Question:
If you are worried about your recordings not being loud enough, STOP!

It's not your fault!

Watch this video for a great visual demonstration of why it's nearly impossible for us "Home Recordists" to get our CD's up to "commercial CD" volumes (and still have the music sound decent).

"The Loudness War"

Comments?

Answer:
I'm not sure what the video says about home recording...it seems like it's talking about the recording industry as a whole.
Answer:
It's all about the dynamic range. That is why I much prefer recordings of classical music to pop music.
Answer:
Originally Posted by thesteve I'm not sure what the video says about home recording...it seems like it's talking about the recording industry as a whole.
Yes, the video is talking about the "Recording Industry". That's my point, that a lot of people post questions wondering why their mixes are so much lower than a "professionally recorded" and "Mastered" CD.

The point is that the mindset of the Industry (even in christian music) is Louder Is Better. The things that are done to the dynamic range of music in the name of Louder Is Better make it sound bad. I am saying that we hobbyists should not feel the need to compete with that mindset.

Chris Tomlin's CD "Arriving" is a great example of this kind of mastering.
In fact, most anything in "popular music" that is released today has it.

I know it's old, but if you want to hear some real dynamic range, and the kind of emotional impact it can have on the listener, listen to Daryl Evans Freedom CD, track 4 "I Am In Love With You".

Or as MrCrabby noted, any good classical CD.

FOR EXAMPLE, DO YOU REALLY WANT TO KEEP READING THIS SENTENCE? IT'S KIND OF ANNOYING WHEN PEOPLE WRITE IN ALL CAPS, ISN'T IT. YOU START TO TUNE OUT AFTER A WHILE. AND I CAN'T MAKE ANYTHING STAND OUT UNLESS I START TO BOLD AND MAYBE USE THE UNDERLINE. BUT NOW EVERYBODY ELSE IS GOING TO DO THE SAME THING SO THEY CAN BE JUST AS LOUD AS ME. PRETTY SOON YOU HAVE NO DYNAMIC RANGE LEFT, EVERYTHING IS JUST LOUD!

Did you even make it through the above paragraph? Probably not.

The reason I started this thread was in the hope of having an informative discussion. I have my opinions on the subject, but I am by no means an expert. I don't know what the answer is, I expect at some point in the future, there will be a "Dynamics Rennaisance" or something, and the pendulum will start to swing back. But only as more and more people start to demand their music sound better.



That starts me on a whole 'nother subject that should have it's own thread: burning cd's from mp3,wma,or other compressed audio formats, then ripping them in again, burning out, ripping in, etc.
Answer:
ah...now I understand what you're saying.
Answer:
i'm more irritated with this mindset in videogames than music. in halo 2, normal conversation is about as loud as a gunshot, so when i've got my 5.1 surround sound system cranked to the point that the room shakes with each 'nade explosion the "normal" level conversations sounds really out of porportion.
it doesn't bother me at all with music, most of the stuff i listen to is flat out loud all the way anyway.
Answer:
I haven't had a chance to watch the video yet, but...
If the industry is going that way, why not go with it? Obviously, if something is perceived as 'the standard', then its a standard for a reason.
The thing that us non-pros have to deal with, is the fact that we simply do not have the gear/expertise to slam a mix while keeping it sounding quality. I've been A/B'ing some mixes of my own to some 'pro' mixes today, and I am astonished at the depth of sound they are getting while retaining huge volume.
Answer:
Maestro,
Isn't the problem directly related to how we can manipulate sound now. The vidoe itself is an example of how a wavefom can be raised or lowered (manipulated and thus ruined). Would the point be that once you manipulate the waveform itself it destroys the dynamic range. I don't know if the example in the video has anything to do with how music is recorded capturing the dynamics to begin with, thus implying there is no difference other than equipment used to capture the source between professional and home doers. Dynamic range typically comes from source recording (mics, preamps etc...) That usually determines dynamics in the raw track itself. Maybe I totally missed the point here. I am aware that you can destroy a track from manipulating it such as normalizing. I think this topic may spill over into mastering as well.