'Make it sound as good as possible' - 1000% true. Anytime I listen to a well produced/mixed/mastered song, no matter how loud it already is I want to turn it up even more.
Exactly.. And by making it sound good you are having a well balanced mix, most likely or not is going to be a bit louder than a bad mixed song where the bass is too high and kicks overpowering everything.
Exactly. This is what I am thinking when listening to Noisia's track. They are extremely loud already but also being controlled. I do enjoy all the details Noisia put into them
I don't agree. You have to balance the loudness with the dynamics of the song. You want some space between the subtleties and the swells... Unless of course you're referring to dance music...
One thing you can do if you’re making an album that you want people to listen to all the way through is to consider what level the first track starts at. If you want impactful punchy loud parts, you can start the first song ever so slightly quieter. The audience will set the level. Then loud really is louder. Of course, you have to be careful how much extra dynamic range you leave, because if you annoy people they will simply turn your music off. But with a spare decibel or two, you can have a heavier impact, like classical recordings, which sound genuinely loud when they’re loud. Basically i’m saying, leave a little space. A track that does this is Radiohead’s track Palo Alto. The track gives you the idea it will be at one level… but then the chorus kicks in, and you get insanely loud guitars. Hats off to them for having the stones to do this. It really makes the track stand out. (Also, it’s a great song)
I heard somewhere that 'the end user has control over the volume of the song but not the quality'. Also I've been waiting for this video for a long time despite knowing all this, I just love watching Dan's videos.
I'm convinced the first track on NIN's "broken" is just to get the listener to turn up the volume, so when the guitars slam in during the second track, it smacks you in the face.
In a similar (but opposite) fashion, Dr. Dre being the audio genius that he is provides a nice Dolby-esque sound at the beginning of 2001 that pretty much allows you to set the volume once and roll through the album. Of course, it's also a super loud album
yes, haven't you heard say Thriller by MJ on Spotify, which is probably not as loud as today's music, yet you can't get enough of it and have to turn it up simply because it is a master piece.
@@tecnica-de-voz Actually this doesn't matter. All streaming platforms (including youtube) will normalize volume to the same level. An old song will sound quieter because it has a higher dynamic range. For example, if you upload to soundcloud, they "recommend" that you normalize to -10 to -14 LUFS, however when you actually do this with a master, its gonna be waaaay too quiet and people wont be able to simply "turn it up" because its gonna be quiet at max volume. They could "turn it up" in an analog chain (i.e. dedicated amplifier post conversion) but the vast majority of people will listen to it on commercial devices (especially headphones and cheap speakers) where this wont be possible. So this all means that you need to ignore their recommendations and normalize to as loud as possible (commercial electronic music often go up to -6LUFS and beyond), which they will "turn down" but because you dont have much dynamic range, it will still sound a lot louder than a song originally mastered to lets say -12 LUFS. Peaks barely matter in modern music because most of it is not organic sound (electronic instruments vastly dominate modern music). When you master things like jazz or orchestral music or folk music its a very different thing however.
@@novakattila I’d argue it definitely can matter and factor in with electronic instruments, it’s just not the norm because the vast majority of people don’t care. It’s not what’s being used to make the music but rather who’s consuming it.
The punchline was totally worth the wait - and it's the absolute truth. When a great track plays - and I'm in the mood for it, I will just turn it up loud and rock my head to it. That was the perfect denouement to a very informative film. Thank you, Dan.
Wow, Mr. Worrall. Just wow. I've made a playlist of your Fabfilter videos and at each stage of my mixing process I review the relevant plugins and I achieve very satisfying results. Your videos have helped my ears to mature, separate fact from fiction and complete a project with a sense of doing the best I could at my ability as well as knowing that in the future I will see room for improvement which will be used in future projects. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and wisdom. I hope it is worth your time.
Dan, 0.2db from TH-cam perfection, not surprising. This man is the god of addicted producers, always come back to this to make the new musicians I meet even more happy!
Oh sh*#!! I didn't read the video description and was not ready for Dan "The Man" popping back here. I instantly hit full screen and start making obeisance. Respect, Dan and FabFilter!🙏
due to the quality of what was explained and demonstrated here, including the advice/wisdom at the end, i had little choice but to locate the 'volume up' button and watch it through again. 👍🏻
Well spoken ! Some people ask me how I do my mixes so well. Certainly not by pushing the final mix as loud as possible. But by recognizing instruments specific frequencies and balance, EQ and pan them like it needs to be done. Dynamics is not the same as loudness !!!
