Katy Perry & Taylor Swift EQ observations...

[masterizer]

Originally Posted by da goose

There is actually something really BAD going on concerning this issue.
Believe it or not but there are kids of the age of 16 to maybe 22 going to parties and when they DON'T have a loud beep in their ears the next morning lasting at least 2 days the party sucked.
In fact.. some people on the forum i talk about are PROUD and laughing of their hearing problems! I'm really not kidding!

This really makes me mad and frustrated, they really don't get it..

Its more than just 16-22yrs, visit almost any bar where they've got music and I bet its ear ringing loud. Many of the live performers don't wear hearing protection either, I don't know how they do it, its painfull to me. I keep ear plugs in my car, pocket and other places that are handy because my ears are very sensitive to loud noise.

I bet the general public as a whole has pretty bad hearing these days...

[da goose]

Originally Posted by masterizer

Its more than just 16-22yrs, visit almost any bar where they've got music and I bet its ear ringing loud. Many of the live performers don't wear hearing protection either, I don't know how they do it, its painfull to me. I keep ear plugs in my car, pocket and other places that are handy because my ears are very sensitive to loud noise.

I bet the general public as a whole has pretty bad hearing these days...

Yeah.. i know what you mean.
I have exinore 20db filters in my earplugs and sometimes i feel like they are not even enough!
But what i really meaned is that the people i talk about are PROUD of their loss of hearing.

[jmhgtr]

Originally Posted by masterizer

Very true Colin, I think we can also thank the iPod for many listeners experiencing hearing loss. I see people in public all the time with the buds soo loud I can here what they're listening to very clearly.

one fine morning after a late tracking session (about 2 pm) i stepped out to grab the mail, and heard someone listening to metal...being a nice day, i thought nothing of it...a car down the street, windows open, with the stereo at a loud, but still fairly reasonable level.

5 seconds later i see one of the middle school kids in the neighborhood walk into view, and now i could understand what the singer was saying.....yeah, it was his earbuds, from no less than 30 feet away...no car stereo involved

oops!

[gussyg2007]

gotta say the very first time i heard the T swift stuff the first thing that struck me was how incredibly bright it was !! and i'm an old man!! it must break the ears of a teenager !!

[asagaai]

Originally Posted by Mjohnson11287

I guess so, but I still feel as though it's at a low point. At least in the 70's and 80's it was considered "cool" to have a good sound system, and people took pride in their ability to playback music w/ the quality it was meant to have. It's one thing for the consumer world to lose interest and move towards cheaper, lo-fi playback, but it's just depressing to see the industry move towards catering to that market. i guess Business is Business lol.

Yeah- but back in the 70's people had stuff to listen to on vinyl/tape like Pink Floyd, Queen, etc.

Perhaps the smashed harsh stuff today inspires nobody to want to buy a $5,000 to $10,000 Hi Fi system to enjoy the music in a dedicated room. Rtaher we play music for quick speed burst in the car commute to waken up- like a quick shot of expresso.

Actually, I must admit over the last 5 years odd I have only very few pieces of music that inspired me and got me thinking of listening to the music on a real nice hi fi- and in last 6 months 1 was an acoustic piece of 4 guitarists playing 8 different rhythms.....another was a piece of classic music that was live but had beautiful depth...

People are not dum- the modern stuff has been mixed for MP# player earbuds and people inately know there is no point playing it on a $10,000 hi fi system.

Most modern stuff ...I got a CD as a gift of John Butler Trio - sounded good on radio- on a decent system too harsh...urgh hurt my ears too brittle and high. Bernard Fannings CD- love it- but jeez on a good system a little too much air and brightness up high.

Hard to find modern CD's that are worthy on good systems...so now I have joined the rat race and ponied for a 50 inch plasma blue ray surround sound with subwoofers and enjoy movie scores.....

GJ
Newcastle/OZ

[Bob Olhsson]

Back in the '70s most people who were into hi fi spent under $1000.

[asagaai]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

Back in the '70s most people who were into hi fi spent under $1000.

