Some serious reading - thanks

PeteM wrote: Some serious reading - thanks

Yeah, like I said, fairly technical but there is some useful information in there for laymen particularly the digital levels issue and the loudness war.

If you have any questions about it I'll be happy to try and explain.

Cheers ?

Thx for that link - interesting article.

People trying to draw more attention to their recordings should just understand that if I wanna turn it up/down, I do. And that if I have 'listening fatigue' I turn it off.
If only artists would seize control of the way their music is put onto carrier, we would not have this problem. I'm sure no artist likes the sound of their record the way it comes out of the radio.

I found it interesting, but heavy going because of all the technical stuff that I can't get my head around that easily.

Here's a link to an article bout "loudness wars" that the layperson may find more digestible
http://georgegraham.com/compress.html

X-rated Bob wrote: I found it interesting, but heavy going because of all the technical stuff that I can't get my head around that easily.

Here's a link to an article bout "loudness wars" that the layperson may find more digestible
http://georgegraham.com/compress.html

Yes, it is a pretty technical paper. Nothing like a challenge, though, eh? ?

To address the loudness war,...

This particular paper does mention the loudness war and ear fatigue but it is also focuses on certain things that actually can make a digital recording as good as it can be, or even great, and that is adhering to proper levels and being aware of distortion within the gain staging in your project.

It is probably a good idea if you're recording on a digital system (be it at a project or home studio) to have a thorough understanding of digital audio, especially if you're recording yourself and planning to release it. I think that even with prosumer level converters you can get a pretty decent result, provided you've payed attention to your levels - which should always be moderate. Every interface we use to record and mix our music on our computer (the common medium these days) has digital converters. Most of the time our music makes it to CD. And then to MP3. So, IMO, distortion in the digital domain (which is more difficult to place and has totally different causes than analogue) plays a HUGE role in how our music is perceived and, most importantly, in whether or not it is received as pleasing (or fatiguing) by the listener's ear. As we all know or have heard, this was easier with tape because it's distortion characteristics were perceived as more aesthetically pleasing. Digital is not so forgiving, and I personally feel this paper helps get my head around why.

I really wish the AES would come up with an RMS standard so we can stop worrying about being louder than Metallica and just get on with making records like they did back in the old days: with regard to emotional impact.

Cheers ?