For information about how to use this forum please check out forum help and policies.
Quote
NaturalustQuote
Poetry
A noob question - how can I calculate DR and what does it mean? I am only familliar with the spectral analysis to decide whether a file is lossless.
The DR is the dynamic range of the recording. The difference in volume between the quietest sounds and the loudest sounds on the record. It is different for each track and the overall DR rating for an album is an average of the DR values for each track.
When the DR is low, the overall volume of the entire record can be increased without clipping (too high a level causing distortion) to make it sound louder...ie) the loudness wars. When the dynamic range is high, for instance loud drum hits and quiet guitar parts, you can't really turn the whole thing up without the drums distorting.
Our ears appreciate recordings with higher dynamic range, they sound more natural and cause less fatigue because of the quieter sections. Of course the amount of natural DR created in making the music varies greatly with symphonic music generally having twice as much as rock and roll to start with.
It's really a relative concept and louder is only perceived when compared to other music at the same volume setting on your playback system. We can of course turn the music up ourselves if we want it louder but marketers of music decided they wanted their tracks to stand out in the crowd and the results have been lower DR and records that are unnaturally loud to start with.
To measure DR accurately you need some computer tools to analyze the waveforms and determine the loudest and quietest signals present in the audio. They are pretty common these days in audio editing software like Pro Tools, and even cheaper and free ones available on the internet.
I could go deep on the subject but I hope that answers your question. I prefer music with a higher dynamic range. If I want to hear it louder I can always turn it up myself.
If you want to know how your music rates on the DR scale this is the best database I have found.
[dr.loudness-war.info]
peace
Quote
WeLoveYou
That's a good database! Verifies my experience that the Brussels Affair archive release (DR score 11) was more listenable than Some Girls Live In Texas (DR score 7) and LA Friday (DR score 7) releases.
http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list/year/desc?artist=rolling+stones
Recent Stones vinyl releases seem to have reasonable dynamic range - even LA Friday, which is better than the digital release, and contrary to some claims here that recent Stones vinyl is as brickwalled as the digital releases.
The best recent albums for dynamic range seem to be the ABKCO releases. I remember being amazed at the 2002 ABKCO Beggars Banquet remaster. So ABKCO seem to know what they're doing.
Also just noticed the SACD versions of later Stones albums which appear to have good dynamic range. It's a shame that post-1971 Stones CDs and digital downloads can't have the same good dynamic range as the SACDs.
I expect there's some clever marketing here then, so that audiophiles will feel driven buy the SACDs and vinyl.
Quote
franzk
So where the video comes from? The show? The rehearsals? Is the DVD/Blu-ray video the same as 1971 TV special or different?
Quote
muenkeQuote
kleermakerQuote
muenke
To my ears the Marquee-CD sounds better than the dvd ... Perhaps I will belong to a minority, because I eben like these so called brickwalled mixes, they sound fresh and "modern", in German: "knackig"!
Knackig I like that word, it sounds like what it means. Use more German through your English please, or other languages when your native tongue isn't English. It's fun. Thanks muenke for setting a trend!
Ha! You are welcome, Kleermarker!
Quote
Silver DaggerQuote
muenkeQuote
kleermakerQuote
muenke
To my ears the Marquee-CD sounds better than the dvd ... Perhaps I will belong to a minority, because I eben like these so called brickwalled mixes, they sound fresh and "modern", in German: "knackig"!
Knackig I like that word, it sounds like what it means. Use more German through your English please, or other languages when your native tongue isn't English. It's fun. Thanks muenke for setting a trend!
Ha! You are welcome, Kleermarker!
Is that knackig as in Knackwurst? You can almost hear the knack sound. I don't think the English have a similar word..I guess the closest would be cracking?
Quote
LiveAtHidepark
I Got The Blues - alternate take 2 (step 10) is NEW
Bitch - alternate take 1 (step 11) is the SAME as the TV show version (step 7)
Quote
frankotero
Only thing that's kind of off for me is realizing how little interaction there was with Mick T
Quote
djgab
There is something I don't understand in this loudness war story.
The CD where initially presented in the 80s as better for ... dynamics ! It was one the biggest saler argument for classical music and in particular for symphony. You can hear the whole orchestra dynamic from pianissimo to fortissimo. It might explain the Dirty Work value ? With time and dust, very "small" sound levels are covered by scratchs in LP. And they did sell very light LP at that time on order to drive people to CD which where twice expensive.
I think the loudness has something to do with download and listening to music with portable device through earphone. And CD and download are maybe seen as similar by cleaver market boy ?
Quote
muenke
This has bit of Taylor vs Wood ... I grew up in the 80s and the loudness-key on my Onkyo-Receiver was my best friend, loved it, it was always "on". And now I really like those loudness/brickwalled-mixes ... May this be a matter of taste? Or did I grew up in the wrong decade?
Quote
kleermakerQuote
muenke
This has bit of Taylor vs Wood ... I grew up in the 80s and the loudness-key on my Onkyo-Receiver was my best friend, loved it, it was always "on". And now I really like those loudness/brickwalled-mixes ... May this be a matter of taste? Or did I grew up in the wrong decade?
This has nothing of Taylo vs. Wood, because it's obvious that Taylor is the better guitarist of the two. But as for this issue, it's a matter of taste and being familiar with.
Quote
kleermakerQuote
muenke
This has bit of Taylor vs Wood ... I grew up in the 80s and the loudness-key on my Onkyo-Receiver was my best friend, loved it, it was always "on". And now I really like those loudness/brickwalled-mixes ... May this be a matter of taste? Or did I grew up in the wrong decade?
This has nothing of Taylo vs. Wood, because it's obvious that Taylor is the better guitarist of the two. But as for this issue, it's a matter of taste and being familiar with.
Quote
MunichhiltonQuote
kleermakerQuote
muenke
This has bit of Taylor vs Wood ... I grew up in the 80s and the loudness-key on my Onkyo-Receiver was my best friend, loved it, it was always "on". And now I really like those loudness/brickwalled-mixes ... May this be a matter of taste? Or did I grew up in the wrong decade?
This has nothing of Taylo vs. Wood, because it's obvious that Taylor is the better guitarist of the two. But as for this issue, it's a matter of taste and being familiar with.
Taylor wood have made Start Me Up or Shattered suck.
See what I did?
Quote
DandelionPowderman
You don't have to guess for SMU. Just listen to KC 81.
Quote
Silver DaggerQuote
muenkeQuote
kleermakerQuote
muenke
To my ears the Marquee-CD sounds better than the dvd ... Perhaps I will belong to a minority, because I eben like these so called brickwalled mixes, they sound fresh and "modern", in German: "knackig"!
Knackig I like that word, it sounds like what it means. Use more German through your English please, or other languages when your native tongue isn't English. It's fun. Thanks muenke for setting a trend!
Ha! You are welcome, Kleermarker!
Is that knackig as in Knackwurst? You can almost hear the knack sound. I don't think the English have a similar word..I guess the closest would be cracking?