Why your audio is bad and why you can't do anything about it
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Tuesday May 2, 2023
David Mellor
David Mellor is CEO and Course Director of Audio Masterclass. David has designed courses in audio education and training since 1986 and is the publisher and principal writer of Adventures In Audio.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @roller2703: Comments like please me greatly because they demonstrate clearly that there’s always someone sadder than me.
@starlightgrecording559: @starlightgrecording559
Audio Masterclass
Gerard Stroh***
I am A Audiophile For A While and I Know How Well The Recording is But Here is The Downside of Audio!!!
When We Get the Audio it is Brickwall and and Cliped and I Heard Some Bad Recordings in My Time and I Don't Mind Super audio and Other Formats in Audio!!!
I perfer The Sound of Pro Reel to Reel Master Tapes Because The Sound Always Stay's the Same and it Does Not Matter if it is on the Biggenning of the Tape or the End of the Tape the Sound is alway's the Same!!!
Vinyl Records The Speed of the Audio track Recordgroove Slows Down after The First Rotation of the Vinyl Record***
Also The Recordgroove Makes The Needle Move Side by Side and Moves A Magnet or Coil of Wire and it Kinda Works Like A Tape Head after that But A Tape Head Tracks Are Seperated onto 2 Coils of Wires and The Tape Has the Nagnets and The Sound is Better and It Has Grater Track Lenth and the Tracks are Wider too***
( I wish We Had A Choice What Audio We Can Have in Our Musical Choices When We Buy Our Music***
We Can Spend Over $2,000 to $5,000 Dollars on A Turntable or A Lader Dac or A Good CD Player or CD Tansport and We Don't Get the Best Sounding Audio**
I can Go on Much More on Audio***
Good Video***
@BeatConradinOschwald: I dont know if you still may answer to posts on that video. Since i'm on the "hunt" for my first Hometheater System obviously stumbled over your channel. Surprise, surprise! What kind of "flat" listening to what you are telling. Thank you so far, you just solved alot on mine doubts. But there's something you forced me to do. The last 15 years i listened to Allan&Heath ZED10 + Yamaha HS80's using various sources. With various "outcome". Then, my FiiO Dac had to be replaced because his laq of optical input, connecting my first "smart" TV ever. Ok, thought "let's buy some DAC" on one of those chinese portals. There they offered that tiny S.M.S.L SU-1 for little over 70 €. I hadn't expectacions, it was more a test, because there are other plans as i mentioned. Didn't trust my ears! Ok - how well. Until today afternoon. Thinking about your "they like - it has to sound like that" tryed my "old" Huawei Smartphone (P30 pro) on the USB-C Port of the SU-1. Whath the Hell a giant jump out of the soundswamp provided by my TCL-TV, Samsung Galactic ultralala (the camera is great) thing and the Lenovo Tablet/Laptop. Do you think that's another proof of "that sound"? Nevertheless my equipment gained precision an clarity, staging like never and punch in all realms of sound, tey seeme to be finally free, it's rediculous lived since 2019 havin' that chinese Phone ...
Saludos desde Canarias!
@palomarjack: I have an even better and revolutionary idea. Master the piece so it has as little distortion as possible and let the listener decide how loud he wants to hear it. Isn't that what the level/volume/gain control is for in the first place?
@peteranton1867: sorry, paul, i have inexpensive hifi, but it sounds good enough for me. And my listening rooms are the best, they can be in reasonable measures.:D Have a nice day!
@John_Findlay: Fascinating. One force acting on the recording/mixing/mastering process may be the advent of portable players, using ear/head-phones, and in-car audio. Both environments have background noise which can obscure the quieter parts of a piece. Solution: reduce the dynamic range by making the quiet parts louder, so the quiet parts are not longer lost under the background noise when listening. (I'm ignoring noise-cancellling here). Result: the whole piece is 'louder', but loses the dynamic contrast . My hifi system has components bought in 1978 (speakers) , 1992 (cd player) and amp (1994-ish) . I love it, but my eagerness to explore other works by musicians I have some recordings of means I'm a recent convert to streaming from Qobuz. For Jazz and other non-classical genres I have noticed that I prefer old recordings that have had a straight CD quality digital transfer over anything that has been re-mastered to some Hi-Res bit depth and sampling rate. I recent did a double-take listening to Aretha Franlkin's Lady Soul album. I had started listening to the old CD transfer recording, but accidentally switched to a 24 bit/192 kHz re-master. It was so different I thought something was wrong at first. There are many other artists whose hi-res rematsers I simply don't like. Maybe I'm just a cranky old so-and-so. I soothe myself by listening to classical music instead.
