Nov 13, 2009
There is a myth that in order to stand out on the radio, your song needs to be louder than anyone else’s.
Bollocks.
Maybe this was true during the first Loudness Wars, back when every Motown release was louder than the previous one, but not any more – not for a long time.
Oct 8, 2009
Do you trust your hearing ?
Should you ?
There were several factors that led to me putting my foot in my mouth last week – or, my keyboard, perhaps that should be – in a post where I incorrectly announced that Spotify’s “Volume Normalisation” feature makes everything sound terrible (It doesn’t)
This post describes my mistakes, and contains some words of caution for anyone trying to decide if one thing sounds better than another. First I’ll tell you the factors that lead to my wrong conclusions, then I’ll explain how they tripped me up.
Oct 1, 2009
This post ended up as a bit of a mess – if you read on you’ll see what I mean ! To find out why, read the next one.
I’m leaving it here because there are some sites linking in, and some people will find it useful, but if you really want to know what I think about Spotify and the Loudness Wars, please read my guest post on RecordProduction.com instead:
How Spotify will end the Loudness Wars
Aug 11, 2009
Using compression in your mixes is essential – and you need to use it right.
OK, maybe not if you play classical harp or Polynesian nose-flute – but in most genres, using compression to control the dynamic range of instruments in the mix is fundamental.
The problem is, learning to use compression isn’t easy. And it’s not helped by the fact that most explanations start out saying something like “a compressor reduces the dynamic range of it’s input by attenuating signals that exceed a pre-defined threshold”.
Or something.
Personally I don’t find this kind of description very intuitive, so this post will try and keep things straightforward. So before we go to much further:
(Click here for more info)
.gif "Dynamic Range Foundation - Active Member")
