i'm a little concerned with the current trend to over compress music lately in order to make things sound loud. it is getting to a point where it is sucking the life out of the song
what are the main elements we look for in sound to stimulate our ears? we look for frequency response, dynamic response and clarity, amongst a bunch of other factors. when you compress a mix and squeeze the shit out if you are reducing the dynamic response and also creating distortion, thus messing with the main components that stimulate our ears and subconscious. when a musician plays his instrument and puts his energy into performing, this energy is audible to us via the dynamic range between the notes we can hear and feel. when you take this dynamic range and reduce it so much that everything almost sounds the same volume, you effectively take out the emotion that the musician was putting into the playing. and whilst distortion can be good, distortion caused by over compessing a mix can ruin it, and is only subtly heard, thus affecting our subconscious experience of the music
too many audio engineers and producers are giving into the pressure to create a louder mix which in my opinion is fucking up modern music. there are some great artists out there, producing highly creative and entertaining music. unfortunately we are giving into what the punter thinks he wants rather than guiding them into an understanding that louder isn't necessarily better. its like letting your three year old kid convince you that mcdonalds is good for them
how absurd is that idea?
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