Originally Posted by 24-96 Mastering  Not to sound too disrespectful, but I think you're really barking up the wrong tree, posting on a mastering forum. Not too many here will agree with your article because most here are quite familiar with the issue and don't have to rely on assumptions. We are the ones who, upon your request, butcher your recording. We try to do induce as little harm as possible - we are experts in all different methods of slaughter - but there is no completely "humane" way to kill. It's still killing. And we know that.
We don't have magical "analog" ways of achieving loudness at no compromise and if you must quote Limp Biskit, some of us do enjoy the crunch on the snare - which to some extent may well be an artistic decision - but certainly don't enjoy the continuously sctratching clipping on the vocals (or on some sustained guitars), which I can guarantee you is an unwanted byproduct of making it loud with no aesthetic consideration whatsoever. If it were, then I, personally, would have no beef with it.
As those who master recordings, we always know the before and after, we know what is a wanted attribute and what is an unfortunate, accepted compromise. I guess it should be great for us if others identify or rather rationalise an unwanted artifact as a positive feature - that kinda makes our job a lot easier in the short term. If that same person comes back as a client, asking for that "cool, high frequenzy distortion scratchy sizzle" that all the huge acts have on their discs (and them being gods surely is no accident), then that's a bit bewildering though.
Either way, what your article fails to do is to separate sound aesthetic from medium. Yes, the aesthetics change and medium limitations have an influence on eachother. But as long as you're tied to a medium, this can't be called intentional because you don't have any choice. Vinyl crackle (in parts of songs or as part of a beat, etc) became interesting when it wasn't tied to a vinyl disc. Then it became an aesthetic, not before. Only then was it an artistic decision. By the same argument, a sound characteristic that is necessarily introduced by making it loud is not an aesthetic choice if the album "has to be" loud. It's a lame compromise. there's nothing glamorous, youth-culturous, cool, intentional, bohemian, futuristic or improbable-chancey-artsy about it. |