[i_don't_know]

BHAR damaged by the Loudness War - Muse Messageboard


Who wants to have an annual Head-Fi mailbox assault with letters and emails begging for none of this loudness crap on the 5th album?

It's especially important this time around because the 5th album includes an orchestra.

WHO'S WITH ME??????

 

[m0ofassa]

They wont listen. They're fairly mainstreamish now in a few countries.
edit: god i raged at that smug fag in the thread

 

[Calexico]

It's disappointing seeing all those "Just turn down the volume!" comments

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

Exactly, man Muse can be so much better with better mastering it almost makes me cry when I hear their last two albums, especially BHAR. I really really really really hope the next one is mastered well, atleast decently.

 

[LFF]

I doubt most bands will turn around and do better mastered albums. Most vinyl albums seems to be sourced straight from the CD masters. I could name a ton of such artists and despite numerous complaints on the net and in print (from big name magazines too) they still don't rectify the problems and just keep on releasing crap.

I wonder when the engineers are going to step up and put a stop on to all this compressed crap. In general, it is very true that the client is never wrong, but when I master stuff I am never scared at telling an artist his/her judgment may be wrong and that his/her listening skills may not be on par with what we call "good ears".

 

[43st]

It would be great if someone could put a simple database website together, just to rate these albums so people could stay away. It could even be linked to the CDDB database to semi-automated album title generation. I bought the new Neko Case album this weekend, expecting decent quality. It was a horrible wreck.

 

[m0ofassa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFF /img/forum/go_quote.gif that his/her listening skills may not be on par with what we call "good ears".

haha oh man, would love to see it

 

[LFF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by m0ofassa /img/forum/go_quote.gif haha oh man, would love to see it

No. You wouldn't - believe me.

 

[omegaman]

That first graph is one of the worst I've seen

 

[EnOYiN]

Any chance there is a guitar hero version of this?

 

[virometal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jilgiljongiljing /img/forum/go_quote.gif it almost makes me cry when I hear their last two albums, especially BHAR.

I'm wit that. What I would give to hear Knights with glorious dynamics. Man, I do cry thinking about it. H.A.R.P. was a small, very small taste of what even a little breathing room could do.

 

[i_don't_know]

The 5th album REALLY needs to be mastered decently to sound good, though. It's not even a matter of "okay, whatever" anymore. I think it should be obvious that if you release an album incorporating an ORCHESTRA and several classical elements, you NEED decent mastering and dynamics for it to sound good. If the 5th album is recorded/mastered hot again, it will sound so bad even the average person will instantly say, "Ewwwww."


You simply can not get away with cutting the dynamics in orchestral music. It's absolute blasphemy.

And this is why I think a mailbox overkill is in order. We can't let them ruin this, we just can't! I'll cry!

 

[gregorio]

Quote:

Originally Posted by i_don't_know /img/forum/go_quote.gif You simply can not get away with cutting the dynamics in orchestral music. It's absolute blasphemy. And this is why I think a mailbox overkill is in order. We can't let them ruin this, we just can't! I'll cry!

Depending on the actual piece of classical music, there is usually no choice but to limit the dynamics to some extent. Putting out recordings with more than about a 60dB dynamic range could be dangerous. And some orchestral performances have a dynamic range in excess of 100dB.

Bare in mind that the very first people who started this "loudness war" discussion were the recording engineers themselves! Sometimes it's possible to convince an artist that louder does not mean better. Often times though the record company or the artist will demand their tracks are louder than another artists and arguing against this concept will go nowhere, ending in a statement like "if you don't want to do it, we'll go to another studio who will". At this point we either have to back down or loose business.

G