@kennethoransky4881: I know I'm very late to the party but I use a declipper plugin in my listening chain.
@Supergeologist: I've had a good moan about this topic on several other You Tube sites. I find that music recorded in the 70s and 80s was so much better engineered and produced. Listening to more modern music (even from top acts) I often find the sound quality a bit off. I can hear poor highs, muddy lows and a general, i dunno just crap noise!
Having retired and promised myself a decent hi fi setup I went out and bought said hi fi. I have and continue to be disappointed at the recording quality of todays music.
It seems to made by lazy engineers and tone deaf producers.
I know its subjective but people like Alan Parsons have always impressed me with his sound enginnering, not only in his own recordings but also for artists like Pink Floyd and Al Stewart to name a few. Listen to them and you can really hear the difference.
Just my own opinion.
@mrcarpentersc: I can't stand when they purposely add distortion like static and distorted bass. Trying to make it sound like old vinyl etc. That's just plain stupid. I don't mind vinyl at all but don't add crap to a recording, it doesn't sound good and I won't listen to it, hit or not.
@b34k97: I don't understand why labels don't make two masters of tracks.... the standard one, that's loud and crushed for the masses, and then an "HDR" mix for the audiophiles. You know it could be a huge up-sell. Audiophiles will gladly pay extra for things that sound better in ways that are so subtle they're immeasurable... Imagine how much premium they'd pay for things that actually sound better in ways that are easily measurable.
@palomarjack replies to @b34k97: I have an even better and revolutionary idea. Master the piece so it has as little distortion as possible and let the listener decide how loud he wants to hear it. Isn't that what the level/volume/gain control is for in the first place?
@daddymulk: I'm not a great fan of 60s Music though there are some good songs but I can't listen to them because they sound so dreadful, I'd love someone to explain why 60s Music in general sounds so appalling in quality, you have much older music that sounds great
@daddymulk: When I bought Now Music 3 and 4 on cassette in the 80s they had a distorted sound to them, I thought how could anyone have passed this, they also had a little noise at start of tape like some test tones
@MrTripcore: If people buy more dynamic sound, the music executives would steer in that direction
@leo.girardi: Make it louder? I thought that was what my volume knob was for.
@pierpaoloazzalin9505: After watching this video I’ve come to the conclusion that this is the only audio channel we ever need
@exitar1: It’s because of the frog in my throat 🙂
@frederikmestdagh9421: peaks and dynamics, why filter that out? Let them in as much as possible, or is that to believe that you need a more expensive hi-fi system, if the recorded product is not good in the first place... I didn't know much about that info, thank you.
@randomtube8226: I've considered throwing my entire system in the trash and giving up. My system has gotten so bad sounding. Tried tracking down the weak link. But everything sounds bad. I was trying to find a professional to come over and help me out. But they are like a needle in a haystack to find at the right price.
@oupahens9219: Well, he is definitely not a punk. Bad distortion by clipping, so that U can hear bass on your handy is not what he likes.
@FiddlingCPA: Do "high resolution" downloads often use a better master than the CD version because they're intended for audiophiles? If so, maybe it's valid that people think "high resolution" sounds better, but it's not actually because of the resolution.
@FiddlingCPA: Does the point about recordings mastered after 1995 not apply to a lot of classical and jazz?
@erniekeller1093: I listen to music with good headphones through a DAC/amp dongle on my PC.. The files are 16/44 flac and up with some DSD files. I don't have a quality problem. Good recordings sound as they should and bad recordings do, too.
@AnthonyToth-t5v: So whether you have an amstrad system or a million dollars system it doesn’t matter the sound going in has to be perfect
@SuperMississippian: Getting rid of COVID-induced tinnitus would improve my listening experience and there is nothing I can do about it...thanks 10,000 distant crickets. I appreciate your insight.
