The Future of Mastering: Loudness in the Age of Music Streaming

►Get the free mastering workshop at sonicscoop.com/mastering101
In this presentation, GRAMMY-nominated mastering engineer Alan Silverman shows how music streaming services have turned the world of mastering for loudness upside down.
Explore how the tools and techniques that mix and mastering engineers of the 21st century are changing quickly in response to the automatic volume normalization happening on platforms like Spotify, KZread, Apple Music, Google Play, Pandora and more.
Find out more about Alan Silverman and his studio at www.aerialsound.com
This presentation is excerpted from "The Future of Music Production" panel from MixCon 2019, sponsored by iZotope. Check them out at izotope.com
Find the full conversation here: • The Future of the Loud...

Пікірлер: 1 200

  • @lucas.n
    @lucas.n4 жыл бұрын

    14:00 the Streaming services don't seem to care much about the listener's health when they play their ads though.

  • @roddydykes7053

    @roddydykes7053

    4 жыл бұрын

    Lucas N yeah how the hell can they blast those at near double-volume

  • @petesmith9475

    @petesmith9475

    4 жыл бұрын

    you can install thing called adblock and stop whining.

  • @SmellMyKKPP

    @SmellMyKKPP

    4 жыл бұрын

    So in the end the streaming services win the loudness war no matter what lol

  • @kurtgerd7886

    @kurtgerd7886

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@petesmith9475 Which you can't really do on smartphones. Also you could just pay for the service.

  • @user-lt2rw5nr9s

    @user-lt2rw5nr9s

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@kurtgerd7886 Patched apps, but yeah. Pay for it.

  • @10HW
    @10HW3 жыл бұрын

    My girlfriend called me halfway through this and I never felt so much interrupted in my whole life

  • @mixedbykonstantine

    @mixedbykonstantine

    3 жыл бұрын

    Hahahaha

  • @nibblesd.biscuits4270
    @nibblesd.biscuits42704 жыл бұрын

    A quiet guy speaking softly about loudness. 👍🏼

  • @cosmicaudio4589

    @cosmicaudio4589

    4 жыл бұрын

    And exactly what he was saying, less is more. Shouting means no one listens It's that subjectivity he talks about. And that equates to compression.

  • @tomlebeau7921

    @tomlebeau7921

    3 жыл бұрын

    David Paul PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH

  • @louderthangod

    @louderthangod

    3 жыл бұрын

    Walk softly and carry a big limiter.

  • @zxp3ct3r41

    @zxp3ct3r41

    3 жыл бұрын

    You folks have no clue what the word means

  • @haydendillon-lloyd9304

    @haydendillon-lloyd9304

    3 жыл бұрын

    God. Yes....

  • @ShapeNoise
    @ShapeNoise4 жыл бұрын

    Phasing tracks to hear what Limiters are doing is a cool tip

  • @markmcclellan8421

    @markmcclellan8421

    4 жыл бұрын

    What do you mean by phasing tracks? Do you mean putting tracks out of phase? Or putting them through a phaser? Or what?

  • @ZRock7771

    @ZRock7771

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@markmcclellan8421 if you invert the audio wave and play the non inverted wave with the limiter on one you will hear the difference between the two audio files, meaning you will hear only what your limiter is doing

  • @pacman_pol_pl_polska

    @pacman_pol_pl_polska

    4 жыл бұрын

    @Gabriel Freitas Get two tracks, one under the other. One before limiting, second after limiting. Invert the phase of one of the two tracks. Some DAWs have invert phase button on every track, or you can use some plugin that has that feature. Inverting phase makes the waveform flip upside down. When it went up, now it goes down. Two identical tracks when flipped will cancel themselves. It's like having +10 and then adding flipped -10, the result is 0. When one track will be limited, everything will be canceled apart from the work made by limiter.

  • @boomish69

    @boomish69

    4 жыл бұрын

    Soldat don’t forget a null test will only fully cancel if the waveforms are identical, any random modulation will be different so you will also hear that too, try inverting the 2 bounces of the same mix, EG if there is a reverb with an LFO of some kind in it you’ll hear that difference.

  • @ZRock7771

    @ZRock7771

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@pacman_pol_pl_polska this is exactly how its done. thanks for clearing it up, a lot more detail then my 1st comment.

  • @dontaskwhatkindofmusic
    @dontaskwhatkindofmusic4 жыл бұрын

    i haven't been paying attention to what he's saying but the sound of his calm voice has improved my mastering skills

  • @SroSocial

    @SroSocial

    4 жыл бұрын

    yes

  • @victorgabriel-udoh3376

    @victorgabriel-udoh3376

    4 жыл бұрын

    this comment needs an award!😹

  • @notingz

    @notingz

    3 жыл бұрын

    haaa😂😷👌🏽

  • @russellszabadosaka5-pindin849

    @russellszabadosaka5-pindin849

    3 жыл бұрын

    @Don’t Ask What Kind Of Music absolutely!

  • @russellszabadosaka5-pindin849

    @russellszabadosaka5-pindin849

    3 жыл бұрын

    I fell asleep watching KZread on my iPad, and this video was playing when I woke up yesterday. It was so laid back & mellow. Good thing it was Saturday, I might have missed work.

  • @robbrown1970
    @robbrown19704 жыл бұрын

    This was a very interesting presentation, but kinda sucks that he got rushed for time towards the end. I feel like he possibly had a plethora of more information he could have provided. I would love to see a "full length" un-rushed presentation of this material. It would be great if Alan could record the full version and upload to youtube. I feel like it's an important message to get out there.

  • @artfxdnb

    @artfxdnb

    4 жыл бұрын

    Totally agree, towards the end I felt like he was going to talk about how this would translate to genres where compression and saturation have become 'part of the sound', but it was then just rushed over quickly without much information regarding this side of loudness. I think especially today this is actually a very interesting topic to talk about since a lot of electronic genres do rely on smashing things. Still, this was a great video though, it actually showed in a pretty easy and understandable way what the whole new loudness normalization means and what it does. However since I come from a background of 'heavier' electronic music and grew up making Hip Hop, I do wished he continued more on the topic of what it means for those genres and how to tackle it.