I 100% endorse everything said in this video. I do have to wonder though... when will record labels stop insisting on -7.5 LUFS. They're butchering my music.
If there is some kind of reward for production tutorial videos these 2 parts would be first on the list to get it!! You deserve a reward for this no doubt!!!
Man I was waiting for this like the conclusion to a good cliffhanger episode of my favorite show, and you didn't disappoint! Yes, the loudness war was always pointless and its interesting that streaming platforms are basically ending it.
Thanks, Dan, for validating the instinct I had 20 years ago, before I knew anything about mastering: Make your listener turn up by making your audio sound a little quieter (and better) than the mainstream. I love all your videos!
This trick seems to be used by todays mastering engineers who overly compress their tracks. I stumbled upon one pop song a while ago, first few seconds of the beginning was intentionally kept quiet to trick the listener to turn it up, then it gets a little louder and continues to playing compressed as usual.
Being in radio for about 46 years I noticed the sometimes dramatic, insane increase of loudness. And what a war it was (and still seems to be). To me it's very simple: if a recording of a song is mastered too much in my face, I simply *don't play it*. It won't be at the playlist at all. Radio uses it's own processing in order to cater listeners invironmentalwise best (at least our radio station KilRock does...). Even the Big Names in the industry (don't mention any names, but Orban is one of them) warn radio engineers in the manuals of their OptiMods for 'ear fatigue': the moment listeners will switch off because their ears are getting tired of the compressed sound overload they experience. A too heavily compressed mastered recording will be recognised by a multiband compressor from about 1982 and later. The device will just not proces the signal significantly. But there's a little catch here: when audio, coming straight from a mastering room is too compressed anyway, the listening experience will be a bit overwhelming anyway, so listeners will shut down their radios still because of that. At first, listeners will turn down the volume a bit. After a while, they still will switch off their radios because of the restless soundscape they experience. This behaviour counts heavenly in your ratings. Besides that: if you're a recording artist or engineer, I don't think you want to be remembered as a loudness freak in the first place. What I'd suggest is that the 100% uncompressed audio is kept available at all times. Who knows what kind of engineering we can expect in the near future? I certainly don't :o) Thanks for posting your videos. I like them very much!
I've heard old mastering guys say that it was radio playback (i.e. people listening in their cars) that drove (no pun intended) the loudness war. it's interesting to me how the amount of low-frequency content in pop music increased starting sometime around 1990. that created a need for better limiting tools, right? but you could also say that it was the limiting tools that made all that bass possible. bass in your face, baby! whatchoo gon' do wit all dat bass?
So my takeaway from this is, make a very dynamic tune @ -14 LUFS with a very quiet intro. Listener turns it up, then they get to the climax of the tune and are blown away. This results in millions in streaming revenue, private jets and regular talk show appearances. :P Brilliant video once again, thanks Dan! :)
This is spot on. I pushed a limiter hard, tried it in my car. Yes, at first it was louder. When I turned up the volume it was distorted bass, sounded crap. So, I turned down the limiter then tried that in the car. At first it sounded very low in volume but...when I cranked up the volume, the loudness was there, no bass distortion. Sounded so much clearer. So yes, Dan is spot on. Let people just crank that volume with no distortion. Top video Dan. 👍🙏
Thank you for this video! I've been struggling to figure out how loud my music should be and have seen people recommending exporting my masters around -8 dB LUFS for streaming so it's been very confusing for me. This video inspired me to focus on having a good mix over loudness. Thanks!
@Deep Moticons uhhh this was literally a comment thanking someone for a tutorial? Why the hell are you telling someone about their own experience when you don’t even know them.. like wtf bro? 😂😂😂😂
@@sleepykittens4193 I think he meant that because in the older days we didn't have all the computer shit in regards to music production that we have today, even I tell the young rappers and artists I record in my home studio that I feel jealous of them because to have what they have now on a computer didn't exist and costed way more back in like 2002 then it does now, shit, some stuff is litteraly free now, like industry secrets on recording or production, I believe this video here is also testament to that fact.
