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| Since most major releases have been for a long time in the -9 to -11 RMS range the war has practically ended simply because the physical and artistic limit of loudness has been reached. The louder the average level gets, the less punch you will have since the punch depends greatly on how loud the kick drum is in relation to the average level of the music. If the kick drum is hitting 0 dBFS on most of its cycles (typically 3 or more) and/or processed (e.g. clipped) to sound louder than 0 dBFS, -8 RMS can have good punch. With precise mixing and separation mastering techniques, perhaps -7 to -6 RMS is achievable without distortion, with an audible but not very punchy kick drum. | |||
Revision as of 15:15, 3 January 2006
This refers to the practice of recording music at progressively higher and higher levels, to create a CD that is as loud as possible. (Louder CD's sound louder when played with the same equipment at the same settings.) One reason may be that when comparing two CD's, the louder one will sound better on first impression. Another may simply be that rock groups just want to make bigger, badder sounds.
It is unnecessary, since if listeners want to listen to loud music, they can simply turn up the volume on their playback equipment. If the CD is broadcast by a radio station, the station will have its own equipment that renders everything it broadcasts the same level, regardless of the original recording's loudness. ,
This practice often results in a form of distortion known as clipping (see Clipping_(music)). The loudness wars have reached a point at which most pop CDs, and many classical and jazz CDs, have large amounts of digital clipping, making them harsh and fatiguing to listen to, especially on high quality equipment, ironically.
Further, current compression and limiter equipment allows engineers to create a recording that has a nearly uniform dynamic level (which, incidentally, creates an emotional flattening effect and destroys any impact that loudness might have.) When that level is set very close to the maxmimum allowed by the CD format, this creates nearly non-stop distortion throughout the disk. The music has been flattened against the ceiling, so to speak.
This situation has been widely condemned. Some have petitioned their favorite groups to rerelease some CD's with less clipping. Others have even said that recording engineers who knowingly push their recording equipment past clipping should be blacklisted and not allowed to "victimize artists or music lovers."
It should be made clear that this distortion is different from other kinds of distortion such as overdrive or feedback (see Overdrive_(music)), which is created by electronic musical instruments, not by the recording process, and which and can be intentional, and even an integral part of the performance (see Jimi_Hendrix.) Digital clipping is created by recording engineers, not by musicians.
External links
Since most major releases have been for a long time in the -9 to -11 RMS range the war has practically ended simply because the physical and artistic limit of loudness has been reached. The louder the average level gets, the less punch you will have since the punch depends greatly on how loud the kick drum is in relation to the average level of the music. If the kick drum is hitting 0 dBFS on most of its cycles (typically 3 or more) and/or processed (e.g. clipped) to sound louder than 0 dBFS, -8 RMS can have good punch. With precise mixing and separation mastering techniques, perhaps -7 to -6 RMS is achievable without distortion, with an audible but not very punchy kick drum.
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