@phillamoore157: There’s always an irony to these conversations. We’re three generations into people who look at EVERYTHING, music or otherwise, with zero nuance, or as a “binary” (the term of the decade stolen from the tech industry) situation/scenario. Just like there’s no nuance to these people, which is just downright sad, and goes against what being a human being is about, but there’s no depth to the music. It’s over-perfected, over-processed, over-sampled, and one-dimensional, out-of-the-box LOUD (which I don’t have a problem with, per se)…..and is absolutely SOUL-LESS. I go back and listen to my favorite records from the late 70’s and 80’s, and they have a “vibe”. They paint a picture with warmth, and depth, just with the production itself, rather than 4-5 different over-processed, “perfect” instruments, all on top of the mix, perfectly edited together. Pink Floyd, Boston, Great White, Queensryche, Ratt’s Invason of Your Privacy was BRILLIANT with warmth and vibe (short of the drums). The tones of the instruments I’d change today…but, the mix, and mastering was beautiful. These recordings are a representation of the culture. When you approach art with the same “nuance-less, binary approach” these same people live every aspect of their lives with (i.e…“if it’s not perfect, it’s junk”) approach, then the art COMPLETELY loses its meaning (IMHO). And, then even if the writing is good, it get’s fatiguing to listen to. I think it’s also one of the reasons why so many of these producers are going back to big consoles, with a hybrid setup. It would be nice to see the analog, warmth/depth of the late 70’s & 80 come back (doesn’t matter to me how it’s done).
Which brings to mind another question. What I still scratch my head over is that, the vibe of those recordings SHOULD “theoretically” be duplicatable, with today’s technology. And, maybe it has been, and I just haven’t heard it.
@musicfreak7752: Sadly this louder thing has come to live concerts, where dynamics are gone, treble is unbearable, and the speaker system is as small as possible! As always, money is the priority. The only way I can now enjoy music, is to listen to old recordings, or to re-produce myself the audio of video live-concerts (usually by replacing the sound of the drums)! Very sad.
So the answer is yes, there is something you can do about it! But you must be a producer and musician!! 😂
@phillamoore157 replies to @musicfreak7752: WOW….I was about to leave that same comment, almost word-for-word. I’ve been to 3 live shows in 20yrs, for that reason. The whole thing is a one-dimensional, digital/sampled, facade of a live show. Even the players on stage aren’t getting a proper “live” stage sound with IEM’s. Ritchie Kotzen talked about that recently on Tone-Talk. It’s as excruciatingly-uninspiring, and lifeless, as it is downright sad, at what the industry has turned into.
@musicfreak7752 replies to @musicfreak7752: @phillamoore157Yes, I forgot to mention other things like click-tracks, backing tracks, and other stuff like that. All that makes live concerts even worse, indeed.
@phillamoore157 replies to @musicfreak7752: @musicfreak7752Yup. When I was out in L.A., the last 200 shows I did was under those circumstances. Playing to a click AND a sequencer. The one good thing about it was that, there was NO WAY I could be accused of rushing or dragging (I’m a drummer, btw), as long as I didn’t stray from the sequencer. What it wound up doing was absolutely WRECKING my feel. I had to teach myself to play “imperfectly” again, where you flow in and out of the click, but still stay in the pocket (i.e. 70’s funk). I move away from CA, and swore that unless I was getting paid good money, I’d never put myself in a situation like that again. I just wish all the greatness we grew up with would come back. I love being able to record in my own home studio, but short of that, the business is unrecognizable at this point, whether on stage, in a studio, or in a retail store. 🤷♂️
@alan_wood: Well, that was depressing. Thankfully, nearly all my CDs WERE bought before 1995! That's because I ran out of money, also depressing...
@TheDeamonLo: Is there really nothing we can do about this? Are there labels known for mixing with dynamic range?
@stighenningjohansen: My recorder is a Zoom Q3HD
@davebutler1264: We need to pressure "the lablels" to release two mixes... one for consumption on normal equipment, where dynamic compression makes it stand out (eg the car radio) and another for the HiFi listeners. We probably wouln't mind paying a bit extra. For streaming and downloading, it wouldn't even cost any extra materials. Plus the audio engineers would have a chance to redeem their lost souls.
@davebutler1264: I downloaded a 24bit HiRes remaster of the Supertramp album "Crime of the century". The dynamic range is so massive that I can't listen to it, because I need to keep one hand on the volume control.
I have one or two recordings from the 70's and 80's that sound better than most modern recordings, my hunch is that they didn't use dolby (AKA the muffler).
@davebutler1264: Thank you for justifying my biggoted hatred of Oasis and that whole era of crap.