@@QNEGRO1 I literally went to school learning how to use old school analog gear along by bouncing tracks on an 8 track and using physical hardware. No digital stuff was taught when I went to school, so I had to learn digital plugins on my own. I mostly recorded bands so I had to understand which microphone best fits what instrument and actually mic up drumsets, amps, and vocalists. I don't know much about rap because my projects are mostly rock and metal based.
@@vitrih0lic Yeah I feel you man I'm from 85' , I had to learn vsts and computer music on my own too, early 2000's at most there was only Future Music Magazine (TH-cam tutorials didn't exist yet) that taught a little. I used to be in a band when I first started off doing music, we had a female singer, me on bass, a drummer and two guitarists, didn't last long but after that I had to go solo so I learned guitar too and started singing and computers was my only choice for cheap recordings and demos. I grew up on rap and hip hop because of my father but when I was a kid lots of MTV had me hooked on other genres too. I keep laughing when these young kids come to my home studio and after a recording they ask me what could make their music sound better, I pick up my guitar or my bass play something to make a break or pause or even just a play along to the song and after they sit there and scratch their head in confusion as to what I'm doing, then I explain that adding instruments would make rap beats and rythms less boring and give space and dimension to songs in between them rapping and rampling on, then they totally ignore me or look at like I'm an idiot, WELL SORRY IF YOUR USED TO THE THE ELECTRONIC BULLSHIT THAT PASSES FOR MUSIC TODAY BUT YEARS AGO RAPPERS AND HIPHOP ARTIST WOULD PAY MUSICIANS TO PLAY ON THERE TRACKS WTF!!🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️ so fucking sad!
@@vitrih0lic There was a rapper I was producing for years ago that got me into contact with a heavy producer and record label owner name in the industry in our area here in Northern Italy, the rapper was asking this producer while we were in his studio how it was recording to tape back then, he said "well, record, shit,retake, rewind the tape, cut the tape, tape the cut tape together, restart recording again". I can't even imagine the craziness of that today, just looking at old tape machines today in thrift shops make me cringe but I respect who did the work back then, I still remember tape decks and vhs, I understand the frustration of winding up tape cause you want to watch your favorite movie. There was one time in the studio with the same rapper I mentioned before, the owner of the record label asks him if he wanted some old monitor speakers he could sell to him since he didn't need them anymore, upon showing him the speakers me and the owner of the record label sat back and watched in horror as the rapper starts putting his fingers into the cones of the speakers and leaves a small dent in one of them. Then he turns around and says "what?", me and the record label owner must have sat there trying to contain our murderous rage in silence for at least two minutes and a half before responding to him, never seen a rapper so afraid in all my life LMFAO He had to buy them afterwards🤣😂🤷🏼♂️🤦♂️
I had the 7" of Neanderthal Man by the pre-10cc band Hotlegs. In the runout groove was scratched "Please Play Louder" as they included a massive transient towards the end of the song (from hitting a 6ft steel plate with a hammer) that it rather upset the mastering lathe meaning a new cut at lower level to accommodate the hit.. Short of a remix, your answer to the question of loudness ended up being the only way they could get the thing played at the level they wanted it heard!
That sounds like a record where they should have placed the groove from the inside out, so the loud part would be at the outside edge where the record has the greatest linear velocity, and thus also the most headroom. Some classical records are mastered this way, as movements often start soft and end loud.
WOW, superb. I watched all the way through both videos... and then the punchline hit at the end... That just reached right inside and wow... I wasn't going to subscribe, but I have because of that.
An excellent conclusion. Dan's right you know, if you want people to listen with great dynamic range but still get the excitement out of the parts that SHOULD be exciting, then make it so that they can't RESIST!
Wow, I really liked the conclusion, not always will the "loudest" song sound better, so its better to focus on making our music actually sounding better, that will make the user crank it up 🤘❤🤘
Excellent....most of my favorite albums (even from the 1980s) had relatively high dynamic ranges ....and those are the ones I spent a ton of time listening to... Fun to crank them up....dynamic = fun and exciting to turn up! And they do not fatigue you....SPACE is paramount. Thanks for all the great content. (Moderation runs through the universe as a golden rule). 14 LUFS is a reasonable new standard. I may even try some LUFS 18's when I fully mature....ha
Spotify doesn’t have a limiter. They increase the integrated loudness to -14 LUFS but if it hits -1dbTP first then they stop increasing it there. In other words, they just raise the volume less rather than limit it.