  • @CoGAmbientMusic

    @CoGAmbientMusic

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@artfxdnb I guess i've infered what's the point. Even though we do make music that is comp-heavy, that's part of sound design, while we can change some of the decisions on the mix/master part such as limiters or comps or saturator to gain volume, and light final limiting. I'm just trying to do so.

  • @mal2ksc

    @mal2ksc

    4 жыл бұрын

    It seemed to me the message was "Forget everything you knew about making yourself louder. That exploit has been patched, now all you're doing is making yourself sound small and shitty." The beauty of it is that the solution is to return to _doing nothing._ Use whatever dynamic range you need to use. Compress because you want a certain sound, not because you think it's required. Then stop. It might seem that taking a step out of the workflow would actually be welcome, but like reverb on a bad vocalist, it's possible to hide a lot of sins behind compression. If you have been, now you have to fix them.

  • @AMpr0d

    @AMpr0d

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@mal2ksc compressors can finally go back to their intended use case. We love to put compressors on every single track, but now we don't HAVE to get it to a certain point. We can actually put as much as the track needed and maybe even take it off because it wasn't necessary. This opens up so much more options for creativity gotta love it.

  • @FloydMaxwell

    @FloydMaxwell

    4 жыл бұрын

    The loudness war claimed another victim, lol

  • @eddysel10
    @eddysel104 жыл бұрын

    He deserves a grammy. One of the best explanations on this topic. 30 minutes was too short. I wish he had the time to really show how to use those loudness meters / plugins.

  • @JackHekler

    @JackHekler

    3 жыл бұрын

    indeed, I would like to see hours of this

  • @bodyworksdw

    @bodyworksdw

    3 жыл бұрын

    He’s actually got quite a few grammys

  • @The8BitBigBand
    @The8BitBigBand3 жыл бұрын

    Alan masters ALL of our recordings and he is a certifiable bad ass through and through!

  • @Enstinc

    @Enstinc

    3 жыл бұрын

    Listen to what I’ve created n mixed my self does it sound loud enough.

  • @Enstinc

    @Enstinc

    3 жыл бұрын

    kzread.info/dash/bejne/iZ19rtaFYMfghbQ.html

  • @Felipemelazzi

    @Felipemelazzi

    3 жыл бұрын

    Now I'm impressed!

  • @Joeknowsit-ALL

    @Joeknowsit-ALL

    3 жыл бұрын

    I even heard the difference samsung phone 😆

  • @Felipemelazzi

    @Felipemelazzi

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@DIVERGENCE777 Yes??

  • @xsatn2082
    @xsatn20824 жыл бұрын

    That dynamic range of the jazz track really made it sound interesting and pleasant to the ear others were boring

  • @IcidLink

    @IcidLink

    3 жыл бұрын

    Yeah Jazz is amazing in this regard. The problem is the most modern Pop Music is Over Produced Quite bland Music with no dynamics whatsoever

  • @jimdixon3470

    @jimdixon3470

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@IcidLink Sadly, some labels (UMG) have been compressing the crap out of even acoustic jazz releases in the 21st century. John Scofield's recordings come to mind. His Blue Notes from 1990-1992 with Joe Lovano had a very high dynamic range. He reformed this band around 2015 and put out an album on Verve that sounds much less "alive" than digital recordings released 25 years earlier, with considerably lower dynamic range. Small labels are still releasing jazz albums with great sound, however.

  • @morgendorffer3504
    @morgendorffer35044 жыл бұрын

    as reggie watts would say: "... and there is a profoundness... to this loudness... that is especially hard... to come down with"

  • @mal2ksc
    @mal2ksc4 жыл бұрын

    It feels like a decades-old exploit has been patched. Finally.

  • @julianchlin
    @julianchlin3 жыл бұрын

    11:06 is the key point, 12:19 pop dynamic rang, 12:57 peak normalization, 14:12 loundness normalization, 16:43 new targets, 24:19 different level demo track, 25:13 Level all the same, 26:10 what happened, 28:00 VU is getting back!

  • @michaelfarrow4648
    @michaelfarrow46483 жыл бұрын

    Having known Alan for 40 years, I was very happy to see him again, if only virtually. Alan's musicality has always brightly shown through on every project we have worked on together. Alan, thanks for sharing your insight into a complex, changing and sometimes confusing subject.

  • @plasticmummyhead
    @plasticmummyhead4 жыл бұрын

    My mind is blown. I feel like one of those soldiers who's been hiding in the woods and didn't know that the war is over. Thank you Alan! What a great presentation, wish I could hear the rest!

  • @ossicles6

    @ossicles6

    3 жыл бұрын

    had this EXACT thought. EXACTLY.

  • @BooyahL
    @BooyahL3 жыл бұрын

    Really cool for the NBA commissioner to give audio engineering advice on his free time

  • @raadsoudani2048

    @raadsoudani2048

    3 жыл бұрын

    Lolllll

  • @KarimLeMec
    @KarimLeMec4 жыл бұрын

    Loudness war was the worst low moments in music History.. now we won. We gained headroom

  • @larrylentini5688

    @larrylentini5688

    4 жыл бұрын

    Now everything is leveled except the ads :/

  • @RogerBarraud

    @RogerBarraud

    4 жыл бұрын

    'bout freakin' time!!11! :-)

  • @TheBeatle49

    @TheBeatle49

    3 жыл бұрын

    Yes. Still a problem in live performances.

  • @raedius_music

    @raedius_music

    3 жыл бұрын

    Still a problem in nightclubs

  • @andreatomassini5521

    @andreatomassini5521

    3 жыл бұрын

    Still a problem, sadly, just listen to most contemporary music.....but yeah, maybe something is changing

  • @matteoperron5436
    @matteoperron54364 жыл бұрын

    "all the limiters sound completely different" me sitting here not hearing a single difference lmao

  • @MalcolmBlakeSeeAndHear

    @MalcolmBlakeSeeAndHear

    4 жыл бұрын

    Me too exactly hahaha

  • @nicholascowan1731

    @nicholascowan1731

    4 жыл бұрын

    You guys must not mix music lol

  • @dharmapunk777

    @dharmapunk777

    4 жыл бұрын

    I had the same and my thinking was that I am listening through youtube and on a bose speaker.

