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Disgusted about modern sound.

#21
makkE said:
Just a minute ago, I tried to listen to Audioslave's "Be Yourself" - a song that I used to love a few years ago. Now I have to turn it off after 4 bars, because it sounds like utter crap. All just blown up beyond repair, it's sad, sad, sad.
Click to expand...

I dont think it will ever end with more main stream pop/rock acts.
I gave up on anything commercial years ago, so maybe the independents are a little more dynamic compared to the very modern over compressed sound....and yes it is annoying, not much more annoying than the music itself.

otherwise everyone is always using ear buds or headphones, maybe a good way to hear detail or whatever "stereo" is in the recording mix. But it causes alot of fatigue not a good way to listen for extended periods.

otherwise the opposite of a compressor or compander is a expander.

compression will detect a peak and make it lower.
an Expander will detect a peak and make it louder.

so in the last hope of reversing the horrible engineering maybe you should try and find a good expander plugin.

otherwise just listen to older ,different, better music

does this sound compressed to you makkE?
how about this?
they probably do maybe i'm not so sensitive to it, but i know what your talking about.

remember to switch to the highest res, on youtube if available, i always click to see what is the highest because default is usually lower.
 
#22
I was introduced to the "loudness war" a few years ago when I converted my 4-track cassette songs to computer. I bought a fairly basic program that had a 20-band EQ, which was incredible to me at the time! I got the sound just where I wanted it, but when I played my .wav files along with some commercial CD tracks, the volume wasn't even close. So I went back to remaster my tracks, and I was introduced to digital clipping, which is NOT pretty. I bought a nice loudness maximizer/brickwall limiter from db-audioware, but I still couldn't get it to commercial levels without squashing the heck out of it. If I turn up the volume of my tracks to match the volume of the commercial stuff, I like the way my tracks sound compared to the big boys. I'm not looking for someone to shape my sound, so I'm not going to pay a mastering service just to make it louder. It's just another example of creating an unlevel playing field.
 
#23
I agree with you in regards to the "loudness" wars...especially when you are trying to record in the DIY fashion. Louder isn't neccesarily better, yet it makes it tough not to push it as far as possible when comparing it to a "profesional" CD.
Seems like there is no turning back though, so we'll all have to work harder to maintain our dynamincs...BTW there are volume knobs on every stereo/ipod/mp3 player that I own...
 
#25
Metallica's Death Magnetic is the worst example of brickwalling that I've heard. Not only are the dynamics not existant, the drums actually distort when they're hit hard.

The guys doing the mastering said that it was like that when they got it, but thankfully the Guitar Hero mix has proper dynamic range. Someone ripped that into a decent version, though it does suffer from some mixing issues.
 
#26
slaps76 said:
I'm just curious, do you guys think the multi layers of guitar/bass tracks, ect., is part of the problem, or is this something bands have always done?
Click to expand...

The Phil Spector "Wall of Sound" productions had two drummers, two bass players, four guitar players, three piano players and so on and so on. Layers and layers of instruments.

Still, you ears don't hurt unlike some of the latest Metallica CDs that even with low volume sounds like compressed saw dust.

This whole loudness war thing started when everyone wanted to be on the same dynamic levels when playing over CD, radio, iPods. Well, there would have been a simple technical solution, to measure the overall volume levels and adjust the system volume based on that calculation. Or even embed that into the AAC/MP3 formats. But as usually the musicians were not engineers and vice versa.
 
#27
Zappstorius said:
IBTW there are volume knobs on every stereo/ipod/mp3 player that I own...
Click to expand...

To be fair, that isn't what you need when listening to something with a wide dynamic range in a noisy environment, because you will either have deafening peaks, or inaudible quiet passages.

I would much rather have a compressor in my ipod, rather than have compression on the source... any mfrs listening? :)
 
#29
I strive to get my bass tracks to be as dynamically consistent as possible with as little "squashing" as possible. I think things like fades and volume changes should be done entirely during editing, because I don't have to sacrifice the intensity of my playing or tone and any audio program can fade more perfectly than I (I look to "Lateralus" by Tool as a good example).

However, I agree about a complete lack of dynamic in today's music. I first really noticed it with Dream Theater when listening to Petrucci play a solo clean guitar intro that was the exact same volume as the distorted, heavier portions of the track with the whole band.

Or maybe I missed the point of this thread; I'm rather n00by when it comes to recording.
 
#30
makkE said:
It sucks! This loudness craze is killing it.

Just a minute ago, I tried to listen to Audioslave's "Be Yourself" - a song that I used to love a few years ago. Now I have to turn it off after 4 bars, because it sounds like utter crap. All just blown up beyond repair, it's sad, sad, sad.
Click to expand...

I agree. That music sucks wangus and swallows. It's third grade level music composition (if that).

This is what happens when there is no talent. They have to try and make up for the lack of talent some other way, in this case, by employing certain recording techniques, and then they cross their fingers and hope that a sufficient percentage of the general population (the weak-minded sheep) will fall for it.
 
#33
domdec314 said:
I love how you say that like it has anything to do with what the OP said. All he's complaining about is the loudness of modern music. He never said that modern music isn't creative.

This "loudness war" has ruined a lot of great music. For example, I've never been a big fan of Red Hot Chili Peppers's Californication because of the way it was mixed for loudness. I recently found a "premixed" version of the album that sound great. The songs have a lot more airiness to the sound. Even classic albums are being ruined through the "remastering" process. These two video link below are what got me to really start paying attention to the loudness of music.

Why I Don't Buy "Remastered" CDs. - YouTube

The Loudness War - YouTube
Click to expand...

Yes...I understand that. but I would like to point out that today's music isn't really that great. even if it's loud. loud doesn't make a difference. Also I would agree that making music louder doesn't guarantee better sound quality.
 
#37
makkE said:
It sucks! This loudness craze is killing it.

I grew up musically in the 90ies, and we used to think it was better than sliced bread if the waveform resembled an unchanging block of sound. Well, probably, our young ears could still take it, and it was a new thing, or whatever.

But in recent years I have come to passionately hate this way of mixing. It hurts the ears and is tiring, and it kills the sound.
There are albums I love for the musical content, but I can't listen to more than 3-4 songs until I have to pull the plug, because it is simply physically annoying my ears. And it doesn't even help to turn the volume down a bit, because that just makes it mushy.

Just a minute ago, I tried to listen to Audioslave's "Be Yourself" - a song that I used to love a few years ago. Now I have to turn it off after 4 bars, because it sounds like utter crap. All just blown up beyond repair, it's sad, sad, sad.

When will this end?
We're living in a sad era when it comes to sound quality.
Who's with me?
Click to expand...

So remember way back then in the 90's when some people you knew were saying that the music you listened to did not have much dynamic range, was poorly mastered, and sounded bad, and you thought they were a bunch of old fogies who didn't "get it"?

Time to contact them and let them know you've come to understand what they meant!

:p
 

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