I did some experimentation with TH-cam's algorithm and the loudness level is also based on a short term component not only the overall integrated value so it is hard to "defeat" it with a dynamic mix.
FabFilter and Dan Worrall = great combination! This TH-cam video is at -1.2 dB. Lovely video guys! I was waiting for part 2. Side note: although I assume most people here know this, I want to point out the following: if you have a paid subscription with lossless audio (Apple Music, Tidal etcetera) make sure you listen with a wired headphone. Bluetooth headphones aren’t able to transmit high res lossless audio. In other words, if you listen to a lossless file with Bluetooth headphones, the end result is rather a lossy one. Nevertheless Bluetooth and it’s codecs are becoming better and better and maybe in the far future there will be a solution to listen lossless on a Bluetooth wireless headphone. Keep coming with these awesome video’s #FabFilter and #DanWorrall !
Digital fuckery made a mockery of music. The loudness wars have completely and irreversibly destroyed a good 15-20 years of music. I’m in charge of the volume, thank you.
Wow I just listened to the billy eyelash video and kept restrained myself from adjusting the volume(most people ajust the every song really, I was just more aware of it). Just proves your point really
the real secret to loudness was the friends we made along the way.
That’s where you’re wrong… the secret is, Family.
If you mean by friends along the way all of the little bits of compression and saturation in your audio chain, then yep, sounds about right.
Xd
@Eegoal Official sorry it wasn’t literal, more like a Dom from Fast 9 joke lol
the real secret is to be friends with Dan Warral
'Make it sound as good as possible' - 1000% true. Anytime I listen to a well produced/mixed/mastered song, no matter how loud it already is I want to turn it up even more.
Exactly.. And by making it sound good you are having a well balanced mix, most likely or not is going to be a bit louder than a bad mixed song where the bass is too high and kicks overpowering everything.
Exactly. This is what I am thinking when listening to Noisia's track. They are extremely loud already but also being controlled. I do enjoy all the details Noisia put into them
Exactly that.
I don't agree. You have to balance the loudness with the dynamics of the song. You want some space between the subtleties and the swells... Unless of course you're referring to dance music...
@@justinmaticsmusic don’t call me out with that overpowering kick 😅😅 it’s fine in house music right? 😅
Dan telling us all to cut it out and use the volume knob what a legend
lmao
djs be like: ok, this is hitting -18dbfs so now ill pump up my limiter chain up to -3 LUFS
volume knob be like:
- bru?
Spoilers! 😤
@@tophan5146 Why are you reading the comments before finishing the video?
@@Ivy_Panda addiction
"Hack your listener's brain, and make them want to turn it up."
*i sat here watching this by myself and applaused no cap*
It brought a tear to my eye ahaha such truth
That quotes are gold! absolutely agree!
i sat here watching this by myself and applaused no clap
Yeah as soon as he said that I bursted in laughter hahah Great ending to the video!
I also paused here, took notes, and thought "this is awesome!"
100% educational. Forget him never begging for the subscribe, he's not even plugging the product.
The product is still shown off and when he used the 1:1 button I was sold.
All music making videos should be like this
One thing you can do if you’re making an album that you want people to listen to all the way through is to consider what level the first track starts at. If you want impactful punchy loud parts, you can start the first song ever so slightly quieter. The audience will set the level. Then loud really is louder. Of course, you have to be careful how much extra dynamic range you leave, because if you annoy people they will simply turn your music off. But with a spare decibel or two, you can have a heavier impact, like classical recordings, which sound genuinely loud when they’re loud. Basically i’m saying, leave a little space. A track that does this is Radiohead’s track Palo Alto. The track gives you the idea it will be at one level… but then the chorus kicks in, and you get insanely loud guitars. Hats off to them for having the stones to do this. It really makes the track stand out. (Also, it’s a great song)
I heard somewhere that 'the end user has control over the volume of the song but not the quality'. Also I've been waiting for this video for a long time despite knowing all this, I just love watching Dan's videos.
I'm convinced the first track on NIN's "broken" is just to get the listener to turn up the volume, so when the guitars slam in during the second track, it smacks you in the face.
