Shitty music dynamics have been pissing me off lately

[Sedako]

I'm sure many of you share my plight, and I'm sure it's been discussed in the past, but I really have to vent. I recently upgraded my sound system with some Polk Monitor 40s and a PSW10 from a pair of Behringer MS20's. Though a good amount of my music sounds far better than it did, a lot of the music from more recent albums is an absolute mess. I'm a pretty big Dream Theater fan, so I'll use them as an example. A couple week ago, Black Clouds and Silver Linings was released. I couldn't wait to listen to it, and once I did, it just felt so empty. This prompted me to take a closer look. Perhaps the most instrumental song on the album is The Count of Tuscany, which starts off with some really deep guitar that progresses into A WALL OF SOUND:

For a majority of the song there are virtually no dynamics whatsoever. The music sounds incredibly flat and dull. Rewind to 1992, and the release of Images and Words. On it is one of my favorite songs to come from this band: Metropolis Pt. 1:

Look at the difference! Both songs were pulled directly from the CDs as FLAC. This is how many songs these days are being mastered, and there's really no way around it but to hope for a proper master later on. It's not always the fault of the artist themselves, as the production companies tend to have the final say in what the final product becomes. To me, this is the biggest threat to music lovers as long as the record industry remains in control. Another great recent example of this is with Metallica's newest album, in which a track featured on Guitar Hero 3 is compared to the CD version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRyIACDCc1I

 

[VirusType2]

Yeah, I strongly believe that because everything is captured in such high quality digital now, they sell you a shitty master so they can re-release it later as remastered.

I like dynamic music, but not too dynamic, or it's hard to find a good volume to listen to it... can't hear... too loud... can't hear... too loud.

 

[thefiznut]

avoid commercial music and all will be okay

 

[Warped]

I noticed this too all the way back when GH2 came out. but don't forget these games are for the casual crowd. they probably have no ****ing idea what is going on

 

[Stigmata]

I noticed this too all the way back when GH2 came out. but don't forget these games are for the casual crowd. they probably have no ****ing idea what is going on

"Do you know what compression is?"
"Yeah doesn't that make the music louder and better or something?"

 

[Kinslayer]

Don't have this problem in any of my music. Then again, it isn't really mainstream music that would be sold at a store anywhere.

I've heard it before, though and I completely agree; it destroys the music.

 

[Letters]

I noticed this too all the way back when GH2 came out. but don't forget these games are for the casual crowd. they probably have no ****ing idea what is going on

You know the thread is about more dynamic range being better right?

 

[theotherguy]

It's really difficult for me to mix my music to avoid the wall of sound effect. If I take all compression off, I get clipping. If I turn the volume down, the music sounds very weak or else is painful to listen to at high volumes. I have found that doing some minor multiband compression with NEGATIVE gain, and then turning the volume up tends to make things sound better.

 

[Viperidae]

If I take all compression off, I get clipping.

Clipping that lasts <= 1ms is not a problem. Natural transients of acoustic drums (for instance) are incredibly loud but quick. If you're momentarily pegging the meter every snare hit you shouldn't be too concerned, and can safely chop those tops off. Intelligent use of compression/limiting doesn't hurt there. Even after that if you're still finding it hard to get it to sound right without being distorted... well, that's what professionals are for.

It's when the vocals or other sustained sounds are clipping that you've got irreparable damage or a bad recording.

If I turn the volume down, the music sounds very weak or else is painful to listen to at high volumes.

Either you're doing something wrong with the mix itself or the transients are way too steep.

This is also the main complaint about properly mastered rock. It sounds 'weak.' Well turn it the **** up, that's what amps are for.

Also unfortunately I don't think I've encountered any recording [of music I like] in the past 3 years that doesn't suffer from this to at least some degree. Even artists that had decent mastering as late as 2005 have 2008 releases that are louder and crappier.

 

[Sedako]

I just discovered that the man who mastered (horribly) Systematic Chaos was Vlado Meller. He is notorious for shitty mastering. If any of you remember the backlash that resulted from RHCP's Stadium Arcadium, that was his doing as well.

 

[theotherguy]

Lowering the volume of the compressed music is really enlightening, but technically, if a piece was played at full volume along with its compressed counterpart, the compressed counterpart would be subjectively louder.

This hardly matters with real studio equipment or headphones, though. It only really matters if you've got some tiny crappy speakers or little cheap earbuds--like most music listeners.

 

[Viperidae]

Lowering the volume of the compressed music is really enlightening, but technically, if a piece was played at full volume along with its compressed counterpart, the compressed counterpart would be subjectively louder.

This hardly matters with real studio equipment or headphones, though. It only really matters if you've got some tiny crappy speakers or little cheap earbuds--like most music listeners.

I'm trying to understand what you're saying here, and really failing.

Compressed to which degree? You can have a huge variability in compression. And so what if something's louder?

Um, what exactly 'hardly matters' with better speakers?

 

[VirusType2]

I only have problems with clipping if I use my cheap ass microphone.

Otherwise I don't have the problem of clipping with my music, though it's all digital samples (that were recorded properly to begin with).

Audacity will look at the entire track and let you raise the gain to the maximum threshold possible without clipping. So if you record your stuff at a level that is low enough so that it never clips, then dump it in Audacity and increase the gain. Then put it on a disc or whatever.