Knife Party and the Loudness War

[Sparxy]

pendulum

And yes its as bad as youre expecting it to be
And yes Rob Swire is still as much of a dick as he used to be

[hurlingdervish]

And yes its as bad as youre expecting it to be
And yes Rob Swire is still as much of a dick as he used to be

The great thing about working as a group is that one member can be a massive twat, as theres probably somebody else in the group better at the social side of things.

[deadly_habit]

pendulum is pretty much no more now http://www.inthemix.com.au/news/intl/53 ... lum_behind

[Sparxy]

pendulum is pretty much no more now http://www.inthemix.com.au/news/intl/53 ... lum_behind

I dare say that they won't exactly be sorely missed. Deadly, along with anyone else who used to be on DOA will surely know of the fiasco and drama caused by "that" post

[drake89]

he's the vocalist right? In interviews he seems cuntish, but if that's the one I said whats up to him before he went on in ATL a couple years ago. I was like, damn dude (there were about 100 ppl in the venue) this must be crazy, aren't you used to playing massive festivals? He was like thanks, but it's all still a show (something to that effect).

But the fact that there were only 100 people there might have something to do with what he was talking about 'rock dying' or whatever. as if DJ sets, or even midi guitars are somehow 'rock'...

still though, he's a gnarly producer- his composing and especially arrangement skillz are top notch.

[Sparxy]

He is a complete tnuc. But anyone saying they're shit at production is pretty stupid. They have made some sick tunes in their time, the new bits aren't to my taste but some of their early stuff is part of what got me into electronic bass music in the first place.

[Grimenoceros]

pendulum

Lmao exactly.

I think the point of the "relevance" of the dynamics in a given genre is the most important point here. You're all right, for their application of music, smashed to the walls is fine.

To Sparxy, I was never really comparing myself to their mixing numbers per se, just trying to gauge what the acceptable standard was at a pro level in general.

[Swelly]

he's the vocalist right? In interviews he seems cuntish, but if that's the one I said whats up to him before he went on in ATL a couple years ago. I was like, damn dude (there were about 100 ppl in the venue) this must be crazy, aren't you used to playing massive festivals? He was like thanks, but it's all still a show (something to that effect).

But the fact that there were only 100 people there might have something to do with what he was talking about 'rock dying' or whatever. as if DJ sets, or even midi guitars are somehow 'rock'...

still though, he's a gnarly producer- his composing and especially arrangement skillz are top notch.

I saw an interview where he {Rob Swire} explains that he writes, produces, arranges, mixes and masters all of their music...whatever people say about him, he's a legendary musician and a master at what he does.

[Sliverdub]

I maybe a noob with actual production but I've been involved in music, played guitar etc since a child and with my experience of different genres etc my view is this. "the loudness war" doesn't apply to edm artist the way it applies to other genres. We have a reason to be super loud, it works better on a club system for a start. I'm aware of that guy from that website and he talks a load of s**t when it comes to edm tbh. He's a pain in the backside, you reference metallicas album as being squashed to hell and back but it's got nothing to do with edm, it's a rock album that would probably sound better with less limiting. As far as I can see this guy sees himself as some sort of crusader for tamer mixes probably to gain some if his own notoriety. Brostep is a pretty extreme genre compared to a rock ballad for eg. He has no place comment on something he knows little about. Just watch him trying to master that track "for loudness" in one of his videos. He tries, fails and then goes on to say that it shouldn't be that loud anyway and that it should of been mixed with loudness in mind. He should if spotted the mix before he did the video if it was an issue. Sorry but that guy really bugs me cos he's the same guy looking down at us lot producing EDM. Just my 2cents, I don't normally rant but ......

I trust Knife Party way more than that bafoon.

[Sparxy]

I maybe a noob with actual production but I've been involved in music, played guitar etc since a child and with my experience of different genres etc my view is this. "the loudness war" doesn't apply to edm artist the way it applies to other genres. We have a reason to be super loud, it works better on a club system for a start. I'm aware of that guy from that website and he talks a load of s**t when it comes to edm tbh. He's a pain in the backside, you reference metallicas album as being squashed to hell and back but it's got nothing to do with edm, it's a rock album that would probably sound better with less limiting. As far as I can see this guy sees himself as some sort of crusader for tamer mixes probably to gain some if his own notoriety. Brostep is a pretty extreme genre compared to a rock ballad for eg. He has no place comment on something he knows little about. Just watch him trying to master that track "for loudness" in one of his videos. He tries, fails and then goes on to say that it shouldn't be that loud anyway and that it should of been mixed with loudness in mind. He should if spotted the mix before he did the video if it was an issue. Sorry but that guy really bugs me cos he's the same guy looking down at us lot producing EDM. Just my 2cents, I don't normally rant but ......