Now see that's annoying
In a similar (but opposite) fashion, Dr. Dre being the audio genius that he is provides a nice Dolby-esque sound at the beginning of 2001 that pretty much allows you to set the volume once and roll through the album. Of course, it's also a super loud album
@@dirkchurlish4074 *awesome
THANK YOU
Collectivce Soul did this too with their song "Simple".
So the secret to maximum loudness is turning the volume up? Im both satisfied and perplexed by that obvious answer
Often the simplest answer is the solution
yes, haven't you heard say Thriller by MJ on Spotify, which is probably not as loud as today's music, yet you can't get enough of it and have to turn it up simply because it is a master piece.
@@tecnica-de-voz Actually this doesn't matter. All streaming platforms (including youtube) will normalize volume to the same level. An old song will sound quieter because it has a higher dynamic range. For example, if you upload to soundcloud, they "recommend" that you normalize to -10 to -14 LUFS, however when you actually do this with a master, its gonna be waaaay too quiet and people wont be able to simply "turn it up" because its gonna be quiet at max volume. They could "turn it up" in an analog chain (i.e. dedicated amplifier post conversion) but the vast majority of people will listen to it on commercial devices (especially headphones and cheap speakers) where this wont be possible. So this all means that you need to ignore their recommendations and normalize to as loud as possible (commercial electronic music often go up to -6LUFS and beyond), which they will "turn down" but because you dont have much dynamic range, it will still sound a lot louder than a song originally mastered to lets say -12 LUFS. Peaks barely matter in modern music because most of it is not organic sound (electronic instruments vastly dominate modern music). When you master things like jazz or orchestral music or folk music its a very different thing however.
@@novakattila I’d argue it definitely can matter and factor in with electronic instruments, it’s just not the norm because the vast majority of people don’t care. It’s not what’s being used to make the music but rather who’s consuming it.
The punchline was totally worth the wait - and it's the absolute truth. When a great track plays - and I'm in the mood for it, I will just turn it up loud and rock my head to it. That was the perfect denouement to a very informative film. Thank you, Dan.
Wow, Mr. Worrall. Just wow. I've made a playlist of your Fabfilter videos and at each stage of my mixing process I review the relevant plugins and I achieve very satisfying results. Your videos have helped my ears to mature, separate fact from fiction and complete a project with a sense of doing the best I could at my ability as well as knowing that in the future I will see room for improvement which will be used in future projects. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and wisdom. I hope it is worth your time.
FINALLY IVE BEEN WAITING
Me tooo
Sameee
You’ve been baited lol
Dan the man making everything make sense and organizing my brain, as usual.
This is a work of art disguised as a tutorial. Thanks again, Dan
I've had the same thought about his tutorials.
15 years into the music business and I STILL get to learn from Dan! What a scientist!
What a fantastic video, Dan. Cheers for sharing.
This is the BEST video on this topic I have ever seen - THANKS!!
A lot of these questions have been bothering me for a long time. Thanks for the explanation!
Dan Worrall is my spirit animal.
woop woop! always happy to see these videos coming in!
I am holding so much thoughts, I am getting dizzy. Wonderful video. Instant classic!
The practical tip at the end about actual loudness...brilliant.
Wow, the last minute of the video reveals the secret! Fantastic! That's how I will make it now! THX so much! Thumbs up, pal!
Dan, 0.2db from TH-cam perfection, not surprising. This man is the god of addicted producers, always come back to this to make the new musicians I meet even more happy!
Oh sh*#!! I didn't read the video description and was not ready for Dan "The Man" popping back here. I instantly hit full screen and start making obeisance. Respect, Dan and FabFilter!🙏
Thank you for the simple honest truth. I'll turn it up if I want it "Louder"!
watched both of these as they were not a hard sell or gimmicky OTT, just educational. Nice video thanks
Anyone else here hit the like before watching?Your videos are the best in youtube.And I really appreciate all you doing.
Yep, standard practice for Dan’s videos now.
Every single producer and or mixing engineer needs to watch this.
Thank You for your work! This is the high level education!
Dan Worrall, a gushing fountain of wisdom.
Thanks so much for all this excellent education!
that last statement teared me up. I'm going to make good music, that's my dream and i'll make it come true.
Top class info in here and not just an advert for Pro-L 2. Which everyone should buy anyway.
due to the quality of what was explained and demonstrated here, including the advice/wisdom at the end, i had little choice but to locate the 'volume up' button and watch it through again. 👍🏻
Those last sentences just gave me goosebumps !
