The video above is a “sequel” to that post, in a way, because it demonstrates many of the techniques I talk about in the original post.
(I’m not saying you should make your music really loud, by the way – far from it. But if that’s what you’re going to do, I’d prefer you to make a good job of it : )
(Multiband compression can be an invaluable tool for getting loud, punchy mixes without crushing the life out of your mix – to find out more, click here.)
I’m signed up to the Facebook group “End the Loudness War“. Last week Harman Aaron Loučka posted a heads-up that an example of the vinyl release of the new Red Hot Chile Peppers album, “I’m With You”, had been posted on YouTube.
I headed over to check it out, since vinyl releases often show as having better dynamics (“crest factor”, to be strictly correct) than their CD equivalents in the Dynamic Range Database. I don’t have a record deck though, so hadn’t had a chance to check it out, until now.
The results were pretty clear, and I’ve made my own short YouTube clip to demonstrate the difference. Take a listen, and see if you can hear a difference, and which one you prefer.
This is not a vinyl versus CD thing
Whatever you decide, it’s important to know – what you’re hearing is NOT some inherent limitation of the quality of the CD format.
- and there’s no need to repeat myself here. But this tip is about loudness – or rather, levels.
Specifically, gain structure.
Gain structure just means – how loud your audio is, at every point in the audio chain. Back in the days of analogue it was crucial to get the levels as high as possible at every point in the chain to get the best signal-to-noise ratio, but not so loud as to cause distortion.
These days, it’s not really an issue. With over 60 dB of signal to noise ratio in even a 16-bit signal, all we need to do to get clean audio is avoid clipping, and we’re good.
And people seem surprised when I tell them it’s actually really simple.
I ask questions.
Seven of them.
EQ, compression and limiting are key elements in those questions – and there are other more obscure processes I use less often, but these are the main contenders.
So the next question is – what are these questions, and how do I use them?
What order do I ask them in, and why?
That’s why I put together this flow-chart – you can download a PDF version here.
Check it out, and then here are the answers to some further questions you may have:
This tip is so simple that when I first thought of it I almost felt as if I didn’t need to post it.
But talking to people about mastering recently, I’ve realised that it’s one of those “obvious to you” concepts that Derek Sivers talks about. I just take it as read, but I’m finding out that many people haven’t even considered it.
"Ian is that rare thing amongst technicians; a bona fide musician able to appreciate 'the major lift and the minor fall' - whilst simultaneously noticing frequencies only audible to dogs. He answers my queries, rather than presenting his own."
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