Japanese streaming site Niconico adds loudness normalization
This is a guest post by David Shimamoto from Vocal-EDIT.com. David lives in Kyoto and is the author of the book “Talkback – stories of the digital studio”, the first book in Japanese to thoroughly...
View ArticleDoes the ‘Loudness Penalty’ really matter ?
The Loudness Penalty website has been one of the most successful projects I’ve ever worked on, and also one of the most controversial. We knew when we chose to include the word “Penalty” in the name...
View ArticleDolby Atmos Dynamics – immersive audio’s secret weapon ?
People love Dolby Atmos mixes – they hear them and just have a huge smile on their face. That’s what the engineers working on Atmos right now are telling me, anyway. And it’s not really surprising....
View ArticleStreaming Loudness – AES Recommendations 2021, and why you should care
The Audio Engineering Society just released an updated set of guidelines for streaming loudness, code-named TD1008. But they’re not for you! They’re not for artists, or producers, or recording, mixing...
View ArticleIt’s not how loud you make it, it’s how you make it loud
I didn’t coin this expression – I wish I had! I first heard it from veteran mastering engineer Bob Katz, and it’s just as true today as it ever was. There’s far more to achieving a real perception...
View ArticleDoes Adele really sound better on YouTube ? And if so, WHY?!?
Adele’s latest single “Easy On Me” doesn’t use a click track or autotune, but it is still mastered pretty loud. At least on CD, that is. On YouTube that doesn’t seem to be the case, though – and the...
View ArticleDe-clipping Adele – was I wrong?
Adele recently shared an informal “laptop recording” of her song “To Be Loved” on her YouTube channel – and it’s great. A raw, authentic “real life” recording with a beautiful performance....
View ArticleIs Billie Eilish too loud ? (Here come the Loudness Police)
I was recently tagged in a heated Facebook debate about whether the heavy distortion in Billie Eilish's song "xanny" was deliberate artistic intent, or due to excessive compression & limiting in...
View ArticleAmazon Music Loudness Normalization Arrives
The title says it all, really ! Bill Koch emailed me yesterday to let me know that Amazon Music have recently added Loudness Normalization to their mobile and desktop apps. I've only had time to do...
View ArticleStreaming Loudness in 2022 is 95 Percent Normalized
As far as I can tell, 95% of the music you're hearing online is normalized, in 2022. But what does that mean, and how did I come to that conclusion ? And most importantly, why should you care ? What...
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