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 Post subject: Something that bugs me...
PostPosted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 8:13 pm 
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Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 3:48 pm
Posts: 2773
3/9/11

Something that bugs me. It's nothing more than my opinion, of course. Others may not notice or care. But I do.

I pretty much raced home to play BATTLE: LA since I'm a fan of Brian Tyler, albeit less lately. (More on that some other day.) Anyway, I'll elaborate.

The sound on the CD - the mix and the mastering - just bugs the stuffing out of me. I may even hate it. This has happened with various CDs on major labels but specifically with certain Varese Sarabande releases. The levels for every track are pretty much cranked up to the max. Then they're "normalized", where the mastering program searches out the loudest portion of the disc and artificially elevates virtually everything else to match the relative maxed out level. The results are irritating. It worked with sixties rock 'n' roll LPs and continued to work in the mastering of popular music for some time, right on through today's hip hop. (DJs go nuts when the levels move around.) But it's unpleasant when applied to a full orchestra.

It's difficult to even enjoy the music when everything is just loud and smeared into one maximum volume level. Musicians don't play the music that way. And when you add into it a poor sound mix that washes everything into that trendy percussion and synth sound drowning out the real musicians you get... well, just loud mush. I can't even tell where the musicians are seated much less what musical details they may be playing. And I don't enjoy this.

If Tyler created some exciting music, I'll never know. The CD just pounds and pounds and the details are awash in smooshed massive reverb heavy something-or-other. I don't even know what to call it! Really bad audio? A popular new trend that I'm just too old to appreciate? Whatever. I pray the trend will end soon so I can get back to hearing the true dynamic range of an orchestra with all the many details and nuances therein. Why hire a full orchestra and then cancel the players out in the mix and mastering?

Perhaps I'm being too critical but the audio on this CD really does bug me - more than any other since G.I. JOE. I want to enjoy Tyler's music and Varese's releases but if this continues, I'll lose interest in a hurry.


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