's wimpy mix. So I'm not supprised that someone might find it to their liking to pump it it up a little on such and such track. Mixing and mastering are not about absolutes, and we all have different tastes.

 

[TexRoadkill]

Just because a song can sound better on it's own by being louder doesn't mean it should be louder on the album. They may have kept that song a little low to help it fit in the song sequence.