Explaining the loudness war

[Mushroom Buttons]

Hey all. Have you guys faced this situation where you're producing for someone else and your beat is just not as loud as other ppl's because u're actually following the mixing rules and not compressing/limiting the shit out of everything. Then they'll be like "hey why your shit is not loud?".

Do you just turn the shit up regardless? and what if the material's not gonna be mastered anyway in the end?

[-[2]DAY_-]

if you're "producing for someone", they ought to know the answer to that. if it's just for casual listening, I use a big stereo compressor on the master with little to no compression and ride its output into a limiter with a -0.1dB ceiling.

If its rappers/vocalists you're talking about, do the DIY mastering job on instrumentals for them to shop beats, but obviously use the project file and unmastered stems to record the song.

If it isn't going to be mastered, i don't see why you shouldn't try to do it yourself. alternatively, you can just blast the speakers whenever you want to hear your own mixes, but that could cause all kinda of issues if you forget its turned up, and put on some professionally mastered track.

[hasezwei]

i stopped giving a f*ck. all of the shit i did in the last months except one tune ended up on my mp3player without anyone besides me ever hearing it, and i wanna keep it that way. that way i can decide how i want to mix down my track, sometimes i find a tune just sounds better if i squash the heck out of it with a limiter, sometimes i keep it really quiet and barely compress any elements in the track. all about your personal preference.

but i can only do that because i'm doing headphone music, nothing for club systems. i wouldnt want to have to turn up a tune when mixing to the point where the level peaks hurt my ears but it still can't compete with the track i'm mixing into.

so the bottom line is: mix down your shit depending on what the track is for. if you make beat for someone else and he insists on having it loud, well go and make it loud! better than that person not wanting beats from you no more.

[joeroxor]

I've run into this issue, it's not worth arguing over, just push your volumes and live with it.

[Sharmaji]

whenever i send something out to be voiced or put into consideration, i slam it w/ a limiter so that it's hitting about -6RMS. it sounds like shit to my ears, but people love it. whatever. you wanna be in the game, you gotta play the game. Save the actual mixdown and production for later, once it's voiced.

[ToxicBass]

whenever i send something out to be voiced or put into consideration, i slam it w/ a limiter so that it's hitting about -6RMS. it sounds like shit to my ears, but people love it. whatever. you wanna be in the game, you gotta play the game. Save the actual mixdown and production for later, once it's voiced.

So would the whole track hit -6RMS including the intro or just the main verses? Hate squashing the shit out of mixes.

[Siderealdb]

An instructor of mine once asked the class, "When people listen to one of your songs, would you rather have them reach for the volume knob and turn it down? Or reach for the volume knob and turn it up?"

[Sharmaji]

whenever i send something out to be voiced or put into consideration, i slam it w/ a limiter so that it's hitting about -6RMS. it sounds like shit to my ears, but people love it. whatever. you wanna be in the game, you gotta play the game. Save the actual mixdown and production for later, once it's voiced.

So would the whole track hit -6RMS including the intro or just the main verses? Hate squashing the shit out of mixes.

true, but when you're producing for someone else-- ie, a vocalist-- the mix you need to deliver isn't one that sounds good in the speakers, it's one that they can turn up in the headphones and get a vibe from. different beasts.

[Mushroom Buttons]

nice replies everyone! make a lotta sense now. Thanks.

[hifi]

Hey all. Have you guys faced this situation where you're producing for someone else and your beat is just not as loud as other ppl's because u're actually following the mixing rules and not compressing/limiting the shit out of everything. Then they'll be like "hey why your shit is not loud?".

Do you just turn the shit up regardless? and what if the material's not gonna be mastered anyway in the end?

if your not going to get your track mastered, or even care about mixing things down correctly just work with no headroom and stick a limiter on the master output. problem solved

[symmetricalsounds]

whenever i send something out to be voiced or put into consideration, i slam it w/ a limiter so that it's hitting about -6RMS. it sounds like shit to my ears, but people love it. whatever. you wanna be in the game, you gotta play the game. Save the actual mixdown and production for later, once it's voiced.

i made an effect rack which i've named "quickNdirty" which fulfills that need

[Mushroom Buttons]

Hey all. Have you guys faced this situation where you're producing for someone else and your beat is just not as loud as other ppl's because u're actually following the mixing rules and not compressing/limiting the shit out of everything. Then they'll be like "hey why your shit is not loud?".

Do you just turn the shit up regardless? and what if the material's not gonna be mastered anyway in the end?

if your not going to get your track mastered, or even care about mixing things down correctly just work with no headroom and stick a limiter on the master output. problem solved

It's properly mixed, just not loud/squashed. gonna look into some self-mastering.

[Filthzilla]

An instructor of mine once asked the class, "When people listen to one of your songs, would you rather have them reach for the volume knob and turn it down? Or reach for the volume knob and turn it up?"

Oh yeah I'm pretty sure that's in the Bible somewhere.