  • @roddydykes7053

    @roddydykes7053

    4 жыл бұрын

    Mattéo Perron if you were there in the auditorium, you probably would. But across KZread, no way

  • @mr.soundguy5621

    @mr.soundguy5621

    4 жыл бұрын

    They limit different harmonics in the track in order to create its "Sound" essentially blending all the frequencies together. Some limiters focus on high end transients better where others focus on the midrange or lower midrange. Thats why some limiters can sound warm or bright. So they are all doing the same thing essentially just balancing the track out differntly if it makes sense. Turn up the music and when you feel it, then you will hear the difference.

  • @TT-md7mm
    @TT-md7mm4 жыл бұрын

    Yoooo, my mastering engineer learned under Alan Silverman and speaks VERY highly of him. Listen to everything this dude says.

  • @camilosilva595
    @camilosilva5953 жыл бұрын

    You can tell someone is a true soundengineer when he wears sonic protection on stage while giving a seminar... Thumbs up for him!!

  • @AMpr0d
    @AMpr0d4 жыл бұрын

    What a time to be alive gentlemen, this video really gave me a good mood.

  • @backwardclock1074
    @backwardclock10744 жыл бұрын

    As a mix and master engineer, this is a conversation i am continually having with artists. This is a great talk, thank you so much for sharing

  • @misael2649
    @misael26494 жыл бұрын

    This was so quick but learned so much! I could watch another hour of him talking more in depth

  • @flatearthsocietyleiden7857
    @flatearthsocietyleiden78574 жыл бұрын

    I did not know that Michel Foucault was still alive and that he knew this much about music!

  • @strumspicks2456

    @strumspicks2456

    4 жыл бұрын

    it's actually Michael Pollan

  • @Kizip

    @Kizip

    4 жыл бұрын

    Strums & Picks no shit Sherlock

  • @strumspicks2456

    @strumspicks2456

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@Kizip a mushroom told me

  • @nerfytheclown

    @nerfytheclown

    3 жыл бұрын

    ...I thought that was a pretty good one. Cheers.

  • @jwrxgd
    @jwrxgd4 жыл бұрын

    Amazing! The part where he shows off the different limiters and what they're doing "under the hood" blew my mind. Really helpful stuff, it is always appreciated!!

  • @SeanQuinn4
    @SeanQuinn44 жыл бұрын

    Coming from a film audio background, I have been using minimal compression in my music projects as well, out of practice and frustration with the modern limited sound, so this gives me some serious hope!

  • @freesouljah
    @freesouljah4 жыл бұрын

    This is golden knowledge and advice!!! Thank you for taking the time to make it available for all of us!! 🤙🏼

  • @ooakproductions
    @ooakproductions3 жыл бұрын

    This is hands down one of the best explanations I've ever seen. Every mix and / or mastering engineer alive should watch this.

  • @addammadd
    @addammadd3 жыл бұрын

    I feel like having caught this lecture at the 6-month point of my own personal deep dive into engineering, I am very lucky.

  • @doyouknowwhodariusminesis7854
    @doyouknowwhodariusminesis78544 жыл бұрын

    WOW! Never heard exactly what a limiter was doing. This is amazing

  • @officialWWM
    @officialWWM4 жыл бұрын

    I have started turning my masters down. I mostly only record my own music with the odd project for other people and I use Ozone 9 for mastering. I have consciously started mastering to a lower level to retain dynamics in the music, especially on a ballad. To my ears, it sounds better and if you want it louder, you can just turn it up :)

  • @MaxCarola
    @MaxCarola4 жыл бұрын

    Thank you, this is a wonderful presentation of a real problem and the solution. I personally like to go for a -12LUFS when mixing and in mastering not going much louder. And it works perfectly. Still there is some resistance still from engineer that spent a better part of their lives learning how to smash the songs and now they are "lost in headroom". This was a real revolution and I love it!

  • @siddharthsaraswat
    @siddharthsaraswat3 жыл бұрын

    I could listen to his advice for hours. Beautifully explained. That's what years of experience is :)

  • @inachu
    @inachu4 жыл бұрын

    I hope all mixers who work with classical music listen to this.

  • @jhorstmann5151
    @jhorstmann51514 жыл бұрын

    This was an incredible presentation - thanks!!

  • @hopetea7670
    @hopetea76703 жыл бұрын

    Brilliant. Well worth sitting down, and putting your headphones on, to listen and learn. Absolutley invaluable.

  • @DannySullivanMusic
    @DannySullivanMusic Жыл бұрын

    23:27 is when it all came together for me. This is an important message and I'm glad Alan shared it with all of us.

  • @annakat03
    @annakat033 жыл бұрын

    OH WOW. It didnt even feel like 30 mins I thought he was just getting started!!! Agreed with everyone else: we need more of him!

  • @nebularain3338
    @nebularain33383 жыл бұрын

    "Ten million dollars a day from streaming" And the actual artists see a pittance from that.

  • @IcidLink

    @IcidLink

    3 жыл бұрын

    Don’t Worry Jay Z, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Tailor Swift make enough money already

  • @Anonymous-is2qb

    @Anonymous-is2qb

    3 жыл бұрын

    The music industry is the devil's office.

  • @1998Cebola

    @1998Cebola

    3 жыл бұрын

    They should either start their own label or negotiate their contracts better. I don't pity adults having everything done for them and then complaining they're not multi-millionares.

  • @matrixate

    @matrixate

    3 жыл бұрын

    and that's too much in their eyes. They will keep raising the price just to upload to streaming platforms. At one point, it will be art for those that can afford it, making no money from it but paying to have their art heard and gain prestige merely from the popularity.