Thank for he video !
Brilliant! Loving these FabFilter videos.. so informative and well produced!
Excellent! I like the knob to set up or down the volume ;)
worth the wait from part 1. thank you dan and fabilter homies!!
Thank you, sensei Dan!
Well spoken ! Some people ask me how I do my mixes so well. Certainly not by pushing the final mix as loud as possible. But by recognizing instruments specific frequencies and balance, EQ and pan them like it needs to be done. Dynamics is not the same as loudness !!!
Lol these videos were spot on, top tier. Thank you and good job. So glad loudness war is coming to an end
I 100% endorse everything said in this video. I do have to wonder though... when will record labels stop insisting on -7.5 LUFS. They're butchering my music.
you made my eyes tear with a big smile on
my face at the end, thanks for that :)
If there is some kind of reward for production tutorial videos these 2 parts would be first on the list to get it!! You deserve a reward for this no doubt!!!
Man I was waiting for this like the conclusion to a good cliffhanger episode of my favorite show, and you didn't disappoint! Yes, the loudness war was always pointless and its interesting that streaming platforms are basically ending it.
Yeah I feel you there.
it's*
@@ieatthighs Correct!
I’ve never been more excited for an audio engineering video lmao
Dan, you are KING! Thank you!
Yep, that's the way to do it. Thanks, Dan!
Learned so much, laughed a little at the end. The answer was right there in front of us.
Thanks, Dan, for validating the instinct I had 20 years ago, before I knew anything about mastering: Make your listener turn up by making your audio sound a little quieter (and better) than the mainstream. I love all your videos!
This trick seems to be used by todays mastering engineers who overly compress their tracks. I stumbled upon one pop song a while ago, first few seconds of the beginning was intentionally kept quiet to trick the listener to turn it up, then it gets a little louder and continues to playing compressed as usual.
The music in all your videos is simply amazing…❤ like a cherry on top.
Wow, this video is so good. It contains so much useful detailed information.
Awesome as always Dan! (On an unrelated/partially related note, I could listen to your voice all day)
Here's some young Dan for you :) th-cam.com/video/ESVRCT28d5o/w-d-xo.html
Might buy the essentials bundle, you can give Dan the royalties
BRAVO ! this video should be shown in all audio engineering schools !
Dan the legend. Always with the words of wisdom
nah but legitimately this made my day. i’ve spent way too much time figuring out how to make my tracks louder
Awesome! you are the industry standard Dan
Vocals sidchained to the background music. Nice!
Being in radio for about 46 years I noticed the sometimes dramatic, insane increase of loudness. And what a war it was (and still seems to be). To me it's very simple: if a recording of a song is mastered too much in my face, I simply *don't play it*. It won't be at the playlist at all.
Radio uses it's own processing in order to cater listeners invironmentalwise best (at least our radio station KilRock does...). Even the Big Names in the industry (don't mention any names, but Orban is one of them) warn radio engineers in the manuals of their OptiMods for 'ear fatigue': the moment listeners will switch off because their ears are getting tired of the compressed sound overload they experience.
A too heavily compressed mastered recording will be recognised by a multiband compressor from about 1982 and later. The device will just not proces the signal significantly. But there's a little catch here: when audio, coming straight from a mastering room is too compressed anyway, the listening experience will be a bit overwhelming anyway, so listeners will shut down their radios still because of that.
At first, listeners will turn down the volume a bit. After a while, they still will switch off their radios because of the restless soundscape they experience. This behaviour counts heavenly in your ratings. Besides that: if you're a recording artist or engineer, I don't think you want to be remembered as a loudness freak in the first place. What I'd suggest is that the 100% uncompressed audio is kept available at all times. Who knows what kind of engineering we can expect in the near future? I certainly don't :o)
Thanks for posting your videos. I like them very much!
interesting. Always am fascinated with radio processing
I've heard old mastering guys say that it was radio playback (i.e. people listening in their cars) that drove (no pun intended) the loudness war.
it's interesting to me how the amount of low-frequency content in pop music increased starting sometime around 1990. that created a need for better limiting tools, right? but you could also say that it was the limiting tools that made all that bass possible. bass in your face, baby! whatchoo gon' do wit all dat bass?
its* own processing, not it's
The loudness war is over. We lost.
