85% of guitarists vote for dynamics over loudness

[ianshepherd]

It's hardly a scientific poll, but it's heartening to see so many people voting for dynamics over loudness on the Total Guitar forums:

85% of guitarists vote for dynamics over loudness

Ian

[Darius van H]

I'm sure everybody would vote for it on someone else's album.

[macc]

Originally Posted by Darius van H

I'm sure everybody would vote for it on someone else's album.

thumbsup

[glissando]

I have to say that I find that ridiculous...it's just not true in the real world. It's just a cool thing to say.

[EddieTheRed]

This quote, from DjMay . . .

i'm with the general concenus and say dynamic. i compress all my music.

. . . shows the general level of understanding on that forum.

This statistic is worthless, IMO.

[skills]

Originally Posted by from forum

of course, MP3s vs. CDs must be calculated into the waging war; however, CDs are still limited to 44.1. so, if you were to record at a higher rate, say 96, without proper dithering, you're still bound to suffer a loss of much harmonic content.

oh man. these audiophiles!!

[skills]

it is very cool to see that there is some thought out there about this, and people don't just want to SLAM everything.


yep!

[KyleDiSanto]

I believe Calbi said it once...about the loudness stuff just making guitars sound "Washy" or whatever.

As a guitarist, I couldn't agree more...once you start squashing things up...not only do things loose dynamics, but the tone starts to suffer...

[scottwilson]

Is that just people voting for 'loud' or 'dynamic'? Put two reasonably mastered sound files up there and loud will win every time.

s

[macc]

^ That's a good point. Lots of normal people don't use the terms the way most of us do.

'Yeah, make it really loud and punchy and dynamic!' - who here hasn't had someone say that at some point?

[ianshepherd]

Originally Posted by scottwilson

Is that just people voting for 'loud' or 'dynamic'? Put two reasonably mastered sound files up there and loud will win every time.

Not if they're level-matched.

[Dr. Mordo]

i'm with the general concenus and say dynamic. i compress all my music.

This was very close to becoming my sig. Great stuff.

[Sunbreak Music]

Originally Posted by Darius van H

I'm sure everybody would vote for it on someone else's album.

Ain't that the truth....

[24-96 Mastering]

"Oh yea, we want our album to be dynamic, we don't want it to sound crushed, it doesn't have to be loud. Just make sure it isn't lower than other CDs."

[Table Of Tone]

Many guitar players (that can still hear) are experts with regards to distortion.
I guess they wanna hear their amp doing it right and their record not doing it a second time!

[Mixocalypse]

Ya.. I love it.. guitarists, the ones who turn everything to eleven!

"dude I need all that distortion, its my sound" dfegad

[Waltz Mastering]

For guitarist, It's about the tone, if you can improve the guitar tone in mastering while improving the mix as a whole, they will like it. If you make the tone worse, they won't. Did a project last week where the guitarist had me automate eq for a solo to help improve his solo tone at the expense of some other stuff.

[Happy Musicfan]

It's those drum machines fault. They make guitarists play like robots even during the pianissimo solos. This makes guitarists angry and frustrated. Bring back real, responsive drummers... the ones with higher IQ's than those stupid machines.

[Paul Russell]

Originally Posted by Sunbreak Music

Ain't that the truth....

Let me know when it's ready.