Article: Dynamic Range: No Quiet = No Loud

[soundman45]

Mitch: Nice Article! Like yourself I'm an old school engineer with over 32 years in the Biz.

Also like yourself I have been fortunate to be brought up on all the same kinds of gear as yourself and have experienced the technology arc and the early adoption of Digital Audio in my studio career.

 

Although, there is nothing quite like the sound of  a Studer going through a classic Neve Console, most of the engineers of today will really never get to experience what it really sounds like. With some modern plugins and dsp I figure they can get at least 85% of the way to what we could experience back in the day.

 

The so called loudness war has actually been around for quite a long time in the pop industry dating back to the sixties where Radio Programmers, Producers and Engineers tried to get their singles to sound as hot as possible on AM and FM radio but as you know and pointed out so eloquently when digital came along it became a new ball game as far as dynamic range and what could be captured.

 

I am in complete agreement and can do nothing but echo your sentiment. Unfortunately  a lot engineers and enthusiasts will never have the chance to be brought up in the studio system as you and I were, but what they do have is this wealth of information and powerful tools at their fingertips.

 

I sometimes wish that modern DAW's didn't have so much visual information that the user can access.

all we had back when we started was the Analog VU Meter and the occasional Peak Meter and our ears.

I encourage people working in production today to go back and listen to older CD releases and listen to older records and really study the Dynamics and study the EQ and Sonical qualities of the music.

and to stop paying so much attention to the visual information and just listen.