Big-label mastering engineers don’t understand lossy formats
Reply #18 – 2012-03-29 05:14:31
@greynol: Oh, here it is explained by a guy named Bob Ludwig, he says some funny things along the way but I think the concept behind "Mastered for iTunes" should be somewhat clearer now. Whether it's the only processing "Matered for iTunes" is capable of remains unclear, I guess.4: Speaking of compression, many people believe you cannot get a download to sound good no matter what you do. I disagree, not that I feel the overall dynamics of a download can equal that of an LP (or can they)—but I play a great deal of downloaded music at home through a decent DAC and system, and I'm surprised at how good it can sound. Do you master things differently for iTunes for example? Bob Ludwig: Apple has begun a new initiative called "Mastered for iTunes" which greatly improves the sound of iTunes AAC encodes without changing a single piece of hardware on the 250,000,000 players in the field. It can be so dramatic you can easily hear the difference between the new and old technology on your little laptop speakers. Instead of ingesting the music from a CD rip or 16-bit file, the new system uses 24-bit master files for the encode. The AAC encoder can make use of bits 17-24. An important addition is the realization that the act of AAC encoding can cause clipping where there was none on the original PCM .wav or .aiff file. In classical music this encoder induced clipping can occur at the occasional climaxes or in a typical over-compressed pop/rock recording, many times a second. Apple has created tools to log the number, severity and time of each clip so the mastering engineer can lower the level of the 24-bit master by fractions of a dB and the clips and resulting distortion from them is eliminated. It is a complicated answer, but a 24-bit AAC encoded file can thus sound better and measure better in certain cases than a normal 16-bit Compact Disc, which unfortunately has been regarded as the gold standard for sound in these comparisons. Well, I'm not that into the matter of lossy encoding, but can't you just make a 16bit master that is not that freaking loud and brick-walled and have the same effect at the end? The whole "Mastered for iTunes" fad is like a cruel joke when the industry is putting out crap like this:I'm a little anxious right now, because I tried to listen to "Noctourniquet" by The Mars Volta and got all angry. So you only got a little anxious and angry? Why didn't you scratch your eyes out, poked your eardrums and shredded your skin when listening to this joke of an album? When I tried listening to it, it sounded as if something was wrong with my speakers, like if a driver was dead. Or as if my amplifier was broken. No kidding. Of course I knew they weren't but... People see for yourselves, this is one of the worst DR meter results if not the worst, I've seen:foobar2000 1.1.11 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1 log date: 2012-03-29 05:47:45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Analyzed: The Mars Volta / Noctourniquet -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR Peak RMS Duration Track -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR4 -0.20 dB -6.74 dB 4:49 01-The Whip Hand DR5 0.00 dB -6.04 dB 5:11 02-Aegis DR3 0.00 dB -3.91 dB 4:22 03-Dyslexicon DR2 0.00 dB -4.44 dB 6:43 04-Empty Vessels Make the Loudest Sound DR3 0.00 dB -4.90 dB 4:44 05-The Malkin Jewel DR3 0.00 dB -4.95 dB 4:16 06-Lapochka DR4 0.00 dB -6.11 dB 7:26 07-In Absentia DR3 0.00 dB -5.51 dB 3:58 08-Imago DR3 0.00 dB -4.53 dB 3:33 09-Molochwalker DR4 0.00 dB -7.72 dB 4:25 10-Trinkets Pale of Moon DR3 0.00 dB -4.94 dB 3:54 11-Vedamalady DR4 0.00 dB -6.38 dB 5:39 12-Noctourniquet DR3 0.00 dB -5.75 dB 5:36 13-Zed and Two Naughts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Number of tracks: 13 Official DR value: DR3 Samplerate: 44100 Hz Channels: 2 Bits per sample: 16 Bitrate: 1003 kbps Codec: WavPack ================================================================================ Mastered for iTunes my ass, that's like putting a cherry on top of a pile of shit. PS: The Dynamic Range Meter results for Ms. Kadry's latest work are worse than Frances the Mute (DR7), Amputechture (DR6) and The Bedlam in Goliath (DR6).