Old Dylan... How did they get it this loud?

[JPeters86]

Hi all,

I was just listening to a Dylan compilation CD I have here, called The Essential Bob Dylan. I think it was bought in 2000 or something, it's a two disk album with some famous Dylan songs.

I was just listening to 'Don't Think Twice, It's All Right'. Besides the beauty of this recording, the mastering seems to be brilliant as well. I just took a look at the waveform, and you can't see any limiting anywhere (which does not mean it has not been used, but I normally see these cut-off peaks all the time in modern (soft)music). Also, RMS averages at -19 db. That's quite low, yet it sounds quite loud enough! I don't know if the old recordings have been remastered for this compilation CD, either way it's done very well!

The funny thing is, I recently recorded this song with some friends in my studio as well. Now I am by no means a mastering engineer, but I am very interested in this craft. I've tried compression, limiting, EQing, and I still find that I have to limit about 4db's to get to the Dylan level. I even checked if my volume in iTunes wasn't boosted!

The obvious question is: how is this volume level in the Dylan recording achieved? Is it some EQing magic? Compression? The song does not sound compressed at all. I'm asking this because I generally want to avoid limiters in my mastering chain, I always feel they take something away and if I really have to I only limit a db or so. Still I'm fascinated how this processing is done. Sharing idea's would be great and very much appreciated :-)

Best!

[tribeofenki]

Hyia. Seen Dylan live last Summer. So, well, yes... it is something like magic EQ'ing. Real top gears there...
lekker lekker devices that just fit to his band and his voice.

[inlinenl]

it's all in the song, arrangement, analog recording, analog mastering ...
it's all so easy, take shelter from the storm .. dynamics always wins ...

[Axon]

I needledropped "Highway 61 Revisited" from the original vinyl a while back and it ReplayGained to -5.6db. That's louder than many 90s rock CDs!

It sounds great, but it also sounds surprisingly compressed. So I'm not even sure I would even say that old Dylan was mastered with such an unnaturally loud volume.

[JPeters86]

Thanks guys.

Yeah the Highway 61 recordings sound a bit compressed to me as well, but I guess that's what they were after. But these early acoustic tracks, just guitar, vocals and some harmonica, sound really, really good in my opinion.

YouTube - Don't Think Twice, It's Alright - Bob Dylan

[3rd&4thT]

It was house philosophy at Columbia that all other things being equal, a louder sound sounds better than a softer one, so yes, they always did some kind of dynamic flattening. Always.

But what hasn't been mentioned in this thread so far, is gain riding. You may want to investigate moving the damn pots, manually or through automation.

Cheers,
3rd&4thT

[JPeters86]

Thank you for replying 3rd&4thT!

I will try out your suggestion.

[3rd&4thT]

Originally Posted by JPeters86

Thank you for replying 3rd&4thT!

I will try out your suggestion.

Good luck. Maybe you can post your results.

Cheers,
3rd&4thT

[JPeters86]

I will. Don't have much time these days. Will do before the weekend!

[Mark107]

It's a piece of cake to make a solo acoustic guitar and vocal as loud as you want. Therein lies the hint.

[3rd&4thT]

Originally Posted by Mark107

It's a piece of cake to make a solo acoustic guitar and vocal as loud as you want. Therein lies the hint.

What, dust them with flour?

I think you'd get farther faster with a Fairchild.

3rd&4thT

[RbShffr]

Acoustic guitars and voices have a low peak to average ratio compared to drums, so you can have a high average level without clipping the peaks.

[JPeters86]

I had an unscheduled gig so have not been able to mess with it. I will upload the cover here very soon! Thanks for your replies.