Bit of an older post there, but since the problem still is the same...
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The music industry is going to hell at the moment.
When you explain it to the artists (indie or pro) they sometimes agree and see the point but fear that a lack of hyper-compression will make their EP's and full length records sell less.
When you explain it to the labels, the feel the same way as the artists.
When you explain it to the mix engineers, the feel the use of a loud mix will make their work stand out more. If they understand the point you are making, they feel the artist will think their mix was inadequate.
In other words, you might just as well be arguing against a solid brick wall. People are caught up within their paranoia, feeling they cannot afford to do things right (provided they actually still know how...). Have you ever heard any solid factual arguments? I doubt it. It's all down to
beliefs, unsubstantiated ones at that. (And I thought those belonged in religions.) Whatever happened to
pride?
Integrity?
Ideals, even?
Quoting audio engineer Tim de Paravicini,
"If you think with a salesman's hat on, you will never make a good product." The gentleman's got a point, doesn't he?
In an article of mine I have pointed out
a number of real problems caused by excessively loud recordings, mostly technically-rooted. Maybe those could serve as a decent basis for discussion.
You can probably imagine how someone like me who's not even in the industry must feel. It's like arguing against a brick wall that's 10 km away.
Where's a remote-operated jackhammer when you need one?
(Of course, once it's all over, it'll be
nobody's fault. Just like
nobody had ever supported that guy who got my native country into a second world war. Yeah, right. What did ol' Einstein say?
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." To which one might add that not only is human stupidity infinite, it also likes to repeat itself.)
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What seems to be happening more and more is that artists hire a proper mix engineer for the mix and just pay him a little extra to "master" it. All the mix engineer does is brickwall it and call it mastering.
That's another factor which isn't exactly beneficial. Someone who has merely adopted the function will be more susceptible to "lemming syndrome", learning things from others on the fly without a formal frame of reference that would allow judgement.
Imagine you're decent in DIY and want to build a headphone amp. Of course you can pick one of many DIY designs on the web, but the chances of actually picking the exact right one for your needs will be pretty slim unless you have some knowledge in electrical engineering. It does get better when you stick to proven designs with well-documented properties, but that still isn't the real thing.
Which brings us to the familiar conclusion (well, to me anyway...): Nothing beats proper education, and lack thereof may give results worthy of Failblog.org.
Anyway, I'm not about to give up, even though the whole affair nearly tears me apart every time I think about it.
