The Loudness War: Give It Up!

Most non-audiophiles (regular, average people) listen to the lyrics and vocals just as musicians listen to the playing and the notes. They tend not to even notice the actual music or how it sounds. That is why they don't know, or notice the negative effects of compression. There are those that say they like to hear every detail, and that's what compression does, it has the effect of bringing up low-level sound so it's more audible in noisy environments, smartphone and computer speakers, or on cheap earphones.

Today, many young people have probably never ever heard live music, or properly reproduced music on a good stereo system, so they have no point of reference.

I propose that if we want to end this compression madness, we turn our efforts to getting the manufacturers to make and market real stereos again. I'm not talking about that Crossley crap, of course. I mean like what we had back in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Once people hear the damage hyper-compression causes, they will desire better sound. Right now, listening on a smartphone, or XM radio in the car is how people get their music.

 

They won't do it. It makes too much sense. The artists would rather do it the other way, give most people the compressed-to-hell version, and make us jump through hoops and pay more for the more dynamic version.

Like I said in my above post, most people, the target consumer, listens to music on smartphones, on laptops and tablets, and in the car. The industry is just responding to those customers. That's why Apple developed "Mastered for iTunes". That is why engineers mix to smartphones and ear buds. This is why I say we need to turn our attention to the equipment manufacturers. Imagine a D/A converter as the main component in a typical home stereo system. All you do is load up the hard drive or connect to a server with all your lossless music on it. The converter replaces the CD player. Oh, many of us do all that now, and have been. But, this has to filter down to the average consumer. So far, it hasn't...yet.

 

Pono's doing it. they are offering both CD standard and hi-rez. I'm excited about this because this will replace what we lost when Rhino shut its online store, and we will have the other two on board as well.

 

People don't desire "better sound". They desire music. They aren't getting it - they're getting harsh noise - which is why consumers have stopped buying new music. All the labels are doing it, impacting all new music of all genres except jazz and classical.

It's like if every fast food restaurant stopped serving hamburgers on a bun and started serving dogsh*t on a bun instead. The customers might not know how to cook or the difference between grades of beef, but they know **** when they taste it and they don't want that - so they stop buying. Completely. And go find some other way to spend their food budget.

 

See, i'm not so sure about that. There's a reason this is the most popular, biggest-selling series:

 

I find that on recent releases you can't judge only based on DR-values. Like I said, I don't think the latest Angus & Julia Stone by Rick Rubin sounds too fatiguing or distorted and it has DR4-DR5.

He also produced the new Damien Rice-album ... Curious how this one will sound. But both artists have huge success over here with their new singles with loads of airplay on major radio stations.

Damien Rice has been 8 years off the radar, and is immediately picked up by the media. Most artists would have been forgotten, but Rick Rubin ... even if it was only the name ....put him back in the attention. Because media everywhere say: album produced by Rick Rubin, what will Rubin do with the Damien Rice-sound etc. That's what grabbed the media, press, radiostations,.... attention.

Some albums with full dynamic range sounds also bad, especially many early cd's from the 80's sound dull and lifeless just because they got too much DR in the other way. You just have to find the right balance ...

 

Someone beat you to the punch:

 

First thing I thought of!

 

And Kate wasn't kidding. The album had insane dynamic ranges for a CD in 2005.

 

The standard res and hi rez are going to be from the same master. HDtracks does this every so often as well. That is completely different than what was proposed which is paying an engineer to make two different masters, a dynamic one and a crushed one. This is just a music store that is converting the hi rez into standard with no expense for storage or conversion or different masters for the label.

 

They do still make them but they don't sell very well because it isn't what most people want. Although I can tell you I work for a company that makes furniture specifically for audio/video equipment and we are seeing a huge surge in our stands that are used primarily as a stand for two channel audio so maybe there is hope.

 

That was 30 years ago before people started listening to music primarily through cheap low powered computer speakers.

 

Compression is good. I say use it, just don't abuse it.

 

New Dream Theater CD + 2.0 DVD-A = DR5, HD Tracks download = DR12+
the 5.1 on the DVD-A is also fully dynamic.

No idea why they crushed the 2.0 DVD-A and allowed HD Tracks to have a fully dynamic version, wonder if someone wasn't paying attention?

 

vinyl only, cut by Chris Bellman in 2012.
ASIN = B00000JQ0E on Amazon.

You can grab a copy from Amazon Canada for a good price still - http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00000JQ0E

 

lol, okay fair enough.

 

Because the people he caters to can tell a difference, I'm just not one of them.

 

Many people do not buy music, cause it is easier to get it through other means.

There is probably more music going around today than ever, but a lot is simply not paid for and bought.

 

What you call "Standard" res, is High res. What you call Hi Rez....mostly a marketing gimmick sadly.

The actual recording and mastering of that recording are FAR more important.

 

And, you know this...how?

 

Naw man! They're being used for house plants!

 

Do you know it to be different? I am making a very well education assumption based on the fact that I know the labels won't pay for a second master to be made.

 

If an album sounds good it sounds good on the smartphone, tablet, through the car stereo or what have you. Radio stations run their own compression. It's what the average listener want? The average listener knows Jack Sh#t, no need to master to suit their needs. One example: Daft Punk's Random Access... will sound good on a high end system and it will sound good in the car too. The insane level of compression we hear today is just a stupid idea gone way out of line. Serves no one any good.

 

Thats not correct. There are artists and labels who are putting out 44.1/16 masters (ie redbook cd, and for download) that are crushed to keep up in the loudness wars.

They are also releasing 96/24 (and higher) masters of the same recording that are not crushed and have great DR. Tom Petty's Hypnotic Eye is an example of this. The CD is something like DR 7 and the Blu Ray Audio is DR 12.

I believe that those at PONO are encouraging the labels to put out masters with great DR, and it will likely be in a hi res format to help justify a premium price. What PONO must do, (and what HD tracks does not do) is to be clear what type of mastering was used on the recording you are buying.