Loudness war!

[ikonoklast]

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/aug07/5429

The biggest change from 15 years ago to today is how people consume music. With more than 100 million iPods sold worldwide as of early this year, more and more people are listening to music on the go rather than at their home stereos. Physical media like CDs are on their way out. And yet overcompression continues to plague the music world.

But the problem doesn't just lie on the production end. If people are listening to songs in a noisy environment—such as in their cars, on trains, in airport waiting rooms, at work, or in a dormitory—the music needs to be louder to compensate. Dynamic-range compression does just that and more. Not only does it raise the average loudness of the song, but by doing so it eliminates all the quiet moments of a song as well. So listeners are now able to hear the entire song above the noise without getting frustrated by any inaudible low parts.

Komentar:

I've produced music professionally for 20 years now, and this is literally a gut-wrenching battle for me everytime I finish an album and have to master for the market place.
There have been numerous advances in the studio - and recorded music can be stunning, emotional, subtle, etc. And, hopefully, if done well it is. Then comes the horrific compromise/trade-off of modern mastering.
You're article covers almost all the key points - except one. The modern music "store", be it Itunes or any other download service, or for that matter the traditional CD shop listening station - has crappy fidelity. Most notably the amplifiers on ipods, computers, and most all portable music systems do not have enough power to represent low frequencies without "clouding" out the entire spectrum. An easy way around this is also achieved in the "loudness war". Band limit the low end, and push the whole record up - it'll be "loud as hell" on any home computer or ipod, without over taxing the amplifier. The bad news is - you'll want to gouge your eyes out after 10 minutes or so.

 

[leksa]

Oko ovih priča se danas žestoko lome koplja u audiofilskim, produkcionim i stručnim krugovima, pa se ona ne može jednostrano potvrditi.

Zaista nisam nigde naisao na izvore koji govore o tom zestokom "lomu kopalja" oko ove teme. Odavno je potvrdjeno da jeftiniji cd player-i (sub 1000 eur) imaju problema oko osnovne sonicne "postavke stvari" i jednostavno sve zvuci kao imitacija prirodnog zvuka i pored vece detaljnosti i naizgled vece dinamike (ovde se mozemo vratiti na temu autora ovog topica i postaviti pitanje sta zaista ima vecu dinamiku). Vinil nema tih problema cak i sa veoma jeftinim primercima gramofona (ako su uradjeni iole korektno). Tek sa cd player-ima od preko par hiljada eurica pocinje sve da zvuci prirodnije i kao da je sve "na mestu". Ne znam za produkcione i strucne krugove (ima li razlike?), ali za audiofilske krugove znam sigurno da cd playere tog ranga cena ne priznaju kao opremu za slusanje muzike.

 

[Ljanmi]

http://www.matrixhifi.com/contenedor_ppec_eng.htm

 

[larryson]

Krajem 70tih sa ekspanzijom tehna i elektronske muzike posebno visokokomercijalne krenulo se kod remastera sa kompresijom i zadatim premodulisanjenjem nivoa sto se manifestovalo drasticnim izoblicenjima i masovnim crkavanjem visokotonaca kod slabijih ozvucenja u diskacima.Na kvalitetnim ozvucenjima ti snimci su zvucali ocajno....
Larryson

 

[robikica]

Krajem 70tih sa ekspanzijom tehna i elektronske muzike posebno visokokomercijalne krenulo se kod remastera sa kompresijom i zadatim premodulisanjenjem nivoa sto se manifestovalo drasticnim izoblicenjima i masovnim crkavanjem visokotonaca kod slabijih ozvucenja u diskacima.Na kvalitetnim ozvucenjima ti snimci su zvucali ocajno....
Larryson

ovo zvuci kao neki strucni clanak iz "blic"-a