TODAY IS DYNAMIC RANGE DAY - AN ADMITTEDLY GEEKY HOLIDAY INTENDED TO RAISE AWARENESS OF THE COMPROMISES OF THE 'LOUDNESS WAR'.

The goal of DRD is to get people thinking about the state of modern mastering and the overuse of compression/limiting in current music production.

Why?

Here's what the people at Production Advice, the creators of DRD, have to say about the Loudness War:

“Nevermind” by Nirvana must surely be one of the most popular and successful LOUD albums of all time, right ?

Well yes, but it seemed to shock many people to realise that almost anything released today is at a higher level, even country and folk records. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” has a dynamic range of 11dB as measured by the TT Loudness Meter, whereas “Your Long Journey”, the first track on “Raising Sand” by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, has a range of only 8 dB.

So a gentle acoustic ballad, featuring mandolins, vocals and not much else, sounds 3dB louder than one of the loudest albums ever, as a result.

Here's a video that nicely summarizes the Loudness War:

One way to celebrate DRD is by "SHOUTING" in all caps - but you can celebrate it just as well by whispering, too.

Link:

• Dynamic Range Day

James Lewin
Twitter @podcasting_news

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