@CanisLupusCanus: You may just have explained something that puzzled me. When I listen to The Essential Alan Parsons Project,a remastered compilation album released in 2007, it sounds so flat and lifeless compared to the original albums, I almost thought my CD was somehow defective – despite having such a renowned audio engineer in the production process. Now I wonder if it had the life squashed out of it as you describe here.
@TheMagicktony: Well yes I can I record it myself at 192k.
@Melbournelost66: This is very interesting. I've always thought it's down to the track itself. Believe it or not, I have a vinyl LP from the mid 60s in stereo, and it's obviously in mint condition. I find the stereo mix is better than a later CD version in terms of what's highlighted and where in the recording. I was amazed to find this. The old fashioned 'Living Stereo' as it was promoted.
@MeltoLogical: Has ANYONE even heard of an EQUALIZER?
Out of all the videos I've seen about sound, acoustics, vintage stereos, etc., an equalizer was NEVER mentioned even once!
No matter what type of sound system you have, a high-end equalizer is absolutely essential for achieving exquisite sound quality.
@SixStringHarmonies: The Playlist. That was the point. They wanted their track to stand out in a curated random playlist.
That's my understanding, and it makes sense.
@dalelc43: Get to the point your not being paid by the minute. 🤡
@hrvojebartulovic7870: This title attracted me and I'm sure going to show your video to my wife!
Now, let's her what you've got to say...
👍💪😉
@darrenclairmont6178: i must wanna be an audiophile as the sound of the truth rings clear...lo also an admiration of mutual respect typically displayed, as one not knowledgable enough to quantify differences in DAC encoding decoding and differences... but someone might set a bench mark for when there was non detectable(audible) difference ? might also help bridge a gap in diminishing returns in finding what one is seeking.
@francismaziers1550: Hello,
First of all, thank you for these excellent videos.
I wanted to know if the masters are different from one streaming platform to another.
And if so, are there platforms that are more respectful of the original, "unaltered"versions?
@AudioMasterclass replies to @francismaziers1550: This is tricky to know. Ideally a lossless streaming service would provide the exact master supplied to the distributor. I have a feeling though that this isn’t necessarily the case. More research is needed.
@francismaziers1550 replies to @francismaziers1550: @AudioMasterclassthanks very much taking time to reply! Kind regards.
@peterhein6968: By the way... Could you please remaster the Van halen Album - different Kind of truth
Cause i hate the exciter or limiter Shit they Had done
But Love the music
@AudioMasterclass replies to @peterhein6968: At some point, hopefully soon, there will be a trend for de-mastering. Then we’ll be able to listen to the actual music.
@peterhein6968 replies to @peterhein6968: @AudioMasterclass that would be a dream 😮
@Roddy451: This can be frustrating when you really like a particular song. "Thank U" by Alanis Morissette is a song I like, but the recording is a distortion disaster. It turns out that song is from 1998. Thank you for shedding light on this.
@BhdRoussos: So marketing aspects dictate the way audio-media is produced. Ergo it does not need a room equipped with hifi stereo components anymore to consume it. For rock and pop music the lack of dynamics does not matter; we never asked for it, but for classical music it does and a producer of classical content would not get away with setting the audio level to the max.
@garyjones4001: The problem we have it seem everything these days is a fail we are duming down
@garyjones4001: I got a realy good record player and gess what 8 out of ten records the recordings were bad worse than bad cds so i sould it
@wolfsonn4061: It is always what makes your ears pop - it is subjective and what the ears will take - when I think of the many variations of what sound has to offer - most of it is just noise - and I personally do not care if it is true to what reality has to offer - noise is what hurts my ears - I think - it could just be my personal bad taste, or it is what I have learned to think is what I may like on a good day and dislike on a bad.
@SixStringOverdose: Here are my few cents: I agree on the whole "loudness war", despite not knowing it was rooted around 1995 (and I would've enjoyed to hear a bit more history as to why that was), but I don't think this translated into mix/master engineers simply cranking up the loudness until the record clipped, nor by improperly using a limiter. As far as I am aware, they actually used compressors followed by a re-normalization process, so that the overall perceptible loudness was higher, thus compromising headroom and dynamic range. They didn't necessarily make the dB meter go into clipping, but simply brought the soft passages closer to the max, effectively creating a sub-band amplification and normalization, whereas the song's waveform looks like a block of data going between -1 and +1.
@noself1028: Really interesting video…thanks for sharing. I listen primarily to classical music with a little acoustic jazz and classic rock thrown into the mix. Do the loudness wars typically happen in the recording of classical music? To be honest, I thoroughly enjoy listening to music on my stereo system (all CDs) and believe it to be of very good quality.
