Whotone Music Information

Loudness Wars

One aspect of mastering is increasing the level of any given mix. It is a very common request that mastering engineers receive. There are a number of techniques that a mastering engineer will use to increase the perceived levels of any given mix. As a mastering engineer I will generally tastefully increase the perceived levels of a mix by the amount I can without introducing too many negative side effects. Whenever these techniques are used there are always some side effects. Mastering engineers are very experienced in squeezing maximum level out of a mix without destroying the punch of the drums. However beyond a certain point there is a limitation imposed with the technology that is available. As such I will describe the side effects that can occur with excess level increases.

The first thing that can happen is that the drums lose their punch. Sure they sound louder but the transient information that causes the punch in the drums is lost because the limiter arrests the peaks in the attack portion of the drum. Not usually very desirable. You tend to want the drums to hit hard so you can feel the rhythm in full effect. The next side effect is that the bass can start to distort, very subtly at first but then slowly it creeps in and you start to hear unpleasant side effects. Different mix styles can determine how loud the perceived levels of a track can be. It is generally easier to make less dense electronic music arrangements louder without break up and distortion and with rock mixes it very much depends on the character of the overall balance between drums guitars and vocals. Mastering engineers will generally try and keep the music competitive with other releases in any given genre if the artist deems that high perceived volumes are important.  Read more...