  • @basroos_snafu
    @basroos_snafu Жыл бұрын

    Defining limiting as a problem is the best thing I've heard during these brilliant 30 minutes. Thank you!

  • @ianperry5522
    @ianperry55224 жыл бұрын

    Finally, a good explanation. Great would be in the room of the presentation. You literally cannot hear the difference (on KZread) until he shows you with phase subtraction what is being added when we lop the tops off the trees.

  • @chrisengel6106
    @chrisengel61064 жыл бұрын

    Incredible explanation! Thanks for providing.

  • @sjtheartisan
    @sjtheartisan4 жыл бұрын

    I was here in July with my friend from HK that's dope, I actually forgot it was filmed!

  • @TheSonofMan101
    @TheSonofMan1013 жыл бұрын

    What a great presentation. I’ve learnt a lot about defining loudness and its cost over the last two years, but the breakdown of the three limiters inducing distortion was particularly eye opening.

  • @MrBassyk
    @MrBassyk3 жыл бұрын

    This is absolutely mind blowing. Thank you guys for sharing. Best video on this subject I've seen so far.

  • @Noone-of-your-Business
    @Noone-of-your-Business4 жыл бұрын

    Forced loudness leveling basically wins the loudness wars after 3 decades of pop that has been limited so much it ended up pretty much dead sounding and with unbearable kickdrum pumping. So we finally get our dynamic range back. Proves me right for _not_ compressing the shit out of my mixes even at the cost of them sounding quieter on a standard stereo system. If you want it louder, use the friggin' *volume* dial.

  • @3llipsis181

    @3llipsis181

    4 жыл бұрын

    I think the idea he was trying to convey is that forced leveling is not an issue that has to relate to loudness if working with transient shaping and balancing so that the track doesnt feel so quiet.

  • @jasonsteves734

    @jasonsteves734

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@3llipsis181 Do you mean that the process just has changed for the same outcome?

  • @3llipsis181

    @3llipsis181

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@jasonsteves734 essentially yes. The dB range has been more limited, but it does not mean we are incapable of combatting that issue by realizing loudness does not necessarily translate to a higher dB. It also has to do with the frequencies boosted, the transient shaping, etc. I think it is better for us because especially things like classical music had such a dynamic range that volume levels changing so fast made it impossible to listen to certain songs without having to change the volume part way through

  • @lucaswojatschke3883

    @lucaswojatschke3883

    4 жыл бұрын

    right! And on the radio it's still overcompressed anyway

  • @squidcaps4308

    @squidcaps4308

    4 жыл бұрын

    The thing that most forget it s that compression/limiting should be done by the end user. If they are in noisy environment or need to listen to it at nights, at low levels, the limiting should be more aggressive. And when they are listening in quiet environment with more sound pressure, limiting should be non aggressive. The volume knob is actually the wrong adjustment for most needs. If you ever had the "pleasure" of mixing bespoke to one room, one system, one environment, it becomes quite obvious. You can get to perfection when it is used only in one place and the environment is static, doesn't change (for ex, art installations, theater etc). What most users need is not just gain, it is both limiter and gain. Luckily, more and more customers do have dynamic range control, sadly they are very simple but it already makes our job so much easier. You do not have to master for headphones used in a sub/metro, the listening device has thought of that and does the final "crush" itself. What we need is a standard that all manufacturers need to follow.. Just simple none/mild/medium/strong limiting defaults, done the same way in each device. If we had that, we could easily give our mixes and masters more room the breathe and we can test the results in a standard limiter to make sure it works with all the defaults.

  • @OdinOfficialEmcee
    @OdinOfficialEmcee4 жыл бұрын

    I always mix with a VU meter. Everything gain staged to -18db on the individual tracks before I mix and a VU Meter on the master buss calibrated to -14db and the records really do sound so much better when the final mix is done.

  • @yassinetalbi5884

    @yassinetalbi5884

    4 жыл бұрын

    why -14 db on master buss ?

  • @OdinOfficialEmcee

    @OdinOfficialEmcee

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@yassinetalbi5884 couple of reasons. 1) your mix will never come out too hot, plenty of headroom 2) less work in mastering needs to be done compressing and limiting to get up to commercial levels while still giving them lots of room to work 3) your plugins on the master buss are still being hit in their sweet spot and your not blowing out compressors and EQ's with level

  • @OdinOfficialEmcee

    @OdinOfficialEmcee

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@yassinetalbi5884 I find anything less than -14 on the mixbuss results in an extremely quiet mix and any noise floor will be present in the final product (when gaining tracks to -18). And anything above -12 to -14 results in peak levels reaching close to zero and doesn't leave mastering a lot of room to work

  • @yassinetalbi5884

    @yassinetalbi5884

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@OdinOfficialEmcee Oh yeah ! sorry I just thought for a second we were talking about Peak volume not db VU.. that would be around -6 dbfs right ?

  • @OdinOfficialEmcee

    @OdinOfficialEmcee

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@yassinetalbi5884 A VU meter calibrated to -14db will read 0 when your RMS (Average) level is -14dbfs. Your peak level will be determined by how dynamic your mix is, instruments used, compression, etc. A real variety of factors. As a general rule of thumb though you're probably right and your peaks will fall between -10dbfs and -5dbfs, give or take a bit

  • @DanielBergonzoni
    @DanielBergonzoni3 жыл бұрын

    Great info here! I’ve heard a lot of talk about this, but never gave it much thought. It’s nice to know because I won’t worry about slamming my mixes anymore so thank you

  • @chuckjuice1317
    @chuckjuice13174 жыл бұрын

    Great presentation, every producer and engineer needs to watch!

  • @thromboid
    @thromboid4 жыл бұрын

    It's very heartening to see this finally happening. My only concern is that the next loudness war will be fought on perceived loudness and give us harsh, mid-heavy mixes and masters. But I think that will be harder to get away with.

  • @BoyBlessing
    @BoyBlessing3 жыл бұрын

    Need more from him. Please make another video with him but even longer and showing how we can master

  • @spaurtacusmusic
    @spaurtacusmusic3 жыл бұрын

    This video was super helpful in my understanding of a complex subject. As a beginning music producer, thank you so much for clearing up my misconceptions!

