Comments on: How to avoid over-compressing your mix

By: Ian Shepherd

Ian Shepherd — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:31:16 +0000

@ Jorano, Since last year I’m on the board of directors of Turn Me Up, so I have some influence ! And, I agree that DR14 is a very ambitious goal – that’s why an average level of DR8 is all that’s needed to qualify for the Dynamic Range Day challenge:

http://dynamicrangeday.co.uk/challenge/

As far as Turn Me Up goes though, everyone who signed up there did so when DR14 was the target, so I don’t think we can change that without consulting them first. But, I’ll certainly raise this and talk about shifting the emphasis in future.

Ian

By: Jorano

Jorano — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:59:14 +0000

Ian, do you have any direct involvement in the DR movements? I think a minimum of DR14 is too excessive and it should be lowered to 10 because different genres of music need different amounts of compression. A level of 10 will prevent brickwalling just fine and will allow an easier transition for labels or producers who are used to louder and more compressed mastering.

By: My mixes aren't sounding as loud and thick as professionally done songs? - Page 3 - Home Recording forums

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:37:15 +0000

[...] Here's a great tool(beside your ears) to make sure you are not over doing the master limiter. TT Dynamic Range Meter – Fight the Loudness War Room,Room Room Room!!!!!!! Reply With [...]

By: Home recording

Home recording — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:14:42 +0000

That’s a great plugin. I’ve been recently using it to analyze some of the commercial productions, and it’s amazing how hard they push mixes.

By: Clyde

Clyde — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 02:51:14 +0000

I don’t understand any of this mumbo jumbo you’re all talking about.

By: Emmanuel

Emmanuel — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:48:29 +0000

Hi all

As also discussed on:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep11/articles/loudness.htm
http://productionadvice.co.uk/loudness-war-dynamic-range/
http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=940573&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1#940573

… I really believe that the TT Dynamic Range Meter results should be considered with caution, for two reasons.

1) it doesn’t measure micro-dynamics, or macro-dynamics, or any kind of dynamics.

As a very simple proof, consider the following sample:

http://private.1-1-1-1.net/SOS/CF_samples/square_cos.wav

It has no dynamics whatsoever. DR as measured with the TT Dynamic Range Meter should be 0. Yet it is 11dB, which makes it comparable to albums from the Smiths or Tom Waits.

2) it doesn’t measure compression per se. As a simple proof, consider the following sample:

http://private.1-1-1-1.net/SOS/CF_samples/OboeLongP.wav

It’s a perfectly natural oboe sample. Yet the TT Dynamic Range Meter says its DR is 3dB, which http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/ considers as overlimited (“bad”). I am aware an oboe sample is not a piece of music, but still, caution concerning the TT Dynamic Range Meter results come to mind.

………….

The cause according to which music shouldn’t be overcompressed may be perfectly just and noble, but I’m not sure such confusion between the Crest Factor (which is used by the TT Dynamic Range Meter) AND dynamics AND overlimiting really helps…

By: How to Use a Reference Track to Improve your Mixing | Audio Issues

How to Use a Reference Track to Improve your Mixing | Audio Issues — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 08:01:10 +0000

[...] your reference to be somewhere between -12 and -8 dB RMS. Check out another one of Ian's posts on How to Avoid Over-Compressing Your Mix if you're still [...]

By: Ian Shepherd

Ian Shepherd — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 22:17:02 +0000

Hi Paul,

I actually think that systems like ReplayGain will end up doing this for us, without policing required – and hopefully, as producers and artists realise this, they’ll change their ways…

I wrote about this in more detail here:

http://recordproduction.com/blog/2009/10/how-spotify-will-end-the-loudness-wars/

Ian

By: Paul Hurt

Paul Hurt — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:09:07 +0000

I agree with other posters that “good” DR is an artistic choice – what works for one kind of music isn’t always right for another. I’m not a fan of crushed DR, but some producers may want that sound. In my opinion, what we should really be fighting for is an agreed target for the perceived average volume level for a mastered release. This is what they are doing in TV with the ITU-R 1770 spec. This would give engineers the freedom to master with as much or as little dynamic range as they like, within reason. If a producer prefers to crush and distort their mixes to death then they can do that, but the end listener won’t get a product that’s significantly louder than another release with a greater DR. If the listener wants it loud, they can turn the volume knob up. Music would potentially sound far better, and the listener can play one album or track after another without getting blown across the room when they switch from Talking Book to Death Magnetic (extreme example!). I realise it would require the industry to police itself somehow, to prevent the whole loudness war starting up again. Is it a pipe-dream? It’s a case of explaining the problem, and getting people on board. 35 years ago in the UK, no-one wore seatbelts and drinking and driving was almost socially-acceptable. Sweden managed to change from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight. Big changes do happen.

By: Ian Shepherd

Ian Shepherd — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 12:58:45 +0000

Hi Patrick,

Very true. But in that case you don’t really need a meter to tell you you’re not over-compressing However I would probably be asking myself – “is there enough dynamic interest in this song”, though. If it’s an ambient drone piece the answer is probably “yes”, but sometimes it’ll be worth considering adding some more dynamic elements to the mix.

Ian