What's your definition for the word "brickwalled"?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by J_D__, Aug 13, 2009.

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  1. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    So how do you define the word "brickwalled" as it seems to be used here daily. Thanks in advance.
     
  2. Lownote30

    Lownote30 Bass Clef Addict

    Location:
    Nashville, TN, USA
    I call something brickwalled when there are no dynamics left in the music. Everything is so limited and compressed that all passages of the music are the same volume. Songs mastered this way are perceived to be LOUD LOUD LOUD! Also, when viewing a waveform in an audio editor, the waveform of something that is brickwalled doesn't have peaks and valleys, and instead look like a two by four.

    Frank R.
     
  3. Mark

    Mark I Am Gort, Hear Me Roar Staff

    Works for me.
     
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  4. I Am The Lolrus

    I Am The Lolrus New Member

    Location:
    LA, CA, US
    It means someone is actively taking away from both progress and enjoyment- the only reason to do it is because someone who doesn't know any better forces them to.

    Its like taking a canvas painting and duplicating it on another canvas... but you draw it too big, so half of it is on the wall around the canvas and the rest is filling. You know what the painting is or was, but there is no reason to have half of it on the wall. It could fit just fine in the canvas just like the original!
     
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  5. Exactly. Way too much dynamic range compression and then gain applied until all of the recording peaks at maximum levels. Yuck.
     
  6. Turnaround

    Turnaround Senior Member

    Location:
    -
  7. CaptainOzone

    CaptainOzone On Air Cowbell

    Location:
    Beaumont, CA, USA
    When a selection is mastered in such a way as to create a flat top to the waveforms rather than having their normal, original shape (and sound). These waves have "hit a brick wall" in that they have been amplified to the point that they have repeatedly reached 0 db and cannot go any higher.
    In addition, the depiction of said waveform in an audio editing program roughly resembles the shape and proportion of a brick.
     
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  8. I Am The Lolrus

    I Am The Lolrus New Member

    Location:
    LA, CA, US
  9. WestGrooving

    WestGrooving Forum Resident

    Location:
    California, U.S.A
    The Star might also be a little longer in one or more legs and therefore not symmetrical. It would need to be reshaped so that it is balanced in appearance... (that would be EQ).

    And, ideally the Star shines bright (clarity of the master source). However,
    the Star might not shine bright (an analog copy many generations down losing its luster) and there's really nothing I believe that can be done about that.

    :)
     
  10. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    To me, the term is exactly what it describes, a brick wall of concrete blocks and putty.

    I don't like the term "brickwall" as used on this forum to describe a waveform that fills the graphic window of an audio editor. I prefer something more technically accurate, like limiting, usually used with compression.
     
  11. I Am The Lolrus

    I Am The Lolrus New Member

    Location:
    LA, CA, US
    its an approximation, and the only consideration (as the thread concerns) is fitting it within the expected medium. The other stuff is for another topic :)
     
  12. Steve G

    Steve G Senior Member

    Location:
    los angeles
    it means they set a limit slightly less than clipping and then slam the signal against the limit as hard as they can with it still sounding remotely like music.
     
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  13. seventeen

    seventeen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Paris, France
    My definition of the word brickwalled is Metallica
     
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  14. AudiophilePhil

    AudiophilePhil Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego, CA
    Effects of Brickwalled Recordings

    brickwalled ===> hearing fatigue ===> headache ===> losing interest in music ===> irritability ===> turning off your stereo
     
    pmaraujo, Rodant Kapoor, Sean and 8 others like this.
  15. WestGrooving

    WestGrooving Forum Resident

    Location:
    California, U.S.A
    Gotcha :righton: (it's just interesting all the analogies that can be made with mastering recorded music)
     
  16. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member

    Location:
    Michigan
    Has anyone ever tested
    an Acid Mothers Temple cd ?
    most of them seem to
    MAXED into the red .
     
  17. Harry C

    Harry C Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, Europe
    Thanks - I've wondered what that was called; so, the terms, 'brickwalled' and 'clipped', are mutually exclusive?
     
  18. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    I have a clear idea now-thanks. I certainly can tell this is an issue with most.

    In general do the CDs produced in the mid-late 80s sound better then todays CDs?
     
  19. Harry C

    Harry C Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, Europe
    Yup. The two or three I've met were very clipped.
     
  20. jorgeluiz

    jorgeluiz Forum Resident

    :righton:
    yes, happens with me in different order.
    start with hearing fatigue: some albums i can't hear more than 3 musics even if i like too much of the musics.
    irritability: yes, right before the headache
    headache: if i hear "a little loud" (volume) i have headache and turn off the audio.
    losing interest in music: ...no. :winkgrin:

    the word "brickwalled" is not used only inside the forum and is used around the music world.
    compression and limiting can be soft but "brickwall" means "without headroom where all sounds got max levels and the top of the waveforms change from sines to stright lines or squares".
    in the end is too bad.

    cheers all.
     
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  21. B.Burl

    B.Burl New Member

    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
    Yeah, I had to stop listening to them even though I like the style. the guy behind the band (Kawabata) was also in a group called MUSICA TRANSONIC which is unlistenable. I'll never understand why an artist would want to make their music sound like crap, but to each their own I guess.

    & yeah, the technical definition of brickwalling is different than the colloquial. So I think it really has two definitions. When a non-professional uses it, I think crushed, maxed waves that look like big fat sausages in an audio editor. When a pro uses it, it's more along the lines of a hard limit, that does not necessarily mean bad sounding music. There are lots and lots of words that have two different meanings, one technical and one for non-pros. It doesn't make one definition better than the other.
     
  22. christopher

    christopher Forum Neurotic

    Iggy Pop's mix of The Stooges Raw Power. Unlistenable, imho.

    later, chris
     
  23. Doug Sclar

    Doug Sclar Forum Legend

    Location:
    The OC
    Well 'brickwalled' had a fairly well defined meaning to me long before the loudness wars in cd mastering.

    The early digital recorders had to use a 'brick wall' filter and this meant that nothing above a certain frequency gets through. This meant a horrible sounding multiple section circuit. By using oversampling they were ultimately able to raise the cutoff frequency of the filter thus allowing a gentler sounding circuit to be used.
     
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  24. CaptainOzone

    CaptainOzone On Air Cowbell

    Location:
    Beaumont, CA, USA
    ===> not buying any more new CDs
     
  25. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Danm I forgot all about that! I should know better!
     
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