  • @dwftube
    @dwftube2 жыл бұрын

    I wish this were longer - I could listen to this guy for hours. If there's one good thing to come out of streaming its that it has pulled the rug from under the loudness war.

  • @dharmapunk777
    @dharmapunk7774 жыл бұрын

    This was by the far the most interesting thing I've watched all week, maybe in the last month. I don't even mix or produce. I just love music. Damn shame to cut it short.

  • @danielkisel5661
    @danielkisel56614 жыл бұрын

    Wow there are some serious thoughts in this. I'm rethinking loudness and looking forward for great, natural sounding music! Jaw dropping, thanks!

  • @speeluh
    @speeluh4 жыл бұрын

    Wow, this video changes the way i'm going to mix my next albums. Great video! Thank you thank you thank you thank you. It's ike a son that's away for many years and is returning home: all of the dynamics are back again and that makes me feel happy as hell😀😀😀😀

  • @fuzzypancake123
    @fuzzypancake1237 ай бұрын

    That was just amazing!! So clear and easy to understand. Loved it!! 😁

  • @MrJHT49
    @MrJHT494 жыл бұрын

    Can’t believe this is free content, thank you very much

  • @ScratonMusicOfficial
    @ScratonMusicOfficial4 жыл бұрын

    This is very true and informative video. As a producer myself being in the industry for over 8 years now, the massive change of how " Mastering " is perceived definitely varies from artist to artist. Do not forget that every genre, every specific sound deserves a completely different touch in order to make it stand out as the producer wishes it to be in result, so even if the particular style is meant to be very powerful, it does not necessarily mean people have to make it sound loud. I see the beauty of mastering in actual manual control, where every sounds is carefully crafted, tweaked and monitored so the result will sound as best as possible without having to simply let the automatic settings bleed it out. So the whole auto-normalizing might be helpful only to producers who do not master at all so in the very least their tracks do not blow the listener's speakers, but other than that, it sure does damage the quality if that same technique is done to " Already Mastered " track as it becomes less pronounced. But more of a reason to get it in the best quality so that goes away

  • @Jz-sv1ju

    @Jz-sv1ju

    3 жыл бұрын

    Scranton music official- So is there any point to mastering at all if it will be affected and if the standard will automatically do it then???

  • @travisyee8739

    @travisyee8739

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@Jz-sv1ju Normalization being applied by streaming services is not at all the same thing as mastering. Alan Silverman, in this very video, specifically states that loudness is subjective and influenced by many more variables than simply "level", and "level" is the only thing normalization is really affecting. Mastering itself creates tonal and dynamic changes in a piece of music that can be quite pleasing, and every track should be mastered, but depending on the genre some tracks will need very little in the way of dynamic reduction, and some will absolutely depend on that dynamic reduction to give it the sound that genre is known for. The point of all of this is that if you master your music above target LUFS levels set by various streaming services, it will be turned down by those streaming services, and that past a certain point you will have reduced dynamic range without the benefit of any perceived loudness on these streaming platforms. Normalization does not replace mastering, it sets a ceiling for it and discourages the continuation of the loudness wars.

  • @zxp3ct3r41

    @zxp3ct3r41

    3 жыл бұрын

    So when you're doing production tutorial?

  • @GuyGamer1

    @GuyGamer1

    3 жыл бұрын

    you watched the video yet you still don't appear to know how loudness normalization works. It does not affect the quality of your track, mastered or not.

  • @julianlopez723

    @julianlopez723

    2 жыл бұрын

    Please release a remaster of Secret Curiosity

  • @lazdow9229
    @lazdow92292 жыл бұрын

    Alan is truly one of just a few in the world who are absolutely the best. If only his kind of genuine expertise was the norm in in the world we’d be so much better off. Bravo Alan!

  • @vocalproductionandeditings9322
    @vocalproductionandeditings93223 жыл бұрын

    Absolutely such a great video about the history of Loudness till now. "They have taken away Level control but given you more headroom". This went off like a bright light bulb in my head. Fantastic.

  • @kenhymes4900
    @kenhymes49004 жыл бұрын

    A must watch for engineers and musicians. stick with it through the history, get to around 17:50, and keep going.

  • @arseniy

    @arseniy

    4 жыл бұрын

    What the point? It's rather a history lesson. Nothing helpful for actual mixing or mastering.

  • @natus49
    @natus494 жыл бұрын

    Oh my days, this leaves me with more questions than answers. Amazing talk, very very insightful...

  • @GenerationAI2024
    @GenerationAI20244 жыл бұрын

    Its going to be great to get our dynamic range back. Great presentation and thank you for sharing :)

  • @lorenzogabriele9533
    @lorenzogabriele95334 жыл бұрын

    Incredibly clear presentation! Thank you very much. Alan Silverman really knows how to teach things to people!

  • @TheMrsonshine
    @TheMrsonshine2 жыл бұрын

    This was amazing and WELL presented! I could sit at his feet for hours! Thank you for this wholesome and helpful content as always!

  • @ractorstudios
    @ractorstudios4 жыл бұрын

    Love how we get to hear exactly what the limiter is doing

  • @gregaras5000

    @gregaras5000

    4 жыл бұрын

    i think that was clipping not limiting

  • @Creator_Veeto_PAEACP

    @Creator_Veeto_PAEACP

    4 жыл бұрын

    Gregaras The Greg bahahahaha. What do you think limiters are? You’re squashing a signal which guess what? Creates distortion... not clipping. Distortion does come from clipping but it also comes from saturation, compression, using lots of drive (which is increasing the signal beyond 0db then reduces the loudness so that it doesnt blow your ears and speakers) do you even mix?

