As of November 18 2007, this page is still a work-in-progress, but I felt I should post it anyway, and add to it when I'm able.
A simple audio/visual example of why many CDs sound awful: the "Volume War".|
For those who might not understand the technical limitations of CDs: You remember when you'd make a cassette recording and you could put the record levels just a bit "into the red", a tad above zero dB on the record meter, and it sounded good? With a standard audio CD, there is no "red", everything above zero is totally, brutally cut off as if it had run into a brick wall at 100 MPH.
For this example I've used a snippet of music from my first solo album. In the image below, the upper waveform labelled "regular" is an image of the stereo waveform from the original mix as it appears on the CD. The spikes sticking out are typically snare drum or bass drum hits. They should stick out like that so they push your speaker a little harder when they hit, that's one of the things that give the kick to rock music. The bottom wave labelled "bad master" is the exact same snippet as the top, except I've remastered it in the style that's become very common today thanks to the volume war. Visually, this gives the wave the squared-off appearance. |
| Now have a listen to each of the snippets. In order that you not be initially fooled into thinking "WOW it's BETTER!" by the extreme increase of volume, I've put the "bad master" file at the same relative listening level as the "regular" version. That way you can really hear how volume war style mastering makes the sound smaller, mushy, and weak.
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| I LOVE compression and limiting, always have. They are both vital ingredients to a good, solid recording. When used subtly on an individual instrument or voice, compression or limiting can make things seem a bit stronger, more lively, and bring out nuances which might otherwise disappear in the mix. Extreme compression of an individual instrument or voice can result in amazing, indescribable, otherwise impossible sounds which might be just what the song needed. Every album I've ever recorded or mixed has plenty of examples of compressed instruments and voices, from the subtle to the extreme. I love compression and limiting. What I am completely opposed to is what the volume war is all about: extreme compressing or limiting of the master mix for no other reason except to make it "as loud as" some other CD which was also ruined by volume war style mastering. So don't get the idea that I "don't like compression" or that I'm opposed to loud or agressive music. In fact, over-compressing an agressive, powerful recording just makes it flaccid, mushy and weak; it achieves nothing except force the listener to reduce the volume a few notches and removes all the visceral punch the recording might have had.
Several years ago I had an idea to try and set up a central website or organisation of engineers and artists opposed to ruining records and wasting our skills this way. I suggested it on a popular mastering forum and was promptly laughed off the page by cynical, sarcastic engineers. Today, there actually is an organisation similar to what I had imagined: Turn me up.org. Let's hope this is the start of something! Whether you are an recording engineer, musician, producer, listener, record label, whatever; if you hate this ridiculous trend please help spread the word with the links below. Finally, I have never done this kind of destructive mastering and never will. If a label or artist for whom I've mixed or mastered an album remasters it volume war style, I don't work with them again. |
| Links to sites and articles about the Volume War: Imperfect Sound Forever The Loudness War: YouTube video. Good IEEE article on the loudness war. Over The Limit Short Term Gain/Long Term Pain Death of Dynamic Range I Want to Break Free of the Volume War Turn me up.org The Death of High Fidelity |