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I want to explain to those that are interested why some songs in your music library are lower in volume than others and why I personally prefer the benefits of lower volume levels. This topic is becoming more and more relevant and prominent among average listeners.
For those who are entirely unaware, music has slowly become louder and louder over the last few decades. The short answer as to why this is happening is due to the obvious inherent fact that louder sounds catch the attention of our ears easier. In regard to music, loudness is generally perceived as more energy and power. In audio, loudness can be monitored on a meter in two different ways: peak and average level or RMS (root mean square). A peak meter will show you a visual representation of the instantaneous level of an audio signal at any given time. An RMS meter will show you a visual representation of the average level of an audio signal over the course of time (the time period ranges depending on how the meter is set up). RMS meters give you a more accurate representation of "perceived loudness". I say "perceived" because an audio signal may have higher peak level and still be perceived as lower volume than a signal with higher RMS level.
So how do audio engineers control this? First, you need to understand the term "dynamic range". This refers to the range of volume between the quietest level and the loudest level of any given audio signal. This dynamic range is precisely what has slowly been shrinking over time that has caused musical recordings to get louder and louder. In digital audio the loudest level is already set by a determined point called 0dB (full scale). The technical terms are not important for what I'm trying to explain--simply understand that if the loudest point is already set then the only way to increase average level (RMS) is to raise the quietest level up, therefore, decreasing dynamic range and increasing perceived loudness.
Sound is a continuous vibration (represented on a graph as a wave). When we hear sound in the real world, it is really just our brains interpreting the vibrations our ear drums pick up. Even though we can easily detect sounds from different locations and sources at the same time, as far as our ears are concerned, its all one vibration. All sound is made up of many sine waves layered on top of each other. A sine wave is the simplest form of sound being that it is only made up of one single frequency, as opposed to a more complex sound like a piano key being struck which has one base frequency but many many other frequencies layered on top of it known as overtones and harmonics. These overtones are what gives each instrument in the world a different sound signature or timbre (the proper term). If needed, search for "Image of analog sine wave" to see what it looks like.
When a sound is recorded digitally it has to be converted from electronic signals to bits of computer data and if desired, search for "Image of digital sine wave" to see the difference.
As you'll see, the continuous waveform is now stepped by the digitization of the sound signal. You can think of this like video frame rate. In order to fool our eyes into seeing motion on a screen we capture and stream back still images quickly enough that our brain doesn't really know the difference. Digital audio can be thought of in this same way. The analog-to-digital converter is taking snap shots at many thousands of times per second and recording each snap shot in digital data.
This process is how the majority of music is recorded today and has been since the decline of vinyl records. Once recorded, in order to play back the music the digital data has to be converted back to analog form and then sent to your speakers where an analog signal is reproduced, and ultimately listened to. It is generally accepted that these two conversion stages are responsible for the downgrade in digital audio quality. The upside of digital has to do with cost and convenience and it has opened the doors for all types of new processing tools and ways of making music. Electronic music, including my own, would simply not be possible without digital audio. It has its benefits. Its even very common nowadays to stay completely in the digital realm, avoiding the complications of converters. However, staying in digital means never leaving the world of computer code. Working in the analog domain means your working with real electronic circuits which in my opinion breaths emotion and feeling from the nature world into an otherwise cold and lifeless audio signal.
How is all this relevant to the loudness of my album and other music? When the music industry was exclusively cutting vinyl there were certain rules they had to abide by. When recording to vinyl you have limitations, one of which is how loud a signal can be. When the industry moved to digital audio (CDs, and now online digital downloads) there were no rules outside of what I explained above regarding the loudest peak level. In order for different artists to compete with each other, mastering engineers started compressing the dynamic range out of the music to the point that the RMS signal was as loud as possible (meaning the quietest point of the recording was now nearly as loud as the loudest point). This process has been taken so extreme that when looking at a graphical representation of a modern recording you can hardly see anything, it just looks like a wall. Not only does it look like this, it really sounds like everything is hitting a wall as well. This takes a little training to fully hear, but I do believe it translates to all listeners independent of their audio interests. When the entire audio signal is hitting this "wall" this hard, it creates distortion and destroys the natural life-like properties of the sound signal.
What baffles me is that everywhere I go, everyone raves about how records used to sound in the 60's and 70's, yet its very rare for someone to actually adopt the methods by which they were recorded. Clearly the music industry will never go back entirely to this time as it would not be practical. However, I think simply revitalizing the idea of large dynamic range will recover the naturalness, spaciousness and feeling that so many audio enthusiasts miss.
When dynamic range is retained, there is space between sounds and room for the energy of a song to grow over time. Part of all this is our fast-paced society where people's attention spans are very short and they need very quick satisfaction. If a song does not grab the attention of someone within the first few seconds, people are afraid it won't do well, and thus, one way of remedying this is to make it as loud as possible from the very first second. The problem here is that this method leaves the music with no where to go. The idea of making records that are intended to be listened to from start to finish is a dying art and this is another aspect I've made an effort to incorporate into my Album. My intention is that listeners will have the patience to start at the beginning and go on the entire journey.
This brings me to my last point on the disadvantages of low dynamic range, ear fatigue. When a song is maximized for immediate energy and power, it can feel very impressive at first listen, and when you are in business to sell music it makes sense to think in these terms. However, when the goal is to give the listener the most pleasurable experience over the course of time, and have them want to listen again and again, a different approach is more fitting. I believe this is especially true when asking your audience to listen to an entire album in one sitting. If the music is pushed so far to the extreme that your ears never really have a chance to relax, then things become very fatiguing on the listener's ears and eventually will encourage them to turn the volume down and potentially turn it off just out of pure discomfort. My goal is to create a soundscape that is effortless to listen to and easy on the ears.
I have accepted the downfall of digital converters to and from analog as a necessity of modern music creation. The advantages do outweigh the disadvantages for me. However, I don't feel that I have to accept the destruction of low dynamic range. The only disadvantage, if you can even call it that, is the listener has to turn up their own volume level a little bit higher. In my opinion, the audio qualities that you gain are invaluable, and I hope you will be open to this idea and help recover the lost world of dynamic range.
If your a music producer and your interested in my mixing and mastering services contact me online.
To hear a sample of my original work visit one of my following websites:
http://www.tatehall.com/
http://www.facebook.com/TSHmusic
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