@Cazover: This is so true and your joke about the volume knob is spot on! 😂That being said there are still some good tracks out there with limiting, yes it isin't common with modern "hits" but there are hidden gems which don't have this issue and some genres do work with limiting like EDM but of course less is better 90% of the time.
@Notional2006: Nothing has destroyed music more than the loudness war.
@stevenwilliams6258: I get what you said, totally understandable as money and popularity speaks volumes.
There must be some musicians that want quality in their recording. Even order distortion is ok, odd order is not. Super low distortion achieved by lots of feedback at the expense of dynamics or some other good quality is not as important as naturally sounding recordings. Dynamics is good to a reasonable point. I want to hear nuances of voices and instruments. Not every instrument should be at the same volume level.
How is Octave Records doing at PS Audio? I have some of their vinyl. Enjoyable. Their goal, as I recall, is to create some great recordings. They have more digital than vinyl.
@arthurpendragon1610: This guy is an annoying know-it-all and his opinion is garbage. His gimmick is to inform all of us how stupid we are. And then tell us what we are supposedly doing "wrong." For his information there are lots of good recordings out there that have not been compressed beyond recognition.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @arthurpendragon1610: I can annoy you more if you like. Just tell me how.
@arthurpendragon1610 replies to @arthurpendragon1610: @AudioMasterclass I would prefer it if you would simply read Jim Smith's book "Get better Sound." Unlike YOU, Jim and I both know how to squeeze amazing performance out of the average room. Setup is everything. Apparently you get poor results in your own efforts. Perhaps some better training would be to your benefit? Just sayin... We are living in an audio "golden age" right NOW. Where you are finding all these horrible audio problems is beyond me. My 65 years experience building studios and selling price no object stereo prove otherwise.
@kevinpalmer9619: I always wondered why remastered Vinyl sounded bad with some audible distortion and a much heavier midrange. Dark Side Of The Moon 50th anniversary remastered is a typical example it simply does not sound the same as my original pressing which is beautiful. I recently listened to a streaming of Pat Benatar love is a battle field and it sounded wonderful right next in the list was a remastered version which was louder, distorted and sounded bad. Why why why is this happening when sound engineers think we need to hear distorted sound. Its like a doctor not trying to save your life. I thought I was losing my hearing. Thank you audio master class for explaining this.
@POEMS466: After watching this video I somehow feel cheap, dirty, and easy. And there's nothing I can do about it.
@rjy8960: This is absolutely bang on the fcuking nail.
Why is it that some music sounds terrible on my main audio system (which a no-BS system with no idiot cables, stupid Audiophile Ethernet switches and assorted snake oil and does sound pretty damn good) and yet wonderful on my office system based on a Bose Companion system admittedly fed from a Chord Hugo DAC? Answer - Compression and making suitable for cheap car and portable systems.
One lingering question I have is why are so many older Tidal and Qobuz offerings now all remixes? Are they trying to get rid of the 1995 effects or is this something to do with the fire that engulfed so many recordings back in 2008?
@mikereilly2745: Listening to your favorite music through high quality equipment is so much better than all this small , cheap , portable
digital , wireless shared modern crap. It's night and day. Listen to a good quality cd through a high quality stereo system
and you'll feel like your ears have finally opened.
@mikereilly2745: Great show , Thank you. I have found 99 out of 100 people have no correct knowledge about listening to music and all
that's involved. It's unfortunate that once we get past age 20 ''aprox'' our hearing degrades . If you smoke it degrades
a lot. If you have high blood pressure it degrades . If kids today realized how much of their music is lost to compression
and conversions over and over , omg ! I can't enjoy listening from a cell phone that's blue toothed to a car stereo . If it's
my favorite music , I can clearly hear the difference , Or what's missing. If it's music I have never heard , Then I can't
tell that I'm not getting it all. And these little tiny ear type headphones , please try a real headphone ....large , comfortable
high quality . You will be happily shocked .
@Jeff-gi6dh: Fascinating and annoying! What you are talking about seems to refer to pop/rock music of today (post 1995). What about classical recordings--my choice of listening. Is this "make it sound like that" happening to the classical labels (including in-house recording by local orchestras)?
