BRING BACK THE DynamiCS
“Over the past decade and a half, a revolution in recording technology has changed the way albums are produced, mixed and mastered – almost always for the worse.”
David Bendeth, producer
Day by day our ears are fed with the recordings the quality of which was intentionally suppressed in the course of a mixing or a mastering process. With the recordings that are often massacred beyond recognition - still this activity is not perceived as a crime.
Dynamics is one of key elements in any music, perhaps the most important - it is virtually light and shade of the music. It creates a sense of spaciousness and makes it easier to pick out individual sonic elements – room reverberation, resonance of the wooden body of a guitar, the sound of strings being plucked, vocalist raising or lowering her/his voice, a sudden rush of drums, a quiet section bursting into a fortissimo passage – these elements bring an excitement to a music and when those things are neutered, the excitement is lost.
There is a simple rule: Badly recorded music with good dynamics can be enjoyable. Even the best audiophile recording with flat dynamics makes you hit a STOP button pretty soon!
Why is it like that? Check the links herebelow to learn more about why the dynamic headroom is so important for music:
- Road To Hell - Audiodrom's pilot article on loudness wars and crimes of modern mastering techniques
- Magic Fours: Echoes of Sonisphere - more sonic dissapointments in the shade of heavy metal giants
- Pleasurize Music Foundation - an unique initiative with the aim to re-establish dynamic as essential part and most important means of expression of all genres of music
- Turn Me Up! is a non-profit music industry organization working together with a group of highly respected artists and recording professionals to give artists back the choice to release more dynamic records.
How to measure the dynamic range?
The dynamic signal is an ever changing signal. The macrodynamic metrics show us the difference between the loudest peak of a recording and its quietest part, usually the complete silence. The microdynamic scale is something different - it is the moving difference between the average loudness level of a recording and the momentary peaks (or dips). It is the macrodynamics which is an unseparable part of enjoyment and listening experience. Not everyone can hear the difference and not everyone can interpret the measurements from different plug-ins or meters that are used by sound engineers. That is why Algorithmix and Pleasurize Music Foundation developed a simple software utility that measures the dynamic range of any recording for us, in a simple and easy way: TT DYNAMIC RANGE METER. The TT meter is downloadable from the following links (the location may change now and then so if the links do not work properly just seacrh the Pleasurize Music Foundation's web or use Google). The utility works for Windows, MAC OS and Foobar.
How to find what is the dynamic range of your favourite music?
Audiodrom is pleased to be a partner of todays largest online library of the dynamic range (DR) values. It includes more than 70,000 ranked CDs, vinyl records and digital downloads, according to their dynamic range. Please check the library at dr.loudness-war.info
How to read the DR values?
DR 12-18 dBFS
Excellent dynamic values, juicy, natural and non-fatiguing sound. Highly recommended.
DR 8-11 dBFS
Acceptable dynamic range. Good drive and punch. With some reservations for acoustic music.
DR 5-7 dBFS
Compressed and limited music. Altered and unnatural sound, fatiguing.
DR 1-4 dBFS
Good for mobile phones or elevators. Not music anymore. Harmful at higher loudness levels.
The database of the most dynamic recordings based on DR value
Online form - feel free to add your favourite album
