This blog has moved

We have moved!! Please visit us at our new home, blog.masteringworld.com

Thanks for following

Reflections on volume on Dynamic Range Day

I was delighted to find out that today is Dynamic Range Day (click here to see the website). It’s good to discover that a lot of people feel passionately about this subject.

There’s a dude called Ian Shepherd, who’s a mastering engineer and music producer in the UK, and he’s organised Dynamic Range Day for today, March 25th 2011. A quick scout around online shows that he’s got a lot of support and there are a lot of people writing about it.

His basic premise is that today’s recordings are being over-compressed in the mixing and mastering stages, and that records would benefit from having a bit more dynamic range left in them, and frankly, I couldn’t agree more. Can’t we just ge used to turning the volume up on our stereo or media player?

Here’s an example:

I don’t think it’s helpful to describe it as a ‘loudness war’, even though I’ve used the term myself – there’s a discussion on my website called “On the loudness wars“.

The problem is that as soon as I declare a war against something, then that makes the thing I’m having a war against wrong and bad, and it makes me right and good, which may feel great in the short term but it isn’t very constructive in the long term.

How loud we should make a record is an artistic decision, and there is no right or wrong answer. Some people may have very good reasons why they want a very loud record.

If a band is sending copies of their record to a label looking to get a deal, a promoter looking to get gigs, a radio station looking to get airplay, or they’re aware of their songs being played on shuffle on a media player, then there’s a strong argument for making sure that it lies at least in the same volume range as everybody else’s records.

But while it’s perfectly possible to make a loud record sound good, you can’t escape the fact that if you make it less loud, it’ll just sound better if you turn it up when you play it.

As a professional service provider, it’s my responsibility to talk to my clients, give them as much information as I can to help them make an informed decision, and then respect that decision and do whatever I can to make their record sound as good as I can within those parameters.

It’s encouraging that there seems to have been a shift in attitude over the last couple of years, in m experience at least. Two or three years ago, most bands would say, “Yes, I understand that the louder we master this record, the less dynamic range there will be, and that it may not sound as good as a result, but we’d still like you to make the record as loud as possible.”

These days, most bands say, ” I’d like you to get this record respectably loud, but not to the detriment of the music.” The difference in volume between those two points might only be 2-3dB, which isn’t huge, but the difference in sound quality is significant.

There are also arguments for dropping the volume further still. For example we made Jonny’s album (a collaboration between Euros Childs from Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci and Norman Blake from Teenage Fanclub) 2dB quieter still and it sounds awesome. If you have Spotify, listen to it here.  I’m certainly optimistic that, in time, more and more artists will feel confident enough in their music and their recordings to take that extra leap of faith and choose to make their record more dynamic.

I saw an article written by another mastering engineer, Greg Reirson, entitled The Loudness War Is Over, which makes the case that as media players start implementing automatic playback volume (Sound Check on iTunes, “Set the volume level for all tracks” on Spotify, Replay Gain is another) then you can make your record any volume you like because it’ll get adjusted automatically on playback.

“Sound Check measures the apparent loudness of each song and assigns it a a playback volume setting. When Sound Check is enabled, the playback volume is adjusted up or down based on that number. When Sound Check is not enabled, the song plays normally. The quality of the volume estimation algorithm has room for improvement, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.” (Thanks for the clarification, Greg.) Spotify’s level equalising system leaves a lot to be desired, but in time these systems will get better and hopefully this too will help artists make bolder dynamic decisions.

What’s great about movements like Dynamic Range Day and TurnMeUp.org is that they’re promoting debate about the topic, they’re contributing enormously to the information that’s available, and they’re trying to get the point across that an artist has a choice and that they shouldn’t feel they HAVE to make their record as loud as possible just to conform.

Right, I’m going to go and download the TT Dynamic Range Meter that the clever guys at the Pleasurize Music Foundation have developed, and I’m going to measure some of the records that I’ve mastered recently and see where I am on their scale. I shall report back!

Oh, and I’m going to change the heading “On the loudness wars” on my website to “On loudness”. There are enough wars going on already without starting another one.

Three wheels on my wagon

Reposted from the blog of Colum Regan, talented singer-songwriter, old friend and all-round dude, whose new album I’ll be mastering next week.

We were late. The rest of the band was already waiting at the Uplands Tavern. They had done their sound check, so Donal, (trusty sax-player and co-conspirator), Zoe, (friend and music fan) and I were making good time travelling at speed downhill (the exact speed need not be specified, suffice to say that we were not in danger of being overtaken) along the A48 when there was a grumbling and a metallic moan, and the rear right hand wheel came off.