I trust Knife Party way more than that bafoon.

What guy and website are you talking about here?

Besides, the only reason Knife Party can get their mixes so loud is that there is literally zero sub bass. Without sub taking up all that headroom, all the other elements can be much louder. Once you notice it you will never be able to escape it. Knife Party tunes have very little sub. Almost none, in fact. For me, that completely defeats the point of bass music.

[drake89]

What guy and website are you talking about here?

Besides, the only reason Knife Party can get their mixes so loud is that there is literally zero sub bass. Without sub taking up all that headroom, all the other elements can be much louder. Once you notice it you will never be able to escape it. Knife Party tunes have very little sub. Almost none, in fact. For me, that completely defeats the point of bass music.

Hmm is that really true? I don't understand why you couldn't have your sub (under 100hz) hitting 0dB and hi pass the rest of the mix at 100 hz. You see what I'm saying, even if the numbers aren't exact?

[Swelly]

You probably only listened to internet friends...like most haters, and say there's no sub. Have you heard fire hive? or bonfire? or centipede? Sounds like there's a shit ton of sub to me. Maybe you don't have a sub so you can't hear it.

[Attila]

Yeah I use Knife Party tracks to reference against often and there's plenty activity in the 40-60 range when I spectral analyze them. You really think a producer that spent a good decade going dnb would allow a weak sub in any mix?

[AxeD]

Yeah I use Knife Party tracks to reference against often and there's plenty activity in the 40-60 range when I spectral analyze them. You really think a producer that spent a good decade going dnb would allow a weak sub in any mix?

I would advice everyone in ze world to reference against the mighty sound that is Knife Party.

Seriously though, I was also surprised to hear such bad productions from someone with so much experience.

[Attila]

Oh come on, even if the track's squashed to hell you can't seriously, objectively say with a straight face that Knife Party's material is poorly produced...

[Today]

all fair points but Sparxy definitely knows whats up with regards to bass
I don't know the tunes here in question not gonna look for them
but I'm guessing what he meant was there's no instrument/layer/sound source in the tunes that is a dedicated sub bass, written specifically to drive a woofer
Other synth basses contain sub frequencies, n of course you're gonna see em on a spectral analyzer (don't listen to music with your eyes doe) -- in bass music you usually wanna take the sub freq's OUT of a synth bass patch so that your sub won't be crowded
It's a whole other layer of music

Maybe these knife partiers have sub, maybe not but man like sparxy know what he's talking about so i would guess the mixes just ain't up to par basswize
and that does make it easier to get the rest of the track louder for sure

[wormcode]

But Sparxy, it's not bass music. It's ipod music for the portable apps generation on tumblr.
I like listening to that pedalem tune hasezwei posted better tbh.

[mikeyp]

What guy and website are you talking about here?

Besides, the only reason Knife Party can get their mixes so loud is that there is literally zero sub bass. Without sub taking up all that headroom, all the other elements can be much louder. Once you notice it you will never be able to escape it. Knife Party tunes have very little sub. Almost none, in fact. For me, that completely defeats the point of bass music.

so you're telling me one of the biggest artists in edm right now, who make about half dubstep which is all about the sub (don't even start with the brostep has no sub bullshit)
DOESN'T HAVE ANY SUB BASS?!

gtfo and go listen to knife party on a real system

[mikeyp]

even destroy them with lazers which is a 4x4 tune has a heavy fuckin sub under the kicks

[Attila]

even destroy them with lazers which is a 4x4 tune has a heavy fuckin sub under the kicks

Seriously man, anyone that's heard that track in a club setting knows it DESTROYS the system.

But anyway, here are a few examples of the totally nonexistent Knife Party sub. It doesn't take a trained ear to hear that there's clearly a separate sub layer to all the basses.
1:18
0:53
0:25
1:05