Originally Posted by Richard Maclemale


I wonder what would happen if you asked a mastering lab to make your CD sound like 1983? Would they laugh at you, or would they say "Thank GOD, a customer that wants their music to sound good!" Of course you'd have to send them a mix that wasn't already heavily "maximized."




I've had people tell me that they didn't want to get caught up in the loudness wars and our response is usually "Great, we'll do very little compression and we'll allow it to remain musical, etc..." Then we send them a ref to listen to and they say, "sounds great but can we get a littlemore level because when I compare it to XxXxX, it's way low" thus starts the same slippery slope. When it comes down to it artists/produces don't have the guts to buck the trend. Surprising coming from a bunch of "trend setters" like musicians.

btw Richard, I thought the same thing about the Crowded House album. The tracks mixed by Tchad Blake I like a little better but overall it's underwhelming sounding. There are those moments that are supposed to climax and get bigger in songs that never get there... shame too becuase I think Neil Finn is the best songwriter alive right now.

Paul Elliott
Head Mastering Engineer
The Soundlab @ Disc Makers