New Jeff Beck CD: pegged recording levels
Bubinga99
Posts: 283
What's with recording engineers these days? Of the 2 recent releases I've bought on CD, both have some sort of dynamic range expansion and peak limiting applied, so that all sounds above a certain threshold are stretched to full range.
Is this the new, standard way of mastering?
Here's a screen capture of the 2nd track on the new Jeff Beck release so you can see for yourself. The VU meters are pegged, the peak meters are pegged, and the time graph shows the full length of the song zoomed out, with most of the song's duration pegged at the rails.
Is this the new, standard way of mastering?
Here's a screen capture of the 2nd track on the new Jeff Beck release so you can see for yourself. The VU meters are pegged, the peak meters are pegged, and the time graph shows the full length of the song zoomed out, with most of the song's duration pegged at the rails.
Post edited by Bubinga99 on
Comments
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That is a perfect example of today's mastering techniques. Make it loud. No dynamics. Pisses me off to no end
It's the mastering though, not the recording engineer.-Kevin
HT: Philips 52PFL7432D 52" LCD 1080p / Onkyo TX-SR 606 / Oppo BDP-83 SE / Comcast cable. (all HDMI)B&W 801 - Front, Polk CS350 LS - Center, Polk LS90 - Rear
2 Channel:
Oppo BDP-83 SE
Squeezebox Touch
Muscial Fidelity M1 DAC
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McIntosh 2205 (refurbed)
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Transparent IC's -
Here's an even more ridiculous example. This shows track 1 of Rodrigo y Gabriela's 11:11 album, released late last year:
Note that the phase scope plot (upper right, the green scatter plot in the black box) is so heavily limited that you can actually see a squared-off box forming on all sides. -
Bet those sound just dandy. If that's the future of the format I hope it dies. They can't do that (to the same degree at least) with LP's can they?Infinity QLS1, Polk SDA-1A, OLAdvent Econowave, Yamaha RXV-1300, CDC-685, P2200, AB International 9220A, Rane ME15B, Cambridge Audio 640P, Grant Fidelity B-283, Luxman PD277-AT7V, Pioneer PL707-Denon DL-207, DL-160....And projects on the bench!
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Actually I doubt most people would notice there was anything odd about them. It's not a hard clip so you don't hear distortion. Pretty much like vc69 said, it just all sounds "loud." Fortunately the whole album is not that way.
Vinyl tracks are pre-processed pretty significantly via the RIAA equalization. -
For some CD's with complex musical information I've noticed, it's significant to the point of being nearly unlistenable. Everything gets lost in the "loudness" of it.Infinity QLS1, Polk SDA-1A, OLAdvent Econowave, Yamaha RXV-1300, CDC-685, P2200, AB International 9220A, Rane ME15B, Cambridge Audio 640P, Grant Fidelity B-283, Luxman PD277-AT7V, Pioneer PL707-Denon DL-207, DL-160....And projects on the bench!
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Vinyl tracks are pre-processed pretty significantly via the RIAA equalization.
But isn't that a compression/expansion process that theoretically preserves the dynamic range? In practice it sounds like it.Infinity QLS1, Polk SDA-1A, OLAdvent Econowave, Yamaha RXV-1300, CDC-685, P2200, AB International 9220A, Rane ME15B, Cambridge Audio 640P, Grant Fidelity B-283, Luxman PD277-AT7V, Pioneer PL707-Denon DL-207, DL-160....And projects on the bench! -
For some CD's with complex musical information I've noticed, it's significant to the point of being nearly unlistenable. Everything gets lost in the "loudness" of it.
Exactly. There are no dynamics. The mix is a mud puddle. Instruments have attack, decay, and harmonics that just disappear in a squashed mix like that. The music has no "life".-Kevin
HT: Philips 52PFL7432D 52" LCD 1080p / Onkyo TX-SR 606 / Oppo BDP-83 SE / Comcast cable. (all HDMI)B&W 801 - Front, Polk CS350 LS - Center, Polk LS90 - Rear
2 Channel:
Oppo BDP-83 SE
Squeezebox Touch
Muscial Fidelity M1 DAC
VTL 2.5
McIntosh 2205 (refurbed)
B&W 801's
Transparent IC's -
Ouch! And I had pre-ordered the new Jeff Beck CD and have it on the way. Usually his stuff seems to be pretty well mastered.DKG999
HT System: LSi9, LSiCx2, LSiFX, LSi7, SVS 20-39 PC+, B&K 507.s2 AVR, B&K Ref 125.2, Tripplite LCR-2400, Cambridge 650BD, Signal Cable PC/SC, BJC IC, Samsung 55" LED
Music System: Magnepan 1.6QR, SVS SB12+, ARC pre, Parasound HCA1500 vertically bi-amped, Jolida CDP, Pro-Ject RM5.1SE TT, Pro-Ject TubeBox SE phono pre, SBT, PS Audio DLIII DAC -
Try to sell that to the "MP3" crowd, good luck. They wouldn't know good audio from a can of shinola.Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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What's with recording engineers these days? Of the 2 recent releases I've bought on CD, both have some sort of dynamic range expansion and peak limiting applied, so that all sounds above a certain threshold are stretched to full range.
Is this the new, standard way of mastering?
Here's a screen capture of the 2nd track on the new Jeff Beck release so you can see for yourself. The VU meters are pegged, the peak meters are pegged, and the time graph shows the full length of the song zoomed out, with most of the song's duration pegged at the rails.
This is why i prefer sacd or dvd-a. You just cant set the levels at the beginning and go out and drink coffee and donuts.
With Sacd and dvd-a the engineer is an active participant.
I've yet to be disappointed with an sacd.
