4 ms·
The loudness war is actually pretty much over. Lots of the newest dance music from popular artists (deadmau5, Justice, etc.) have lower RMS than mid-2000s rock,
by tumult 16y ago
The loudness war is actually pretty much over. Lots of the newest dance music from popular artists (deadmau5, Justice, etc.) have lower RMS than mid-2000s rock, which is the genre and time when lookahead loudness maximizers were seeing the most abuse.
(The article is full of technical inaccuracies. Compressors, depending on how they are set, do not reduce the attack transients of a sound like a snare drum, they exaggerate it. Also, it's from 2009.)
- sp332 16y agoI still hate what Clear Channel does to classic rock, though. Should be criminal to treat music that way. Ever heard Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" with no dynamic range? * shivers
- cynicalkane 16y agoEver heard Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", unaltered, while driving a car? Unless you turn up the volume pretty loud, you won't hear about 2/3 of the song. This is why radio stations process all tracks they play.
- qjz 16y agoThat's why playback devices should have a "compression" knob, instead of hardcoding it into the media itself. It would be useful in the living room (for television dialog) as well as in noisy environments like the car.
- JonnieCache 16y agoThis is true. Due to mastering technology becoming cheaper and easier, artists are increasingly mastering their own records, or mastering each others records as part of the production process. Obviously they don't have the same incentive for over compression.
- elptacek 16y agoCompressors, depending on how they are set (eg, very, very short attack time), act as limiters which will reduce the amplitude of a transient sound. I assumed this is what the article was referring to based on the perceived result. Since transients tend to be perceived as louder, you're going to notice when they're not there.