  • @gregaras5000

    @gregaras5000

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@Creator_Veeto_PAEACP sorry, didn't delete my dumb comment

  • @cascadingrivermusic2744
    @cascadingrivermusic27443 жыл бұрын

    This video was a great find. Since I started to produce music and learned of the desire of mixers/masters to make the loudest recordings possible and I always felt that modern music lacked a sonic musical quality because of the lack of dynamic range allowed by engineers/labels. I always hoped the ways of the past will return and give us mixes with an expressive Dynamic range but never expected it would come about through the use of a modern medium, streaming.

  • @Eventual420
    @Eventual4203 жыл бұрын

    I’m at home creating songs as a hobby and I love learning, so thank you KZread for recommending this video out of the blue. ❤️ YT Recommendations.

  • @jelguwop299
    @jelguwop2993 жыл бұрын

    Developing the mixing and mastering ear takes time and practice.

  • @grahamtaylor6883
    @grahamtaylor68834 жыл бұрын

    That chart showing cinema dynamic range explains a lot. There are so many movies, that when watched at home are terrible. The actors mumble at such a low volume (in that fake Hollywood gruff voice), what they're saying is inaudible. I always rant in my head 'what kind of sound engineer moron has done this'. It ruins the movie in a home environment. I think I need a compressor on the TV output.

  • @henri-fillipbauer6579

    @henri-fillipbauer6579

    4 жыл бұрын

    dope

  • @RealHomeRecording

    @RealHomeRecording

    4 жыл бұрын

    It's because the sound job is rushed and under budget. Good, fast and cheap pick two.

  • @Projacked1

    @Projacked1

    4 жыл бұрын

    I was thinking the excact same thing, good point brother.

  • @aleksik4028

    @aleksik4028

    4 жыл бұрын

    And then comes sound effects, car chases, music, etc and your ears are bleeding. But barely hear what is been said. Same goes to most TV programs/shows and also so many youtube videos. Music is many times way too loud compared to conversations. Have to keep adjusting volume.

  • @darikdatta

    @darikdatta

    4 жыл бұрын

    This is a common problem. The "night mode" on a lot of digital receivers is a compressor. My DVD player also has a dynamic range compression feature tucked away in a menu.

  • @joshk2181
    @joshk21814 жыл бұрын

    this opened me up, thank you Alan

  • @curtisnielsen3490
    @curtisnielsen34903 жыл бұрын

    MIND BLOWN. Thank you so much!! Excellent visuals and information. This has helped me so much!!!

  • @senseimilli
    @senseimilli4 жыл бұрын

    I honestly feel like the entire general notion of what this all entails can coincide with some type of futuristic philosophical evolution...

  • @Sh1tP0stM4nia

    @Sh1tP0stM4nia

    4 жыл бұрын

    I was thinking the same thing straight up

  • @pelbriks
    @pelbriks4 жыл бұрын

    This all works to a certain extent. All my albums were mastered at -9 LUFS. Then I learned more about this topic so I decided to master my last album at -14 LUFS. Result? On Spotify, my last album sounds quieter than the previous ones. Now I think I've done everything right, I also involved an external mastering engineer to make sure everything was right. But if I could come back in time I would master my last album at -9 LUFS as well.

  • @SonicScoop

    @SonicScoop

    4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks so much for sharing this story Fabio. To a degree, it depends to a degree on the genre, EQ curve and style of mixing, I think. If the mix is already pretty compressed loud, turning it down won't make it louder on streaming services. Alternately, if there is a lot of low end in the track, that can make it sound relatively quiet compared to other tracks at the same LUFS level that are brighter. There are other factors I could go on about here. As a mastering engineer myself, I always try to do my last pass of level setting by ear, comparing to relevant references. For me, meters are a guide and never the final decision maker. Hope that helps!! -Justin

  • @gregrodrigueziii8075

    @gregrodrigueziii8075

    4 жыл бұрын

    Just to be clear, did you master your tracks peaking at -14dbfs or you mastered in -14LUFS. 80% of the time people get confused with this so im just making sure. Because a track mastered at -14LUFS cant really be lower in loudness if a -9dbfs master is normalized to -14LUFS. If you really did mastered in LUFS, most likely your 1st album was more dynamic in the 1st place compared to the 2nd one, A highly compressed and crushed peaking at -14dbfs will always sound quiter than a highly dynamic track mastered in -14LUFS I mean after all -14LUFS can have parts peaking at -6dbfs compared to a crushed -14dbfs whos limited to just -14dbfs. So i just want to know if its really -14LUFS or just metered in -14dbfs.

  • @pelbriks

    @pelbriks

    4 жыл бұрын

    Greg Rodriguez III it was mastered at -14LUFS with peaks at -0.2dbfs (that’s where the ceiling of the limiter was set)

  • @gregrodrigueziii8075

    @gregrodrigueziii8075

    4 жыл бұрын

    ​@@pelbriks wow tha'ts weird now I guess. Was this spotify? Was the -9LUFS master also peaks at -0.2dbfs? if its, then I could guess there is something wrong with spotify with their algorithm now, thats a bummer. cause both should be just as relatively loud at -14LUFS. cause im assuming the dynamic rage would be just the same(of course other things takes into account). Thanks for the tip, I guess people should be careful about spotify cause it has that problem. Honestly in my country I usually have a problem with this specs cause networks here are still using the old standard, so at some point using LUFS doesnt even matter to them, they just want something that peaks at -3dbfs mono!. They dont even care about EBU R128, I actualy caught one network engineer who doesnt even know EBU R128 guidelines!

  • @pelbriks

    @pelbriks

    4 жыл бұрын

    Greg Rodriguez III I’ve no idea 🙂 but yes there’s something weird for sure. I dig Justin comments though, maybe more bass in the mix can lead to a different apparent loudness

  • @akshatsharma1
    @akshatsharma12 жыл бұрын

    This guy explains stuff so beautifully that I understood this without knowing anything about music.

  • @lastdaysguitar
    @lastdaysguitar4 жыл бұрын

    WOW, this is a very very good lesson: THANK YOU, Alan Silverman!

  • @tc8387
    @tc83874 жыл бұрын

    It’s funny that we add vinyl & tape noise to our digital music now with no reason but vintage effect.

