Dynamic Range in Modern Recordings back in the spotlight

[unclejr]

ArsTechnica has given this topic a bit of exposure.

Audiophiles vs. the iPod: the battle over loudness


Didn't find any current discussions on this? Sorry if I missed em ...

 

[scompton]

Most of what I listen to is classical and jazz, so this doesn't effect me as much.

The article definitely has it right about what is listenable on a subway train.

 

[unclejr]

I've found that noise isolating earphones -- Shures, etys, etc. are great at making that almost a non-point.

Thankfully, there is still a revered art to jazz recording. Van Gelder is practically a jazz household name for engineering.

And regarding classical recordings, it's true however I've found that there's probably more bad classical recording out there than actually good stuff. It's kind of a funny market - complete mozart for 10 bucks performed by the London House Quasi-Symphony Orchestra (LHQSO), etc.

 

[Hancoque]

That's a subject that matters a lot to me. I'm glad that there are more and more articles that deal with it. Certain genres are simply unlistenable nowadays, especially metal.

 

[scompton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by unclejr /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've found that noise isolating earphones -- Shures, etys, etc. are great at making that almost a non-point.

Not as much of an issue, but still an issue. I listen at low enough levels that, except in the loudest passages, I can still hear train noise, announcements, and conversations around me when using my im716 or UM1.

Quote:

Originally Posted by unclejr /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thankfully, there is still a revered art to jazz recording. Van Gelder is practically a jazz household name for engineering. And regarding classical recordings, it's true however I've found that there's probably more bad classical recording out there than actually good stuff. It's kind of a funny market - complete mozart for 10 bucks performed by the London House Quasi-Symphony Orchestra (LHQSO), etc.

And I own quite a bit of the bad stuff, including some jazz. Cal Tjadar Black Orchid is wonderful music, but the highs sound a little staticy. In the past, I've bought a lot of cheap classical. Some of it's great, some not. Some I love and wouldn't want to live without even though the sound quality is not the best, including the Tjader.

 

[Davey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by unclejr /img/forum/go_quote.gif Didn't find any current discussions on this? Sorry if I missed em ...

Most of us that care have given up, it's been going on for so long now. What can you say anymore? I still make mention when something new is well mastered and has some dynamic range, such as the new Electrelane No Shouts No Calls, but the last 15 years have been pretty brutal for pop music sound quality. The norm now is so bad that it's not surprising to find even the kiss ass music media complaining, or at least featuring articles on the stupidity. Still, at least 10 years too late in my opinion. Lots of music wrecked that either can't, or never will be recovered.

 

[Hancoque]

I have not given up yet. The more people complain about it the sooner the tide will turn. It's important to make the average Joe aware of the situation and to promote loudness normalizing techniques like Replay Gain or Apple's Sound Check. If these are widely adopted the loudness war loses its right to exist. Furthermore, if enough people consider too much compression to be negative the music industry might even profit from it by releasing remastered albums with less compression.

 

[Grahame]

Search for the term Loudness wars

Wikipedia entry, Loudness wars

Most recent thread

Understand that the music business is about business, not music.

 

[Jigglybootch]

It's a shame things are the way they are. Kind of makes me long for vinyl records and what not. I used to think compressing the hell out of music worked for certain genres (like metal) but after hearing Iron Maiden's Dance of Death I couldn't help but feel disappointed. I just hope that some day people will wise up and start mastering music properly.

 

[AudioBully]

I too have a lot of recent albums (2000-) that I can't stand listening to for more than a couple of minutes. It's really a shame, because the music is not half bad.
My resort is to listen to this kind of music through my low-end system - portable player and marshmallows - seems like it was mastered for these kind of systems.