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Originally Posted by heathen  Even alot of the time getting things loud is'nt just the mixing or tracking skills <snip>
Finding that loudest track in an album and using that as a benchmark for the rest of the record will usually result in the rest of the album being pushed too hard. Finding the track with the lowest potential for loudness and using that as a benchmark instead will result in a quieter album though much much better sounding due to the other tracks staying slightly below thier loudest potential, leaving alot of dynamics intact. This is the way I like to approach things. |
True! I like to use the loudest track as a benchmark of just that, I say "this is the loudest track on the album!" and then go out of my way not to heat any tracks up past it... a lot more gets preserved when you are not preoccupied with being able to bring a everything up just because one song is a bit louder than the rest... I think 90's music is a perfect example of this tasteful kind of balancing between loudness and clarity...Alice in Chains' "Dirt" comes to mind.....or STP's "Purple"... NIN "Pretty Hate Machine" I could almost swear that theres a song or two on "Dirt" that don't even use a limiter other than tape saturation when compared to today's standards...and those albums were criticized for being way too loud by purists in their time! Imagine "head like a hole" sounded too up against a wall...even when I play it back inside my head its quieter than all the new stuff... Now everyone wishes for that 90's sound....that "just enough"
PS: Don't forget Nirvana "In Utero," which was all tape saturation as far as I can tell, and if that's all limiter than its definitely warming the sound a whole lot. Maybe its the "transparent" limiting that is killing masters these days?