@TimpBizkit: I think the thing with compressed dynamic range is it works better in non critical listening environments with high background noise, like your car with the windows down, or a radio in a factory, or the gym. You hear more of the track because the quiet bits aren't buried by the background noise. Though once you do finally get to sit down in a room with no other noise and listen to it, it sounds worse than the alternative.
@svaira: I think the video title, and the message within it, is exaggerated. It should be: "Your audio is bad, and you can't do anything about it - except when you produce it yourself and/or pressure others to produce it differently". It's still possible to do that, and act as if it's just a fault of the current technology or world we have to live with is imo a bit absurd
@Chronos_TVee: There's been mixes as if they were mastered for platform but released on everything and they sound fantastic and yes they do sound better on a 24/192 assuming you have a setup (it gets expensive...)
But the reason why vinyl and newer releases sound better on vinyl is due to you guessed it the mastering. Digital mastering techniques are just terrible, even if CDs were a replacement for vinyl and they are on a technical level it all goes back to the sound engineers and labels. While CDs and now high-res 24bit audio is the correct choice I think labels just needs to get over the whole loudness thing, it has destroyed so many great albums (looking at you metallica and megadeath...) and it needs to stop! All a sound engineer has to do is simple, make it sound great and if they can raise the volume without clipping or distorting anything than great otherwise LEAVE A PERFECTLY GOOD RECORDING ALONE!
@michaelscott2999: damn I've been doing it right all this time, my music as quiet as a mouse lol.
@CaptGus: Nope, my technology sucks. They’re giving us the same thing with every amplifier audiovisual all the same. So what’s missing ??! the knobs?! Yes the treble and base knobs for giving us great range of adjustability like back in the 80s and early 90s. You turn one of those suckers too much you’re blowing the speaker. But that was OK that’s up to me and it was on me now we have to use an app on our phone or this and that by the time you trying to adjust it the songs gone through and we just don’t get enough adjustability and all the stereos have gone this way It’s bullshit. It’s wrong so speakers are getting better but our audio equipment they say is getting better but you can have Ferrari but if you use regular gasoline, it’s just not gonna perform the same so somebody would like to go back to old school controls on your stereos that actually have a wide range of adjustment You’ll be a billionaire overnight. And for Chris sake, the most you need is a 5.2 surround sound you think you need more than that you’re just doing what you’re told.
@tinkeringsolderbro1968: Rick Rubin already delivered a 100db album with zero headroom, that sounds like a buzzer.
@johngerndt7188: Your take on the industry tracks with mine. I am but a spectator but I've live with musicians all my life, I've been paying attention to recordings all my life. It is ok with me if the recording is different than the live experience, heck, a good recording session can make some artists sound better than live. What is gone is a system of getting the art to everyone's ears. And it'd be so much simpler than it ever was in the past due to superior technology, if only the "everyone" in the equation would develop a taste for the art instead of the taste for free stuff!
@Kfied: Now, this is a video just about everyone should watch and llsten to!!! Thrice or more, if needed.
As a long time composer, I’ve been blessed by the virtue of retainded dynamics due to content of my muzak, even after my side of the stems have left for ’the rounds’ and released by this and that fine establishment. I’m not much of a mixer but the loudness fatigue is a concept that even I understood early on.
Lately, I’ve had some songs sent to me for comments that go -6 LUFS and it’s actually territying. Not going to the obvious PA and other broadcast issues, that sort of loudness is paralyzing, even in a pretty upper end studio environment I now have. Disorienting, even, if I’m doing some work before listening to such assault.
The craziest thing is that the ”perceived dynamics” are still seemingly there but the fatigue hits so so fast. Some guys are extremely good at doing those, I have to admit but it doesn’t change the fact.
Way way way overdriven clippers, multiband clippers, steel brick diamond wall limiters (and +1 dB gain boost after them), not to mention purpose built loudness monstrosity plugins are truely something ELSE.
@ahmtTyln: I enjoy the early 2000's recordings. Despite their dynamic range is reduced significantly, still they all have different taste and unique sonic qualities. Today it all sound the same, produced with the mindset of LOUD AND PROUD.. Proud? 🤔🤷🏻♂
@joinery11: I’m in total agreement. I listen to all genres from all decades. The loudness in some tracks is insane. Some 70s tracks provided they haven’t been remastered sound awesome and have a lovely full and untouched sound despite being quiet. Thanks for the comprehensive explanation its really good to hear
@AudioMasterclass replies to @joinery11: The huge takeaway in your comment is"provided they haven’t been remastered".
