[khaos974]

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I really dug this album, might pull it out for another listen. 
Just curious this article seems to be based solely on dynamics, is that all that is involved in the mastering process or is equalization also manipulated during this process? Or does this vary depending how badly the record company has been affected by the Loudness War?
 
EDIT: Do the sound engineers focus more on dynamics than equalization I mean?

Mastering has a lot to do with making all the songs on an album sound similar.
Often a record is recorded over a period of a few days or weeks.
The finished product the Producer hands over to the mastering engineering may have problems such as:
 - different songs mixed slightly differently, making the album sound a bit incoherent, more reverb, les reverb, more bass, less bass from song to song.
 - different songs mixed a different levels, so the mastering engineer will adjust levels from song to song so they all have the same volume.
 - different songs compressed more or less than other songs
the record company (or producer or artist) may direct the mastering engineer to compress the whole album to make it as loud as possible.
The mastering enginer usually has the advantage of always mastering an album in the same room all the time, i.e same acoustics, same speakers.
The producer may work in different studios for different artists (or even different songs), so the producer may not really know the acoustics of the studio he has mixed in the way the mastering engineer understands the sound of the room the mastering engineer always masters in. 
 
Really the mastering engineer is a final set of ears listening to the album before it is transferred to CD (or other format).

 
I believe the final ear is that of the producer

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[markanini]

It's true, khaos974. For better and worse...

 

[Chris J]

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I believe the final ear is that of the producer

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You would think so, but the Record Company often overrides the Producer to direct the Mastering Engineer to make the CD as loud as possible. This is done by using too much compression and squeezing the dynamic range down to approx. 6 dB. 

 
30 years ago the record companies occasionally directed the mastering engineer to make the LP as loud as possible by either rollong off the bas a bit, turning the midrange up a bit at approx. 2-3 kHz and compressing the sound a bit or a combination of all three.
Some old vinyl actually sounds like crap bacause of this, typically pop and rock records got this treatment.

 

[Linkin]

Now after reading and hearing about the loudness war and dynamic range compression, I hate some of my former favourite music and want better versions.

 

[ostewart]

can anyone confirm what i think?

That hawthorne heights - if only you were lonely cd sounds really good, and also silverstein's older cd's like discovering the waterfront and when broken is easily fixed also sound good, good as in well recorded. Thanks

 

[Chris J]

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Now after reading and hearing about the loudness war and dynamic range compression, I hate some of my former favourite music and want better versions.

I totally agree!
Disgusting, appalling, sickening, isn't it!

 

 

[Linkin]

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Now after reading and hearing about the loudness war and dynamic range compression, I hate some of my former favourite music and want better versions.

I totally agree!
Disgusting, appalling, sickening, isn't it!

 

Agreed. Though now I'm on a quest to find some good rips... or if all else fails, buy some original press CD's

 

[Chris J]

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Agreed. Though now I'm on a quest to find some good rips... or if all else fails, buy some original press CD's

Every now and then I play an older CD with lots of dynamic range, and I am often surprised at how much higher I have to turn the volume up.
Today I was listening to Roxy Music: Avalon (it was mastered in HDCD), man did I have to crank the volume up to get a reasonable listening level!
Very cool.

 

[markanini]

Maybe it's just a generalization but when I hear a distinctive attack from toms it's a well mastered record. Doesn't seem to survive extreme dynamic limiting.

 

[ammisco]

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Now after reading and hearing about the loudness war and dynamic range compression, I hate some of my former favourite music and want better versions.

+1
 

 

[Somnambulist]

I've said this a few times but what I do now is get the CD but if I know there's a vinyl version, wait for the inevitable FLAC rip to appear online and keep that in my digital library instead. Also, it's generally good advice to avoid any 'remastered' CDs of older albums as they are pretty much always way worse than the originals. A good place to 'find the best version' is Steve Hoffman's forum, which is something of a haven for people discussing that kind of stuff. Sadly newer stuff doesn't tend to get a vinyl (along with sep. vinyl master) very often. 

 

[Captain Magenta]

Its the distorted bass on many modern albums that I hate and don't understand why they do this.  If you didn't know any better you'd think it was your headphones/speakers distorting.  It ruins the listening experience for me.

 

[Chris J]

 
I have a few modern CDs with these nasty bursts of distortion on peaks.
Irritating

 

[Devarika Woulf]

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From a punk position, how about The Misfits' "Walk Among Us"?  That has some of the worst production I've ever heard.  It sounds like a sludge of mud.
 

 
I listened to this last night and I actually liked it. It's great compared to Static Age and Earth A.D.'s production. 
 
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I'm not sure about that. This LP/CD is a pretty accurate presentation of the Misfits' sound at this time - stinging guitars with power chord progressions. Interestingly, a demo version of this LP is comparatively dull and lifeless; in comparison, the studio recording has more bite.
 

Would that be "12 Hits From Hell"? If so, then I agree.
 
 

 

[Nocturnal310]

if all modern albums came without loudness equalization and a higher dynamic range then most people with sh!tty logitech speakers and cheap earbuds wouldnt enjoy the music since lower sound level sounds woulnt be heard effectively.
 
 
so sound engineers boost up every instrument.
 
that fade in which grows from a lower sound level to higher can only be enjoyed on good sound gear.