I was asked by a forummember to "pop" by and recite a statement, that I´ve earlier made on the Blog at mi7.com.
The topic is still the lack of dynamics in most modern music, and here's what I wrote:

Most contemporary musicproduction has an "In Your Face" approach to sound. The mastering-technicians quest for the 4 dB RMS point is now on! But haven't we all got an obligation to think twice?

Many people in music find that a lot of the music produced nowadays sounds flat and "digital". In fact we have never had better technology available to produce and ensure well-sounding music. In my opinion the "flat" sound is not related to the letter "D" as in DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). It is mostly related to the "d" in the dynamics-processor plugins, available at the tip of the cursor.

In all sorts of modern music production I think compression is used to a wide extend. A lot of producers and technicians use compressors on single tracks, groups and on master-busses to achieve "that" hitsound. As I see it, it is actually all the track and group compression that is transforming a lot of wellsounding recordings into a parallel flow of machinelike soundstreams. Making levels too homogenius tends to make most musik sound similar when it comes to dynamics.

We long for the varied and unique sound of great producers and bands of the past. How 'bout getting it back by using lower ratio-settings and less compressor plugins? It's worth a try..."



Last edited by Thomas/Masterbox; 09/01/07 06:15 AM.