Yeah- but a $1,000 back in say 1970 is 40 years ago- relatively I think that would at least equate to $10,000 today.

I spent back in 1980 as a school student who saved and worked his butt off I spent 950.00 Rand on a Pioneer, but its relative and you must take inflation into account.

GJ
Newcastle/OZ

[SSMastering]

Originally Posted by masterizer

Its more than just 16-22yrs, visit almost any bar where they've got music and I bet its ear ringing loud. Many of the live performers don't wear hearing protection either, I don't know how they do it, its painfull to me. I keep ear plugs in my car, pocket and other places that are handy because my ears are very sensitive to loud noise.

I bet the general public as a whole has pretty bad hearing these days...

I went to a show at Slim's in SF, basically my first attendance at a "serious" show. The music was excruciatingly loud. Even with ear plugs, it reminded me why I never go to shows and why I want to preserve my hearing as much as possible. Once you start losing your hearing, that's it. Hearing loss isn't like scars that heal after a while; it's permanent.

[24-96 Mastering]

Originally Posted by SafeandSound

Despite wearing earplugs at a gigs and finding a place where SPL is least
likely damaging there is some mounting evidence that high dose VitC / Vit E
can help reduce damage.

The problem is earplugs are MUCH less effective at LF which it has recently been found is as damaging if not more so that mid and HF high SPL.

Can A Dietary Supplement Stave Off Hearing Loss?

So peeps it seems it won't do no harm to take your vitamins !

I'm very skeptical of the trials mentioned. A. they're partly funded and conducted by those producing and marketing the medication, B. the article makes no indication as to whether the trials / findings have been peer reviewed / independently reproduced. I'd be cautious here.

[24-96 Mastering]

Originally Posted by SafeandSound

Fair point, it's not the first time I have read about it.

Right, there are long used / developed theories about hearing loss and prevention thereof / therapies that have been restated and investigated for quite some time. Blood thinning agents, vitamins / dietary strategies, counter-tone-therapy, etc. All of these, despite being used in general practice, have pretty limited evidence to back up their effectiveness. That's not to say they don't work as intended, just that so far, there is still no clear evidence that they do (that I'm aware of) and/or positive scientific consensus on the issue.

PS: sorry, I just realized how OT that is.

[dcollins]

Originally Posted by 24-96 Mastering

I'm very skeptical of the trials mentioned. A. they're partly funded and conducted by those producing and marketing the medication, B. the article makes no indication as to whether the trials / findings have been peer reviewed / independently reproduced. I'd be cautious here.

I've read about some drugs being tested to reduce existing hearing loss but they are not vitamins.

This is a good overview:

http://www-nmcphc.med.navy.mil/downl...g%20review.pdf

It might even be possible to protect against noise exposure:

Hair Cell Regeneration Research, Hair Cell Regeneration Therapy


DC

[feck]

So with mixes/songs like the ones mentioned here that are extremely bright - are they cranking the highs on all of the stems/individual tracks and then boosting a bunch of them in mastering, or are they doing a high shelf mainly in mastering to excite the whole recording? It is crazy how people are getting so used to brittle mixes.

[JPeters86]

Originally Posted by feck

are they cranking the highs on all of the stems/individual tracks and then boosting a bunch of them in mastering, or are they doing a high shelf mainly in mastering to excite the whole recording?

Probably both.

I love it when some air is added during mastering but this just goes too far.

[lucey]

Originally Posted by feck

So with mixes/songs like the ones mentioned here that are extremely bright - are they cranking the highs on all of the stems/individual tracks and then boosting a bunch of them in mastering, or are they doing a high shelf mainly in mastering to excite the whole recording? It is crazy how people are getting so used to brittle mixes.

No matter what the mix, the producer, at mastering has final control of a lot of things you're hearing. Mastering can cut with a shelf or all manner of bell and notch to tame the edges any way you can imagine. Or do the opposite.

I think annoying sounding music is considered good by some sellers. I disagree. A great song well done that sounds sweet will sell just fine.