The Loudness War and How Radio Killed Music скачать в хорошем качестве

The Loudness War and How Radio Killed Music

Create your next killer track from your home studio. Download my FREE Guide for my 6 step workflow - http://www.ElectronicMusicTips.com 01:22 The Loudest songs ever Released 02:12 Accoustics and How We Hear Music 02:43 Why is modern music so Loud? 03:32 The Effects of the Loudness War 04:50 Using the VU meter to measure Loudness 06:10 The Crest Factor 06:54 The BEST Digital Recording technique in your DAW 07:40 The LUFS meter 08:22 Pro Mixing and Mastering Levels - Spotify and DJ releases 10:03 Health risks of loud sounds 11:20 Conclusion - Moving away from Loudness Meters used in this video: VUMT - Klanghelm: https://klanghelm.com/contents/produc... Youlean Loudness Meter 2 (FREE): https://youlean.co/youlean-loudness-m... FabFilter Pro-L 2: https://www.fabfilter.com/products/pr... What is Loudness? Radio engineers have been in a never-ending pursuit of loudness, driven by the competition for number one on the airwaves. They use various equipment to make audio recordings as loud as possible, from compressors to limiters to equalizers. The goal is to make their music stand out among the sea of songs vying for airtime. However, this pursuit of loudness has led to a problem. Music has become so compressed and distorted that it loses its dynamics, resulting in a fatiguing listening experience. Despite this, the music industry continues to push for loudness, emulating the sound of radio. This pursuit is centred around technological advancement and competition, with engineers always striving to make their music the loudest and most attention-grabbing. Measuring Loudness - VU Meters Magnetic tape and digital media are limited in the range of signal levels they can handle before introducing distortion. In the analog world, radio engineers use a Volume Unit meter (VU) to measure the voltage of audio levels which are displayed in dBm. The zero that appears on the right side of the meter references 0dBm, the point where the audio signal measures 1 milliwatt. This is the point that audio starts to distort when using analog gear, and the distortion appears gradually above 0dBm, intensifying until clipping occurs. Going above 0dBm is a common practice in analog studios where distortion is created by overdriving the equipment and tape. This can add pleasing harmonic tones during recording and is emulated today with many saturation plugins. The VU meter can’t display peak levels like modern digital meters. This means that while the meter reads 0dBm, the audio signal could be peaking much higher, resulting in clipping, distortion, and saturation. Despite these limitations, the VU meter is still very useful for measuring average levels and preventing signal overloading during mixing. One commonly used criterion to describe the dynamic behavior of a recorded music piece is the ‘crest’ factor, for instance. The crest factor can be defined as the difference between the RMS level and the peak level throughout the song. It measures the amplitude of the emerging ‘peaks’ in the audio stream, intuitively. More compression generally results in a lower crest factor, making it a good marker of the amount of dynamic compression applied to the music. Good handling of the crest factor is considered by some professionals as the cornerstone of successful mastering. The music tends to be louder when the crest factor is lower, generally speaking. Loudness in the Digital Age - RMS and LUFS Meters An audio signal is perfect in digital recording until you reach 0dBfs, where unwanted clipping occurs that can ruin the audio signal completely. For this reason, a peak-indicating meter is still necessary to measure the maximum fluctuations of a waveform during recording and mixing to avoid clipping. Set the level on the armed track so the incoming audio peaks at -12dB, leaving lots of headroom for effects processing and balancing. Later, an RMS meter can be added to the master bus to monitor average levels during mixing and mastering. Remember: these meters are a visual guide and any mix decisions should be made with your ears first! The tools we use evolve as the music we create continues to evolve. A new meter called the LUFS meter has gained popularity in recent years, especially in the realm of radio broadcasting. The music industry has adopted the LUFS meter for mastering, with some engineers have made the switch to it exclusively. Others have continued to use an RMS style meter. Either meter is acceptable because it’s not the tools we use that makes great music, it’s how we use them. While it’s tempting to focus solely on loudness, it’s important to remember that a balanced and enjoyable listening experience should be the ultimate goal.