So my takeaway from this is, make a very dynamic tune @ -14 LUFS with a very quiet intro. Listener turns it up, then they get to the climax of the tune and are blown away. This results in millions in streaming revenue, private jets and regular talk show appearances. :P
Brilliant video once again, thanks Dan! :)
The end made me smile. What a simple but brilliant conclusion. Thanks for all this information :)
This is spot on. I pushed a limiter hard, tried it in my car. Yes, at first it was louder. When I turned up the volume it was distorted bass, sounded crap. So, I turned down the limiter then tried that in the car. At first it sounded very low in volume but...when I cranked up the volume, the loudness was there, no bass distortion. Sounded so much clearer. So yes, Dan is spot on. Let people just crank that volume with no distortion. Top video Dan. 👍🙏
Not all loud limited mixes audibly distort though. Have to know what ur doing
sooooo incredible. So much power in all of this! thank you thank you thank you!
Thank you for this video! I've been struggling to figure out how loud my music should be and have seen people recommending exporting my masters around -8 dB LUFS for streaming so it's been very confusing for me. This video inspired me to focus on having a good mix over loudness. Thanks!
@Deep Moticons uhhh this was literally a comment thanking someone for a tutorial? Why the hell are you telling someone about their own experience when you don’t even know them.. like wtf bro? 😂😂😂😂
@@sleepykittens4193 I think he meant that because in the older days we didn't have all the computer shit in regards to music production that we have today, even I tell the young rappers and artists I record in my home studio that I feel jealous of them because to have what they have now on a computer didn't exist and costed way more back in like 2002 then it does now, shit, some stuff is litteraly free now, like industry secrets on recording or production, I believe this video here is also testament to that fact.
@@QNEGRO1 I literally went to school learning how to use old school analog gear along by bouncing tracks on an 8 track and using physical hardware. No digital stuff was taught when I went to school, so I had to learn digital plugins on my own. I mostly recorded bands so I had to understand which microphone best fits what instrument and actually mic up drumsets, amps, and vocalists. I don't know much about rap because my projects are mostly rock and metal based.
@@vitrih0lic Yeah I feel you man I'm from 85' , I had to learn vsts and computer music on my own too, early 2000's at most there was only Future Music Magazine (TH-cam tutorials didn't exist yet) that taught a little. I used to be in a band when I first started off doing music, we had a female singer, me on bass, a drummer and two guitarists, didn't last long but after that I had to go solo so I learned guitar too and started singing and computers was my only choice for cheap recordings and demos.
I grew up on rap and hip hop because of my father but when I was a kid lots of MTV had me hooked on other genres too.
I keep laughing when these young kids come to my home studio and after a recording they ask me what could make their music sound better, I pick up my guitar or my bass play something to make a break or pause or even just a play along to the song and after they sit there and scratch their head in confusion as to what I'm doing, then I explain that adding instruments would make rap beats and rythms less boring and give space and dimension to songs in between them rapping and rampling on, then they totally ignore me or look at like I'm an idiot, WELL SORRY IF YOUR USED TO THE THE ELECTRONIC BULLSHIT THAT PASSES FOR MUSIC TODAY BUT YEARS AGO RAPPERS AND HIPHOP ARTIST WOULD PAY MUSICIANS TO PLAY ON THERE TRACKS WTF!!🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️ so fucking sad!
@@vitrih0lic There was a rapper I was producing for years ago that got me into contact with a heavy producer and record label owner name in the industry in our area here in Northern Italy, the rapper was asking this producer while we were in his studio how it was recording to tape back then, he said "well, record, shit,retake, rewind the tape, cut the tape, tape the cut tape together, restart recording again". I can't even imagine the craziness of that today, just looking at old tape machines today in thrift shops make me cringe but I respect who did the work back then, I still remember tape decks and vhs, I understand the frustration of winding up tape cause you want to watch your favorite movie.
There was one time in the studio with the same rapper I mentioned before, the owner of the record label asks him if he wanted some old monitor speakers he could sell to him since he didn't need them anymore, upon showing him the speakers me and the owner of the record label sat back and watched in horror as the rapper starts putting his fingers into the cones of the speakers and leaves a small dent in one of them. Then he turns around and says "what?", me and the record label owner must have sat there trying to contain our murderous rage in silence for at least two minutes and a half before responding to him, never seen a rapper so afraid in all my life LMFAO
He had to buy them afterwards🤣😂🤷🏼♂️🤦♂️
İs there any info about the radio broadcast loudness standarts ?
