The Loudness Penalty website has been one of the most successful projects I’ve ever worked on, and also one of the most controversial.
We knew when we chose to include the word “Penalty” in the name that it would ruffle some feathers - and we were OK with that. After all, we wanted the site to be useful but also to raise awareness. Why bother uploading your song at -6 LUFS if all the streaming services are going to turn it down by 8 dB ? Whatever you think of the name, that’s hardly a Loudness Bonus !
It has caused some criticism though, with people saying we’re inventing a problem, or scaremongering. And with hindsight, I guess we could have called it something like “Loudness Preview”, or “Loudness Offset” instead - but (a) those are pretty dull names and (b) it’s too late now !
Seriously though, I’m 100% comfortable with the decision. We wanted the name to be thought-provoking and a little provocative, and it’s achieved that. Some songs will sound fine even when they’re mastered loud and turned down online, but that doesn’t mean that knowing it'll happen in advance isn’t still invaluable when you’re deciding how loud to master. Knowledge is power.
HOWEVER
There are still a few popular misconceptions about the site, and this is probably a good place to clear them up. (more…)
Arthur C Clarke once said that any sufficiently advanced technology eventually becomes indistinguishable from magic, and that’s exactly how it feels watching Imogen Heap perform. In this post I’m going to try and explain why. The only question is, where do I start ?!
At the heart of it all are the live-stream improv sessions. They happen once a week, every Tuesday, and are about to enter their second month tonight. They’re informal, intimate, inspirational and emotional. They’re at the heart of what Imogen Heap is doing right now. They bring it all together and make sense of it.
The format is simple – she sits down in her deep red semi-circular music room, at the piano she learned to play as a girl, and starts to play. The music could go anywhere – she makes it up as she goes along. Swirling, shifting, improvised strands that mutate and evolve as she plays, in ways that are sometimes fragile, sometimes strange, often beautiful and occasionally downright odd. And we get to watch, and sometimes take part.
I didn't think it would work, but it did.
And this is exactly the time when we need it to.
If you've been concerned watching the spread of the new coronavirus, wondering how you'll be able to keep working on audio if you can't share a studio with other people, this video is for you.
In it I show how to stream lossless 24-bit (!) audio directly from you DAW with only 100 ms latency, and video chat at the same time. You can even screen-share with workable sync !
This method is ideal for remote mixing, remote mastering, and even remote recording - a perfect workaround for the challenges of "social distancing".
I only found out about this last week, and rushed to get the video out to try and help as many as people as possible - hopefully everything is clear, but feel free to come and find me on Facebook or Twitter if you have any comments or questions.
Stay safe, and thanks for listening !
Sometimes a video is just so good, you have to share it.
And this is one of those. It answers a question I often get asked:
Do I need to use dither before encoding to mp3 ?
I always say "Yes, just in case" when people ask me that - but am I right ?
In this video, Dan Worrall answers that question and many others about dither, using simple, real-world tests. For example you'll find answers to questions like "is it OK to dither twice ? (or more)" and "what happens if I forget to dither ?"
And if you're reading this and thinking "WTF is dither anyway?", don't worry - he answers that question, too !
Fantastic stuff from Dan, as always - and if you want to jump straight to the answer about dithering for mp3 encoding, click here.
And if you want to know more about why I think dither really is important (but not worth losing sleep over), here's another post you may like:
Why there are no "stair steps" in digital audio - IF you use dither
...but these are only if you're a real glutton for punishment !
