[jslevin]

Originally Posted by doorknocker

I agree but then again some pop music always intentionally worked with a very limited (pun intended) dynamic range. I really love Tom Petty's work and his records always sounded like they would be coming from a radio broadcast to my ears. Actually I always liked that sound FOR THAT PARTICULAR KIND OF MUSIC.

I agree with all of that, but the kind of deliciously compressed sounds you're talking about are in a whole different category from the stupid-loudness. For one thing, a lot of those sounds are from individual sources being limited — voices, guitars, overheads — not from crushing the life out of a whole mix. For another thing, it simply is a whole different magnitude — finding that right balance where it's juicy-limited but still has some life and air to it on the one hand, crushing everything down to the last bit on the other.

I'm sorry, but I just don't think they're the same thing at all; they're not even cousins. The former is mashing something so that it sounds good, the latter is mashing something with no regard for whether it sounds better or worse.

Even within "compressed sound" genres, you could still have — if you really wanted to — the mixes sitting at -20, and put in some very quiet passages (relative to the style) that are quiet detailed at -40 and sitting above a noise floor that is simply un-hearable from any normal listening perspective. In other words, you've dramatically increased the headroom for transients and dynamics within the standard/loud sections, and dramatically increased the dynamic range between loud and quiet sections — and yet when it comes to the quiet sections, you're still working with 60-80 dB of dynamic range.

It doesn't sound like a 'good compromise' to my ears but rather like a complete butchering job. But maybe it's just the fact that Petty's already heavily-compressed signature sound suffers more from the additional volume than the (to my ears) very 'fuzzy but natural' and organic sound of the Plant/Krauss masterpiece.

It may also be that the Plant/Krauss record has significantly less commercial intentions and/or more enlightened label support. It's amazing to me that having fought all of these fights, Petty still finds himself having to argue with the label over loudness. But is he really? Or are he and Campbell themselves wondering if they really want to release a record that's somewhat less loud than Britney?

Maybe we could establish an offical sticker that would be granted where appliable that reads 'Dynamic musical content- please turn it up for maximum enjoyment' or something.

Interesting. A warning label for good sound ...

JSL