@iiiiii3300: What song in 1995 started the collapse of good sounding music
@AndersLundi: All recordings today hear out like they are made with iPad... Great opinions!
@StephanieSweetly: Late to the conversation, but I have a question: would this apply to smaller, less known musicians/labels???
@PragmaticTornado: The better my various hifi setups have become, the more picky I have become about the music I listen to on them. I hardly ever listen to rock or metal anymore. Conversely, I never listened to classical music before I got a proper hifi setup.
Audio mastering and production is everything.
@DavidHughesss: My God. Regarding what you say at around 14:00 minutes in. I am an (extremely) amateur electronic musician. I remember asking someone for some feedback on something that I'd made in a Facebook group, and something that one person said was: "well, it's OK, but I think it could do with being louder". I had followed what I considered to be good general principles when mixing my track: something along the lines of turning every indidual track down to about 50% volume and making adjustments from there, aiming to preserve dynamic range, etc. etc. I can be a bit blunt, and I think I replied by saying "If it's not loud enough you can always turn up the volume, that's why we have amplifiers". It is nice to hear someone else say it. :)
@kentw.england2305: Where do I find these better audio files?
@maxrockbin: Did streaming services kill the volume wars? I was listening to a mastering engineer several years ago who said that because of volume normalizing, the volume wars would end. Pushing everything up to LOUD and squishing the dynamic range against the ceiling now results in a flat sounding track that is no louder than a track mixed purely to sound good. I don't know if his prediction was fulfilled. I guess you'd have to compare something remastered for streaming to the CD or radio mix. he said that up to that time, engineers hadn't caught on to the impact of normalization.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @maxrockbin: If you turn off volume normalisation on Spotify then you'll soon find that extreme loudness is still a thing. Why, I don't know. Some EDM enthusiasts have commented that they like the squashed sound for its own sake but other than that, in my opinion, it benefits no-one.
@Wised1000: Well for some the loudness wars are over, some modern artists are again paying attention to sound quality. And some always did, for example, Patricia Barber's recording have always sounded spectacular. Some of the younger singers like Ed Sheeran have pretty good mastering and release very good 45 RPM releases and, obviously, digital ones too which is where the vinyl comes from 😉
@V081WLBlue replies to @Wised1000: 45 RPM lol
@Wised1000 replies to @Wised1000: @V081WLBlue You didn't even know that 45RPM 12 inch records existed. Didn't you 🤣 The faster a record spins the lower the noise floor. You learned something today, you're welcome!
@cresshead: It's the initial loudness war, plus governments and the EUROPEAN Union limiting products ability to adjust a volume of a device.
@cresshead replies to @cresshead: If you have a track that not crushed to death with compression and is dynamic you'll struggle to hear it on your smartphone via headphone 🎧
@cresshead replies to @cresshead: If you have a track that not crushed to death with compression and is dynamic you'll struggle to hear it on your smartphone via headphone 🎧
@cresshead: Listeners have a volume button/knob - simple as that.
@GillBull-c4e: You are a man who speaks the truth, very informative video! I listened to Adele the other day out of interest thinking it would be a rich sweet sound but nope it had been given the treatment and was not good......I remember years ago with vinyl you could rely on certain record labels to have a really good sound quality for their artist's music, CBS and WB were up there with artists like Paul Simon S&G Cohen and Doobie Bros. Rod Stewart, America. Despite CD quality I have found that you get some artists now sounding what I would describe as 'crunchy' (a bit like when a stylus used to get a fluff build up would be the comparison) it's subtle but not good to listen to.
@euregiojam: I think some new mixes are pretty good. And it is easier to make something "normal" sound really nice. It all depends on the type of music, the jazz/fusion music is often mixed pretty well. I like mixes in Rpbben Ford's records, I like mixes in more recent Oz Noy's records. And I like mixes in many other modern records.
I think the problem is more about commercial pop-music that is over-compressed (with limiters).
@kevincross8372: And the problem is also the answer. Play the studer recorded master tape of let's say kinda blue or brubecks take 5 on a ( compitant studer tape machine) and most likely you will find that the artist would prefer to sound like that! But where is the tape input on the ifone?
@Vanflowne: Damn loudness war!! Everyone is looking for high quality with the Hi-Res scam with its high frequency modulation distortion filth...and to all that commercial garbage we add the loudness war. Mastered music today is PURE TRASH. Vinyl masters are also affected. I only buy old second hand music at flea markets. Commercial music is Deluxe sonic garbage.
