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Originally Posted by jslevin  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. |
I totally agree with you and that's what I meant - compression as an artistic tool (maybe with Joe Meek as the ultimate culmination of that approach) and 'stupid loud' levels that actually make you turn DOWN.
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Originally Posted by jslevin 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? |
Good point. The last few Petty records sounded pretty hyper-limited and overbright to me. The reason I like the Mudcrutch one so much is because these are great songs and performances, sonically it is very compromised - and that's why I'm so curious to hear the 'vinyl' CD master.
Some people actually complained that the Plant/Krauss CD was mastered too loud - it sure is up to current levels but again, IMO it sounds organic and intentionally compressed. in short, the sonics fit the dark and brooding mood of the music perfectly while that's definitely not the case with the Mudcrutch CD. It has a early 70ies California-Country feel, even sounded Dead-ish in places and IMO that doesn't go along with hyper-compression at all.
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Originally Posted by jslevin Interesting. A warning label for good sound ...
JSL |
It might come as a shock to some......
Actually I'm pretty sure that today's loudness war could and would have happened in the mid-60ies were it not for the 'limitations' of the vinyl. A single can be mastered louder because there are wider and deeper grooves. Thus the artists could master teh singles (i.e the hits to be) pretty loud while the records sounded better when the didn't extend 45 or so minutes in length. It all makes sense but it was dictated by technique, as you know Motown especially was always trying to master as loud as possible and thus influenced everybody else. Wanting to be 'louder than the competition' surely isn't a recent phenomenon.
But the CD format unfortunately doesn't have this 'natural threshold', though everybody with ears SHOULD hear when the sonics go to hell because of 'stupid loud' masters!