I was in the back seat. Donal was driving. The sound of the metal gouging the road was ear-splitting. I turned around and saw the wheel bounce its way across the road and sparks fly out from behind the car. I saw Donal try to brake but the car was not responding. The car was shaking. It was very loud, very shaky and very fast. The road veered right at the end of the hill, and straight in front of us there was a slip road, so without having to turn we came to the end of the hill, the momentum of the car slowed and we were safely on a slip road. When we stopped, Donal and I jumped out and saw that the where the wheel should have been there was a black circular piece of metal which was on fire.”That’s fire” said Donal. Right next to the diesel tank.

My first thought was “My guitar is in there” and was just about to make a rescue attempt when Donal with one deep breath and powerful exhalition extinguished the flames. Just like Superman would have done. Superman could play a mean sax if he wanted. I said “Your fucking wheel came off” … Donal said “My fucking wheel came off” …  Zoe said “I’ll go and get the wheel”, which she immediately did. We then laughed and shook our heads, and shook, and laughed and proceeded to instigate a plan of action which would get us to the Uplands for the gig. There is no need for me to go in to what that plan was, or how many times it changed, or which cast of friends, strangers, mechanics, and police became involved, just as there is no need for me to outline the other mishaps, flat batteries or electrical storms which were all entwined in the circumstances of our rescue, car salvage and eventual arrival at the Uplands Tavern, but suffice to say that when we got there and played, we kicked ass.

We were alive and safe and playing music, which sound like simple undemanding things, but when it came together on Friday night, the simplicity of the truth of those three things –  not only those three things but the fact that the wheel came off on a straight stretch of road instead of the twisty country lanes from which we had just emerged, or the busy motorway which ten minutes later we would have been speeding along: the fact that there was no other traffic for the moment the wheel came off on a usually very busy stretch of road … the world had conspired to shake us up just a little bit but enough to make us remember that we were alive and doing what we love doing with our lives … the music last night was alive and we were living it. What a gig.

I remember that gig as if it were yesterday. I was truly alive, vividly present and absolutely in the moment. It remains as one of the best gigs I’ve ever played.

www.myspace.com/columregan

Josephine

It’s always good when a client that I really rate starts getting the recognition that they deserve. So I would like to draw all music lovers’ attentions to a singer called Josephine from Manchester.

Her new single A Freak A was track of the day on Q online last week. I highly recommend that you click here to listen to the song on Q. It’s also had glowing reviews – “love at first listen” from the Sunday Times and “a timeless, distinctive, soulful voice” from Music Week. And perhaps the biggest achievement is that it’s

An Eagerly Anticipated Album

I am officially excited about next Monday’s album session. It’s my most eagerly anticipated album of this year, the new offering from The Gentle Good aka Gareth Bonello.

Gareth is a great songwriter, singing both in English and Welsh, and I really rate his first album, When You Slept I Went Out Walking. I’ve seen him play live a number of times and I am always moved and impressed by what I hear. If you’ve got Spotify, check him out here.

I spoke to Llion Robertson, who’s producing the new album, a few weeks ago and he seems as excited as I am about it. I haven’t heard any previews, though I’ve

Hafod summer news

It’s bulletin time, with news from the studio and some hot tips for gigs around South Wales.

Summer’s a great time to be hanging out at Hafod. Despite the changeable weather it’s lush up here (using the word lush in its original sense!) with everything growing like crazy. The long evenings also mean I can go out on the tractor and cut the grass for a few hours after finishing in the studio.

Happy days

Meanwhile, back in the world of music …

Squash and music

A re-posted blog this week – parallels between playing squash and forging a career as a recording musician by my friend Ville. These are wise words, pay heed! And if you’re in London needing a recording, you could do much worse than to give him and his brother Mat a shout. Now read on…

How to prepare your mixes for mastering

Less philosophy and more practicality this week. How best to prepare your mixes for mastering? It’s the age-old question, so here Donal’s Definitive Description!

Life, death and music

I’ve lost two good friends recently, one to a long-term illness and one violently, at the hands of another. Both were taken from us far too soon. Naturally that made for quite an emotional rollercoaster and, especially as I’m fast approaching my 40th birthday, set me off reflecting and musing on life and my place within it.

When you’re talking

Hafod’s got a brand new website …

… and this blog will appear on the front page!

I wonder if it counts as kind of a digital feedback loop or vicious circle, where this blog links to Hafod’s new website, which links back to this blog, which in turn links back to the website. Maybe if I look in there in a few weeks I’ll find a disorientated collection of Google bots going round and round in circles unable to find a way out!