Skip to main content ↑ ↓

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.
Topic: Loudness War - still alive and kicking (Read 7190 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Re: Loudness War - still alive and kicking

Reply #25 –
Quote from: includemeout on
Quote from: AliceWonderMiscreations on
The impact of the loudness war is lost when all the tracks are played at the same relative volume, so to be "competitive" you have to have music that actually sounds better.
Except for the clipped samples, you mean?

Solutions of mine:

A target level of 79 dB might be better on systems that have the ability to get quite loud with the ability to either output 24-bit audio or use shaped dither on 16-bit systems.  An option to reduce according to peak or limit built-in should be provided.  (default is Album with reduce volume according to peak)

A simple limiter for systems that are better suited to a target level of 89 dB.  (default is Track with limit).

The above ideas are quite simple enough with the second being the default and the first being labeled appropriately and an advanced section for tweaking things to an individual user's liking.

I already use ReplayGain for all applications that support it and allow adjustments with the preamp level, setting it to -10 dB with the sliders and using album mode.

Re: Loudness War - still alive and kicking

Reply #26 –
Quote from: includemeout on
Quote from: AliceWonderMiscreations on
The impact of the loudness war is lost when all the tracks are played at the same relative volume, so to be "competitive" you have to have music that actually sounds better.
Except for the clipped samples, you mean?

No - what I mean is after the replaygain is applied, the "louder" mastering is no longer louder, so all that's left is flat sounding (and offten clipped) music that doesn't sound very good.

As discovery of new music increasingly moves to Internet sources where ReplayGain is often applied, those who brickwall during mastering will lose. At least I suspect so. They will get all the negatives without the only "positive" (which is the song appearing louder than the competition)