  • @urphakeandgey6308

    @urphakeandgey6308

    3 жыл бұрын

    Did you know blinkers in cars are the same? The sound used to be mechanical. Now it's just there cuz that's what we expect and it also prevents us from leaving the blinker on.

  • @RealHomeRecording
    @RealHomeRecording4 жыл бұрын

    17:35 throwing shade at Rick Rubin ahahaha!!! I am happy that music I have mixed and mastered since 2008 has honored Dynamics/maintained transients. My stuff doesn't sound dated because of good practices.

  • @thetruthchannel349

    @thetruthchannel349

    4 жыл бұрын

    *Rick Rubin is an idiot. I dont know a single engineer whos worked with him who has anything positive to say about him*

  • @RealHomeRecording

    @RealHomeRecording

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@Ascoundrel agreed. Rick may be past his prime and make very questionable engineering decisions but to say that he is a bad producer would be incorrect. His portfolio speaks for itself.

  • @aragon7369
    @aragon73693 жыл бұрын

    This has been great. New challenges for musicians where one simply can’t afford not to up technical understanding of sound and sound editing’s latest developments.

  • @wks79
    @wks794 жыл бұрын

    Amazing explanation! Thank you Justin & Alan!

  • @Robert_Babicz
    @Robert_Babicz4 жыл бұрын

    thank you very much for this, as a mastering guy myself, I have the problem that I mostly master DJ music, and DJ's want it loud, but streaming don't need this. so, in the end, we will need to make 2 different masters.

  • @alejandromagana1554

    @alejandromagana1554

    4 жыл бұрын

    Robert Babicz Stoaked to see you around, you just mastered my album few days ago and I can’t tell you how happy I am to had this done by a true professional 😁 🎶 It sounds super!!!

  • @Robert_Babicz

    @Robert_Babicz

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@alejandromagana1554 thank you

  • @GeneralKenobi69420
    @GeneralKenobi694203 жыл бұрын

    Am I an audio engineer? No. Am I a music producer? Nope. Do I even do anything related to sound? Not at all. Did I watch the whole thing? Oh hell yes.

  • @autofocus4556

    @autofocus4556

    2 жыл бұрын

    Pointless

  • @titomunay
    @titomunay4 жыл бұрын

    Insanely great presentation! Thank you!

  • @markthomas89
    @markthomas892 жыл бұрын

    this was so much knowledge condensed in just that much time.

  • @robdixson196
    @robdixson1964 жыл бұрын

    Anyone remember the volume knob? Ahhhh nostalgia.

  • @saharasgreenery4834
    @saharasgreenery48344 жыл бұрын

    this was great and overall informative, but I hope he realizes that on Spotify users can disable the normalization, which basically makes it where the difference in LUFS from track to track will vary accordingly. he was kinda speaking on it as if this is a global permanent change, but it’s definitely not. still useful to be aware of how it works when it’s enabled... I believe it defaults to being enabled and most ppl probably don’t change the settings but it’s definitely possible to disable

  • @SonicScoop

    @SonicScoop

    4 жыл бұрын

    True! Most people will never touch or even look for that button. But it is there, hiding in the shadows. Anyone willing to look for it, is probably the kind of person who is comfortable using their volume knob though :) -Justin

  • @justinbeck8459

    @justinbeck8459

    4 жыл бұрын

    99.9% of consumers definitely have no clue that it even exists, let alone what that even means when they see it. But yeah, just looked and it’s there! Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone!!! 😉

  • @damienlewis7882

    @damienlewis7882

    4 жыл бұрын

    I think it still turns down the loud stuff though. Just doesn’t bring up quieter songs. I’ll have to try it again and measure.

  • @saharasgreenery4834

    @saharasgreenery4834

    4 жыл бұрын

    Damien Lewis I did the experiment before my original reply lol. It does not turn down the louder songs. It leaves all songs in their original form.

  • @IcidLink

    @IcidLink

    3 жыл бұрын

    I tried it and changed it back because I hear a lot of different Genres and it was jarring that every second Song was quieter than the one before

  • @flux1940
    @flux19404 жыл бұрын

    this should have as many views as there are musicians in the world. Spread this stuff !!

  • @ThisMichaelBrown
    @ThisMichaelBrown Жыл бұрын

    Fantastic, thanks! Ahhh, bringing back all that DR and headroom....sweet!

  • @Hugoknots
    @Hugoknots4 жыл бұрын

    22:20 "the limiters little secret" - (mildly) mind blowing demonstration that summarizes the negative effects of current mastering practices.

  • @stuartwilson4960

    @stuartwilson4960

    4 жыл бұрын

    I really don't think so, the difference is distortion yes, but because the source envelopes are a different shape to the target envelopes you never hear this type of distortion, because you are never comparing the envelopes. So to say you can hear the distortion is pretty much like subtracting a song played on the piano, from one played on the guitar and listening to the only the harmonic differences (Which could be interesting.. now I think about it 🤔).

  • @Hugoknots

    @Hugoknots

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@stuartwilson4960 hmm im not sure if your right. He literally states that we are hearing what the limiter is clipping out while still blending in the clipped information into the original track. Am I mistaken? I can time stamp his statement if you wish.. and I, unfortunately, believe him more than you lol

  • @stuartwilson4960

    @stuartwilson4960

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@Hugoknots If you listen to the difference of two digital signal processing functions then you would literally hear distortion, but how is that a surprise? It doesn't mean there is distortion there, it means the difference sounds horrible. Just like you applied two limiters with different envelopes to a pure sine wave with some resulting phase offset, the difference between the two will sound impure and horrible, however listening to the results of either independently will sound perfectly pure and non distorted. Also, some of these limiters are multi-band, so you should and would expect harmonic differences between the limited and non limited versions. Which is also not distortion, it is just purely a different envelope shape than the original.

