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Monday, December 23, 2013

http://productionadvice.co.uk/how-to-make-your-music-loud/ by Ian Sheppard

Sorry there is no video in this post.
[Update - I've posted a video demonstrating many of the techniques I talk about in this post - to check it out, click here.]
Today I’ll tell you how to make your music loud.
Yes, you read that right.
This post will tell you how to get your music really loud. Regardless of the fact that I’ve been interviewed on Radio 4 arguing passionately against the Loudness Wars, even though I’ve always said that the best way to get your song to stand out on the radio is to avoid pushing the level too hard, and despite having started Dynamic Range Day to raise awareness of the fact that listeners don’t care about loudness…
Today I’ll tell you how to make your music loud.
Why ? As a response to this article on MusicRader.com
How to make your music loud
(Subtitled – “Win the loudness war with our step-by-step and audio guide”)
Now immediately I should say – I love MusicRadar. It’s a great site – I highly recommend it. Masses of news, posts, discussion and information for anyone interested in music and music technology. They were one of the first places to pick up and post about how bad Death Magnetic sounded, and link back to my blog. As a result, Wired magazine and the Guardian found the story and started writing about it, and the rest, as they say, is history. The bad press generated by Death Magnetic has done a fantastic job of raising awareness about this issue, and I for one am very happy about that.
So, MusicRadar rocks.
But that post is useless.
Sorry, but there it is. My reasons for saying so though, may not be what you’re expecting.
Here they are:
It doesn’t explain anything – All you get is a list of steps, with no reasons given, or discussion of what they are intended to achieve. Without the whys and wherefores, people will just cherry-pick suggestions and end up doing wrong or harmful things to music that didn’t need it
No concepts - I’m going to list some fundamental rules that will help you make any piece of music louder without killing the sound. None of them are mentioned in the MusicRadar post
Some horrible suggestions - The article refers to a “mild” 4:1 compression ratio – that’s the harshest setting I ever use !
The example song is almost useless for learning purposes. Anyone can crush and compress the life out of electronica – no-one has any idea what it’s “supposed” to sound like anyway. You can’t hear if you’re doing any damage to anything. How are you supposed to “win the loudness war” with a tutorial that deliberately tries to get “crunch from the upper mids and trash from the highest frequencies” ? Surely “winning” is getting a high level without making it sound terrible ?
It doesn’t even end up that loud - The dynamic range of the clip at the end of the tutorial is about 7 or 8 dBs. That’s loud – as loud as I ever happily make anything, but it’s hardly going to win any awards for loudness when Metallica and others crush their music down to only 2dB DR.
And sadly, it sounds bad, too. No impact in the kick or snare, distorted bass, two-dimensional sound and linear dynamics.
Now I’ll tell you what should have been in that post. It has some useful techniques hidden away in it, but how you’re supposed to figure out what they are, I have no idea…Here are some rules to help you make your music masters loud (if that’s what you want to do)
Make the mix loud
All too often loudness is treated as a mastering issue, but steps 1-10 of the MusicRadar post are actually about mixing – and that’s exactly the right way to do it, they just don’t spell it out clearly enough. There’s no point in recording everything as dynamically as possible, and then deciding to squash it to hell at the last minute.
Compress guitars, bass and vocals in the mix – guitars and bass at the amp itself, ideally. I don’t advise compressing to tape, though – with 24-bit audio it’s not necessary, and it’s too easy to overdo it.
Balance EQ
An unbalanced sound will never feel loud. This has happened to me on several occasions – I’m looking at the meters pegging, and listening and thinking “but it doesn’t sound loud”. Then I take a step back and realise there’s no bottom end in the mix. Whack in a low shelf EQ or broad parametric, and suddenly the room is heaving.
Coming at it from another angle, you can use our ears’ sensitivity in the 2kHz region to make guitars and drums sound aggressive and loud, without pushing up the average level too much. Don’t overdo it though, or it will sound harsh and thin. Whatever strategy you decide on, don’t overdo it. Balance is everything. (Here’s a post with more tips on using EQ.)
Take it easy with bass
Having made sure you have a balanced mix, be restrained with the bass. Bass is one of the first things to distort as the levels go up, which is why if you listen to most “ultra-loud” CDs you’ll find they either have distorted bass, or are actually fairly bass-light. Again this is a technique the MusicRadar article uses, but doesn’t spell out.
Using a low-cut filter to stop very low frequencies getting out of control is a good tip, too – but again, use with caution. Personally I love bass and prefer to sacrifice a little level for a nice big bottom end : )
Work to retain dynamics – by hand
This may seem paradoxical, but it’s absolutely key. As I’ve said before, without quiet, there can be no loud. Often when mixing, you work hard to get the balance between sections of songs to work dynamically – so the chorus kicks in when you want it to, for example. At the mastering stage though, this can be too much.
If you lift up the intro to a healthy level, by the time you get to the end all the processing will be flat out. If you get the end right, the intro may still be too quiet.So, either automate the compression to adjust to each section of the song, or do what I do and adjust the overall level of each section of the track going into the compression. If the chorus is compressing too much, reduce it’s level a little.
