Mastering gone wrong

[Chris SweetParticipant]

Just bought "Now" by Paramore on iTunes expecting the track I've come to adore from their music video. Holy smashed master batman. All the impact and dynamics of the music video mix seem to have just been pulverized. Definitely a loudness war fail IMO

[Magnus HallinParticipant]

You wouldn't happen to know that the LUFS says about it?

[Warren HuartKeymaster]

I just had an Artist pay out of his pocket and remaster an album I have coming out on Sony next Fri and it is DESTROYED! Completely crushed no life left in it! I will be interested to hear what you all think! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren

[Loren KnightParticipant]

Wow. I guess sometimes the "difficult client" is outside the studio. What motivates such things?

To me there is this thing that happens with music where it can be loud or quiet but my ears just relax and listen to the detail. All the great albums do this.

Crushed music is fatiguing. Maybe that's the plan, make this the last music you want to listen to for a while so it's more memorable? LoL.

[Magnus HallinParticipant]

I've been reading up a bit lately on the "ending of the loudness war". It's said that digitally music providers such as Spotify and iTunes etc level-matches each song before release. Does anyone know if this is true? For instance: Supposedly if a song is mastered over the top to, let's say 8 LUFS, Spotify lowers the whole blob of music to where it sits around 16 LUFS (16 is the number I've read for Spotify).

But it is weird though.. I have this client (a non-paying friend really) who writes songs that I record, and when mastering, I usually send him 4 different versions and the only thing I change is the loudness. Every time he choses the loudest one.

[Warren HuartKeymaster]

That's a huge topic of discussion Magnus! When thing I think that is really important to note is that every Mastering guy I know wants to make the best sounding tracks, however most of the time the tracks they get are already completely destroyed dynamically! There's zero headroom, so I would put most of the b;game on mixers and ask them to mix with more dynamics! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren

[Warren HuartKeymaster]

Hi Loren, I was at the Keith Urban event a couple of days ago with Gavin Lurssen and Brian Lucey and they had some revealing things to say about the Mastering guy who destroyed my mixes! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren

[Chris SweetParticipant]

On the paramore track specifically the iTunes master killed the chorus impact. I play on the dynamics between verse and chorus a lot in my own mixes and to hear a master that just sounds smashed from start to finish was really disappointing.

[Warren HuartKeymaster]

Hi Chris, I wonder if it was the same guy mastering? I hope you're having a marvellous weekend! Many thanks Warren

[Chris SweetParticipant]

Hey warren, might have been!

[Warren HuartKeymaster]

Hi Chris, do you know who mastered it? Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren

[TobiKeymaster]

Interest and concise article about mastering levels for streaming media from Pro Tools Expert :

http://www.pro-tools-expert.com/home-page/2015/11/17/aes-release-recommendations-for-loudness-of-audio-streaming-and-network-file-playback

In the article, he recommends a 'spread', I assume he means 'dynamic range' of only 2 LU. ...trying to get my mix of Hey Lady anywhere near that felt, pretty much, like musical abuse... I might as well had been hitting all that beautiful music over the head with a bat.

...I can see how 'hyper chart pop' might be that 'squeezable', but most music surely has need of more dynamic expression.

...on a not unrelated subject, I just started using Sonnox Oxford Limiter and have been really impressed with it. If you haven't already, it's well worth a demo.

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