@longrolstral: Thank you for the video.
As an audio layperson, I ask, why did professional audio engineers decide to ruin audio? I was born in the 70s, and didn't appreciate music all that much until adulthood.
@Rob-eg8qc: My 80s Amstrad hifi still sounds very good.
@thecapone45: Really love your insight and wisdom you bring to audio conversations, having had been in audio for decades. We need knowledge like yours.
@CalumCarlyle: 9:12 - now the truth comes out! So this seems to fly in the face of your other videos where you tell us how inferior the sound quality of vinyl is. And yet here we are, hearing about how vinyl largely CANNOT succumb to the problems caused by the loudness wars.
Interesting.
@tyrsia: I noticed recently that older prog bands like from the 60s and 70s tend to play with dynamics, raising and lowering the volume with the mood of the song the way a classical piece would. Newer prog songs seem more likely to have everything at the same volume, even the "softer" bits of the song. Is that an intentional part of the mixing process or just a choice the musicians made?
@AudioMasterclass replies to @tyrsia: It's a fad. A bad one and I hope it goes away quickly.
@charlespell7762: Is anyone interested in buying my top of the range Hi Fi setup, as well as all my music collection as well. All of it sounds bad apparently, so I'll do a good deal. From now on, since I can't afford to hire live musicians, I think I going to opt for silence. Which....I bet sounds bad as well. It's all a bit depressing. And thankfully, it's total nonsense (or the conclusion he draws that better quality equipment won't improve sound quality). Unless I'm just imaging the superior sound quality of my HiFi to, say, my car radio.
@FatBaldTrucker: I thinking you've missed it my quite a bit. In the 70's our Mom's and Dad's told us to turn it down. In the 90's our kids told us to turn it down. So, there you go.
@ibuprofen303: Excellent video extolling the virtues of vinyl there at the end (or rather the way that vinyl is mastered). This is the argument I always make for vinyl. I choose medium depending on genre. For example, vinyl for techno and hard rock. CD (actually) for classical music. I use Spotify as well. What I say is - use all of it. It makes it fun!
Vinyl is a very quirky medium. Which is part of the reason I think people like it.
@marcussvensor: He he, I do love making mixes as loud as possible, and yes I am a mastering engineer. Clipping the hell out of the kick and adding tonnes of ugly harmonics to the bass, each time my aim is to make the mix louder than the one I did before. And why not, it's what the kids want - the added bonus, it drives audiophiles mad. 🙃
@jefferysmith5921: Great video and very informative. I doubt we are going to see a change as this is a money thing.
@Crumbleofborg: You don't need to do a separate, less loud mix for vinyl. Just use the max loudness one, spread it over two 180 gram records and charge extra for this "Audiophile release".
Incidentally, I'm surprised you didn't mention pitch correction and gridding.
@brians7094: The best recordings that I've heard are always from 1956-62. At least my system can make most newer recordings sound great. But I don't know how anyone can listen to Taylor Swift, etc.; it has ultrasonic noise - it's garbage.
@msromike123: As Tony Soprano said, "Whatcha gonna do 'bout it." I learned something though, I thought it was primarily brickwalling and loudness wars. Interesting to find out they are adding clipping to add texture. My theory is that they master for the target playback device. It's almost a "which came first the chicken or the egg" kind of thing. When one is listening to music on a tiny BT streamer, or crappy BT earbuds, or a crappy soundbar, or worse of all the speakers behind your flatscreen TV bouncing off the wall, it makes mastering in this manner mandatory. It is simply a matter that the target audience and their preferred playback equipment they have evolved. My 2 cents.
@rayphenicie7344: Does your assertion hold true for classical (symphonic, chamber, and solo) recordings as well?
Well, it's good Wikipedia backs up what you're saying☺
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war
@AudioMasterclass replies to @rayphenicie7344: No. Not yet...
@patthewoodboy: I always wondered why Oasis album sounded bad , tried so hard to make it sound good to no avail
@basbass429: That mixing of commercial music, is exactly why music in movies often sounds better. A CD/digital recording sale with recordings on it that are clipping should be banned by law. Every clip 10% of yearly revenue fine would stop this madness.
@humphrey2108: I actually enjoy the cleanliness of a lot of that old music. It actually makes me want to listen to a song less if it is all distorted. I think I'm in the minority though.