I had the 7" of Neanderthal Man by the pre-10cc band Hotlegs. In the runout groove was scratched "Please Play Louder" as they included a massive transient towards the end of the song (from hitting a 6ft steel plate with a hammer) that it rather upset the mastering lathe meaning a new cut at lower level to accommodate the hit..
Short of a remix, your answer to the question of loudness ended up being the only way they could get the thing played at the level they wanted it heard!
That sounds like a record where they should have placed the groove from the inside out, so the loud part would be at the outside edge where the record has the greatest linear velocity, and thus also the most headroom. Some classical records are mastered this way, as movements often start soft and end loud.
I have to say I'm always impressed with the quality of production and information in these videos. I can't praise it enough!
love it!! so true. Juts make good stuff
Thanks Dan, these two videos have been SO helpful to understand the whole issue and how we should approach loudness when mastering!
Quality Amps provide all the gain one could ever dream of. I lived through the Loudness Wars and it was brutal... still is.
Thank you for making this video, the story is remarkable
Beautiful advice in the end!
WOW, superb. I watched all the way through both videos... and then the punchline hit at the end... That just reached right inside and wow... I wasn't going to subscribe, but I have because of that.
I can not believe that you revealed those great little secret!
Very informative! Thanks for that!
Just watched it again. Excellent video. Thanks.
An excellent conclusion. Dan's right you know, if you want people to listen with great dynamic range but still get the excitement out of the parts that SHOULD be exciting, then make it so that they can't RESIST!
Brilliantly executed!
Wow, I really liked the conclusion, not always will the "loudest" song sound better, so its better to focus on making our music actually sounding better, that will make the user crank it up 🤘❤🤘
this is what i needed to hear
man, the conclusion of this video made me tear up. So beautiful.
Thank you, Dan, you are a legend!
Excellent....most of my favorite albums (even from the 1980s) had relatively high dynamic ranges ....and those are the ones I spent a ton of time listening to... Fun to crank them up....dynamic = fun and exciting to turn up! And they do not fatigue you....SPACE is paramount. Thanks for all the great content. (Moderation runs through the universe as a golden rule). 14 LUFS is a reasonable new standard. I may even try some LUFS 18's when I fully mature....ha
the end is pure emotion
Great Video('s). Thanks for the mass of information.
That end is priceless! :D
Spotify doesn’t have a limiter. They increase the integrated loudness to -14 LUFS but if it hits -1dbTP first then they stop increasing it there. In other words, they just raise the volume less rather than limit it.
Clear, concise info. Just the facts, no waffling.
Thanks for that.
This is Gold Jerry, Gold!
This video is almost spiritual. :) Thank you Dan!
great video! amazing conclusion
Nobody talking about the banger of a BG track in this video?!
I did some experimentation with TH-cam's algorithm and the loudness level is also based on a short term component not only the overall integrated value so it is hard to "defeat" it with a dynamic mix.
Been checking every day on the page for this
this channel has such a “How Its Made” vibe 🔥
Brilliant conclusion !
Thank you sir.
FabFilter and Dan Worrall = great combination! This TH-cam video is at -1.2 dB. Lovely video guys! I was waiting for part 2. Side note: although I assume most people here know this, I want to point out the following: if you have a paid subscription with lossless audio (Apple Music, Tidal etcetera) make sure you listen with a wired headphone. Bluetooth headphones aren’t able to transmit high res lossless audio. In other words, if you listen to a lossless file with Bluetooth headphones, the end result is rather a lossy one. Nevertheless Bluetooth and it’s codecs are becoming better and better and maybe in the far future there will be a solution to listen lossless on a Bluetooth wireless headphone. Keep coming with these awesome video’s #FabFilter and #DanWorrall !
Digital fuckery made a mockery of music. The loudness wars have completely and irreversibly destroyed a good 15-20 years of music. I’m in charge of the volume, thank you.
Wow I just listened to the billy eyelash video and kept restrained myself from adjusting the volume(most people ajust the every song really, I was just more aware of it). Just proves your point really