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-- Modern mastering sounds like ass
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Found a nice piece on this:
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| I spent many years involved in writing, producing and trying to understand what made techno, well 'techno', and if I learnt just one thing, it was how important the dynamics of the mix were. In particular, the groove, the feel and the impact of the bass and kick. Without dynamics, these elements would have no meaning. The fact is that probably 70% of all the techno I get sent here now is processed or even worse, smashed through a limiter before it ever reaches my studio for mastering. I find this is mainly from producers who are new or up and coming (though not exclusively limited to this by any means) In the studio with the clients tracks, I press play, the meters light up, become glued to zero db and stay there for 5 minutes. I sigh. The waveform looks like a continuous block. Musically there's no colour, no dynamic, no interest. The weight and impact of a kick that should be driving the track is lost. It's tiring on the ears, it sounds unpleasant and in the end all the tracks that are subject this kind of heavy processing start to sound the same. People get bored and move on. This seems counter productive to me. I end up having to go back to the client asking if they have a version without the limiters on. Invariably they don't. I pass on the opportunity to master it because there is nothing I can do with it other than drop the level right down and try and salvage some kind of sound QUALITY back into the track. The sales of the record and the advantage that loud music is supposedly meant to create is slowly but surely turning people off, and whilst it's by no means a major reason for music's (and particularly techno's) decline in sales, it's certainly not helping. In sheer musical enjoyment terms, it's thee major non artistically related culprit above all others that is hurting the value of music. I believe it's not the producer's intention to do this (well some producers ARE just obsessed with sounding the loudest). What I do believe is that poor monitoring choices and room acoustics, plus a lack of grounding in the traditional ways of building and making good mixes means producers simply don't hear what's happening to both the bottom end in their tracks and the level of distortion that is being created as they continue to push the slider on their L2 up and up. In a good monitoring environment, this is all painfully apparent. The kick drum tucks up into the belly of the mix. There's no wallop(!), it sounds 'computery' and lifeless. And it's not just the bass either, there are other issues which are just as important, like how reverb suddenly stops sounding like reverb and starts becoming part of the sounds in the track, the natural space that it is employed to create, its very reason for existing, is eroded. The rhythmical tightness of a 16 step sequence starts to blur into a train of sound, rides become one continuous fatiguing noise. It doesn't have to be like this! |
Yeah all this limiter & compression business is lame.
I dont even use a compressor my final mixes, i just use a limiter and get the constant peaks of the loudest part of the track to be softly touching -0.3dB.
Example of the latest track:
and you can hear it here if you'd like: Haris C feat. Anthya - Tonight (Nightshift Remix)
p.s. shameless promotion 
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| Originally posted by Nightshift Yeah all this limiter & compression business is lame. I dont even use a compressor my final mixes, i just use a limiter and get the constant peaks of the loudest part of the track to be softly touching -0.3dB. Example of the latest track: and you can hear it here if you'd like: Haris C feat. Anthya - Tonight (Nightshift Remix) p.s. shameless promotion |
In all fairness, I would have to say that I prefer compressed ass to uncompressed. I mean why bother with the ass otherwise?
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| Originally posted by DigiNut In all fairness, I would have to say that I prefer compressed ass to uncompressed. I mean why bother with the ass otherwise? |
This whole thread needs to go back and fix its mixdown.
(not literally, nice track nightshift... im just saying, in general, a TA thread on mastering...)
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| Originally posted by Mr.Mystery Sure enough. But at the end of the day it'll still smell like ass. |
The Beatles - Something. Remastered 4 times since 1983.
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| Originally posted by Cryogen The Beatles - Something. Remastered 4 times since 1983. |
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| Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Found a nice piece on this: |
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| Originally posted by Subtle I sended the guy a track once, and i got a compressed brick back. |
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| Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles What a hypocrite. Still a good article, though, even if he apparently doesn't abide by the principles he sets forth in it. |
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| Originally posted by Subtle That Max Graham remix is really nice, very punchy and clear when you turn the volume up, too bad there is so much loudness war these days mostly due to having the loudest tracks on download portals. |
i think the problem in dance is trying to fit too many elements which makes heavy compression necessary. Do you really need 4 hihat loops.
a brick has more gravity 
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| Originally posted by Cryogen The Beatles - Something. Remastered 4 times since 1983. |
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| Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles That's when the real difference comes, when you turn it up loud. Tracks with dynamics sound better and seem to open up as the clear peaks get louder and louder. Squashed tracks sound like formless mud at every volume because everything has been flattened out. There's no contrast. A while back I linked to a study done by a mastering engineer looking at how a lot of records with great dynamics have stood the test of time. http://web.archive.org/web/20050602...s/Dynamics.html http://web.archive.org/web/20050602...Read/index.html |
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| Originally posted by RichieV i think the problem in dance is trying to fit too many elements which makes heavy compression necessary. Do you really need 4 hihat loops. |
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| Originally posted by Beatflux Absolutely. My 8 layer bassline, along side my 7 layer lead, needs a rhythmic pick-me-up to complement my 4 layer kick drum. All of my percussion comes limited, and all of my preset synth patches have 0 attack, 0 decay, full sustain, and 0 decay. I considered just screeching into a mic, but I prefer the more sophisticated synthesized sound. |
I just feel like you complain all the time because you failed to reach your goals and are just constantly bitter about other people being "wrong"
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| Originally posted by Beatflux Absolutely. My 8 layer bassline, along side my 7 layer lead, needs a rhythmic pick-me-up to complement my 4 layer kick drum. All of my percussion comes limited, and all of my preset synth patches have 0 attack, 0 decay, full sustain, and 0 decay. I considered just screeching into a mic, but I prefer the more sophisticated synthesized sound. |
Here is a good linky http://dynamicrange.de/
Download the dynamic range meter
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| Originally posted by Connector Here is a good linky http://dynamicrange.de/ Download the dynamic range meter |
As far as I'm concerned I push my tracks as loud as I can without dynamics being lost
A club track at -12 RMS is not equal to a club track at -8 RMS.
However it is overkill these days with how loud some people make their shit.
wow
i remember that mix... pulling it out for a listen now.
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