RMS
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Posted on May 10, 2008 07:25 pm
Brian Hall
Member Since: May 06, 2008
What is a too loud...Ive been mixing for about 3 years...I check the RMS on other songs and they sometimes are -9, -8 etc, but I have always read that you want to stay around -11 does rms matter, because the songs that sound best to me is louder than -11 RMS
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Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 10, 2008 10:17 pm Well the answer is yes and no on whether it matters or not.
Yes if you are a big record company trying to produce the loudest possible mix it does matter. But there is the problem of the fact that newer mixes on Cd often give up a lot of the life that is present in the music when it is recorded by over compressing it to get it loud as possible. They literally crush the life out of the music by doing this to get the loudest CD possible.
There has been a lot of discussion on this issue here and many of us do not follow that rule. I myself do not believe in the concept of crushing the music to the point of it not having any life left in it. Music is supposed to have its ups and downs in the perceived volume and I always leave plenty of headroom in the mix to allow the tracks to come together without having to crush the life out of them. But leaving enough to get a maximum volume on the CD in the end without completely compressing everything into one solid sonic mush that is without life or feeling.
The truth of the matter is that rather then bringing a track in at max level on the channel you should be down around -18dB to allow for headroom when mixing the tracks down and adding processing or FX to them. This will allow the final mix to still have life left in it when it is mastered. That is if the mastering engineer doesn't completely crush it in the end.
My sons and I were just listening to several CD's from the early 90's and it is funny to see how much louder I need to turn the volume up to get them at the same volume of a modern day CD. But the trade off is that they sound much better and alive then the newer mixes do.
May 11, 2008 02:41 am Thanks for the help
WaltChief Cook and Bottle WasherMember
Since: May 10, 2002
May 11, 2008 11:59 am I'm going to say make it the way you like it.
It is my opinion that the industry is utilizing a cheep trick, that being making "their" sound louder than the next guy to promote music. When listening to two songs at moderate levels the louder one will be a little more exciting in most cases. Now turn up the one with lower volume to match the louder one and it will probably sound better per the sound properties Noize mentions above. But this is how things are done and who am I to get in the way of change. It would seem the "industry" is creating a new standard of "good" or "desirable". I guess if the masses adopt this new standard; so be it. Sounds like blastisimo crap to me, but hey, I don't have to listen to it.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 11, 2008 08:20 pm Ya, but as independent artist's we can change that. We don't have to push the music up to the max level and crush the life out of it. And people will still listen to it.
Its not to late to change things for the better.
WaltChief Cook and Bottle WasherMember
Since: May 10, 2002
May 11, 2008 10:13 pm Well, I'm with you there Noize. Nothing leaves my studio sounding mashed into a block of blastisimo. I can get plenty of loud by just choping the tips about 2%. Plenty of the loud effect and still have music.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 12, 2008 09:52 pm Yep, my theory or I should say hope is that the record companies realize what it is they are doing to the music.
I'm glad that there are still those that don't follow the crush and run rule. I will buy their music long before I buy a CD that has had the life squeezed out of it. I have to admit I own several of them but they rarely ever get cranked up like a well mastered CD does in my car or elsewhere. You have to leave some headroom for systems that easily distort when they are cranked up.
This loudness wars thing is really for the birds, but I'm sure they would rather run and hide then listen to that crap.