  • @nathanconholio1863

    @nathanconholio1863

    4 жыл бұрын

    The distortion is definitely in the mix. When the mix still sounds clean it just means the distortion volume is so low, that you can't here it conciously

  • @stuartwilson4960

    @stuartwilson4960

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@nathanconholio1863 I don't think you can understand, if you had two versions of a just a pure sine wave, at different levels and different temporal envelopes, both independently would have REAL phase distortion maybe (0.000%) however, differentiating them will produce something that sounds like distortion, because you hearing the overtones on a set of envelopes. It is not distortion, just a different level of envelopes and harmonics.

  • @olioutside
    @olioutside4 жыл бұрын

    WOW thank you. If I didn't watch this I'd just continue on blasting my tracks and losing all type of dynamics

  • @patienthands
    @patienthands3 жыл бұрын

    This was just so helpful and informative, thank you. The comparison around 25:24 was very ear opening!

  • @Felipemelazzi
    @Felipemelazzi3 жыл бұрын

    Loudness is EXACTLY why I first got into mixing as a curious nerdy hobby. After this video I feel like I truly understand what drove me into this.

  • @Baphometrix
    @Baphometrix4 жыл бұрын

    Every genre has its own signature dynamic range. Ironically, only when rushed at the very end does Alan mention this, so this important concept isn't given the weight it should be. Too many people hear presentations like this and walk away thinking "I should mix and master to -14 LUFS or -12 LUFS, to take full advantage of the dynamic range at that level", when that isn't really the case at all. For jazz and other quiet genres? Sure! For EDM or Pop? Nope. Your song will sound thin and tepid and weaksauce if you do that.

  • @Baphometrix

    @Baphometrix

    4 жыл бұрын

    @ListenAndLearned Curses! They're onto me! ^.^

  • @JordanTelezino

    @JordanTelezino

    4 жыл бұрын

    exactly, it was only at the end when he was finally about to talk about what the next step should be to help solve this then he was cut off and it ended smh

  • @Magnum_Opus_Music
    @Magnum_Opus_Music3 жыл бұрын

    ''RICK RUBIN CAN NOT CALL SPOTIFY AND SAY ''HEY DUDES I DON'T WANT -14 TO BE MY TRACK LEVEL I WANT IT TO BE -6'' 👈 😁 MADE MY DAY

  • @moonryder203
    @moonryder2034 жыл бұрын

    So we have gone full circle, just amazing! Thank God!

  • @andreatomassini5521

    @andreatomassini5521

    3 жыл бұрын

    not yet, sadly...but we're on the right track

  • @Zickcermacity
    @Zickcermacity2 жыл бұрын

    15:40 THIS is what we had since after World War 1. It was called the VU Meter. Zero was about two-thirds up the scale, with a peak positive value anywhere from 6 to 18dB VU, and negative values from -12 to -infinity. It was when digital recording began to accompany and ultimately, replace analog recording, and Peak metering replaced RMS, that any semblance of standardized levels went out the window. Hopefully, loudness metering(LUFS, or RMS VU meter emulation), will restore that relative normalcy

  • @rustyjames1727
    @rustyjames17274 жыл бұрын

    I was waiting for Rick Rubin's name to be mentioned 🤣🤣🤣

  • @kopczas

    @kopczas

    3 жыл бұрын

    Rick "the butcher" Rubin?? The man that made Santanas masterpiece unlistenable ..

  • @MrAngrybassist

    @MrAngrybassist

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@kopczas Oh, and don't forget Death Magnetic and 13, among many others. Corey Taylor even stated that he never wanted to work with Rubin ever again after Slipknot recorded Vol.3: The Subliminal Verses.

  • @gaycha6589

    @gaycha6589

    3 жыл бұрын

    Worked for RHCP, Johnny Cash etc

  • @oneword7143

    @oneword7143

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@kopczas Which album are you referring to?

  • @kopczas

    @kopczas

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@oneword7143 Africa Speaks.

  • @basspig
    @basspig4 жыл бұрын

    The loud mastering is only useful for smartphones that limit volume to avoid lawsuits by parents of deaf teenagers. For an audiophile, ANY limiting at all is a departure from reality. I got to hear a 2" RCA master tape on my system and I was stunned at how REAL it sounded. Playing these recordings on a hi dynamic range system is an experience like hearing the band in your room. Now today's music is so compressed that it is fatiguing to listen to. White space is so important in music. Without it, it loses the element of surprise which keeps it interesting.

  • @7k7yub7

    @7k7yub7

    4 жыл бұрын

    Limiting can make sense when producing/playing live elecronic music, I killed a couple of PAs myself because the owners didn´t expect they can be melted by synthesisers.

  • @basspig

    @basspig

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@7k7yub7 That's a problem of an inadequate PA, not your problem. Recordings with compression are fatiguing to listen to. Having heard a master tape recently, I was astonished at how much more "live" and fatiguing it sounded compared to the release on CD.

  • @7k7yub7

    @7k7yub7

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@basspig obviously you are right, I just wanted to make an argument that RIGHT sound engineering is important and that in the wild there is more then black and white.

  • @musicman3569

    @musicman3569

    4 жыл бұрын

    Absolutely, my friend! My ears find hard limiting and heavy compressing very offensive, especially when used on entire mixes. I just love sound of instruments with natural texture and space. For the typical material I work on I find that around -16 LUFS is the "liberation point" were the peaks are just naturally sitting below full scale (particularly if I've done good mic placement and instrument input), with maybe just a couple stray single moment peaks. It feels liberating to stop worrying about head room and just focus on the aesthetic of the mix artistically, and not have people asking why the mixes are so "quiet" when I chose to ignore the loudness war. Sad that it took so long to circle back to the gloriously large dynamic range we should have been able to keep from almost 40 years ago!

  • @basspig

    @basspig

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@musicman3569 People used to say that about my Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra recordings.. absolutely ZERO compression, for a totally "you are there" experience. In pop music, a little compression on individual instruments like kick drum or bass guitar can be used to fatten certain sounds, but overall compression is the devil.

  • @TheTimLara
    @TheTimLara4 жыл бұрын

    Amazing. Thanks for posting this.

  • @caseyspaos448
    @caseyspaos4482 жыл бұрын

    The ads that interrupted this KZread video were so much louder!