You’ll find there’s a balance point where it sounds just as loud, but the compressors aren’t flat out. Give the mix room to breathe, even if it sounds punishing most of the time – every time you ease back on the accelerator a little, the more scope you have to floor it 8 bars later.
Use multi-band compression
Once again, MusicRadar suggest this, but don’t explain why – and, I have issues with the settings they’re using. Multi-band compression is a great way to boost the average level of a mix, without introducing pumping (for example in the high frequencies when a kick drum is triggering gain reduction). It’s also a great way to completely mash a mix. Here are some multiband rules of thumb to avoid this:
Use the same ratio in all bands – different ratios can sound unnatural
Use similar amounts of gain reduction in all bands – this avoids changing the sound of the mix too much
Never push a band beyond the point where the gain reduction returns to zero several times per bar – it doesn’t achieve anything except unnatural, squashed sound, and the compression doesn’t work efficiently
Multiband compression is a complicated subject, and I get so many questions about it that I’ve released an eBook and video about using it in mastering. To watch a free 50-minute webinar about multiband compression, click here.
(By the way, if you’re new to compression in general or would just like a refresher, this article may help you out: Using compression to add punch, warmth and power to your mix )
Use low ratios and avoid short attack times
This is a general rule for any kind of compression. Almost all of the time I use ratios between 1.5:1 and 4:1. Once the ratio gets much above 4:1, you are almost limiting anyway. Remember, the higher the ratio, the higher the threshold should be, to avoid over-compressing your mix.
Short attack times kill audio – I seldom use an attack time shorter than 20ms, except where I have a particularly “spiky” sound to deal with. (A very clicky bass drum, say) In mastering I often use attack times of 70ms or longer. We have limiters for controlling peaks and transients, why try to use a compressor to do this ? Check out the screenshot in the MusicRadar article – they have attack times of 2ms in every band ! No wonder the result sounds dull and lifeless.
(Note – All multiband compression is not created equal. I’m lucky enough to be able to use TC Electronics’ compression in their System 6000 processor. I can’t promise you’ll be able to get such good results with other multibands. If you’re interested though, I’ve written about the best multi-band compressor plugin I’ve found so far.)
Use multiple stages of compression, with low gain reductions
Once again, the MusicRadar post does this, but doesn’t tell you, or say why. Heavy compression is always audible. Use compression gently at different stages throughout the recording and mixing process – some on the instrument when playing, some in the mix, maybe some on the mix buss for some styles of music, then some gentle multi-band, and finally some mild limiting. These gradual increases will allow you to get higher average levels without killing the music.
Don’t overdo the limiting
Limiting is an important part of the “loudness chain” – as I’ve said, it allows you to use longer attack times on compressors and not worry about any peaks that might get through. Limiters are brutal, though, and more than 2 or 3dB gain reduction almost always has a detrimental effect on the audio. Don’t over-compress your mix.
I’ve covered this before, in my post How to avoid over-compressing your mix. How can I say it again, in a post titled “How to make your music loud” ? Because it’s crucial. As I said above:Without quiet, there can be no loud
That doesn’t stop you having a loud mix and master, but the truth is, there is no point in consistently going lower than DR8. (Don’t know what “DR8″ means ? Read the last link : ). Beyond that level of compression, you simply suck impact and loudness out of your track. It makes your track sound quieter (because people, or broadcast limiting, or playback normalisation, turn it down anyway) and it will be crushed, distorted and fatiguing as a result.
So, there you go. Hopefully that gives you some extra understanding of what the MusicRadar post and example are doing, and where they’ve gone wrong. Listen to how much cleaner the version at Stage 12 sounds, for example.
I regularly use these techniques to master songs that are actually louder than the example I’ve been criticising, but sound better – hopefully you will be able to, too, if loudness is your goal. Just remember my catch-phrase:
Louder is better, but too loud is worse

What PlayStation 4 Means for Music and Sony

People are interested in the new PlayStation 4 interface, so for starters, here’s what Sony Music Unlimited looks like on the Sony PlayStation 4:
It’s pretty. As I watched Sony demonstrate the $400 PlayStation 4 at a Manhattan hotel on Tuesday, I was impressed by the music experience’s clean interface, the smoothness of the transitions, and other graphical elements. But the really interesting stuff is under the hood.
We’ll leave the videogaming judgments and specs talk to the gaming publications — other than that the PS4 has a digital optical output, which means audiophiles can process any music source on the DAC of their choice, (good), but that it can’t (yet?) play MP3s or CDs (bad; also, updated with link). We’re into music, so we sat down with Mike Aragon, Sony general manager of global digital video and music services, to find out what you need to know about the PlayStation 4 if you care about music, and are considering this new console.
What we learned:
1. You can finally play your own music inside games
When I had more time for videogames, I used to mute the game’s music and run its sound effects through my television at a loud volume, and then play whatever music I wanted to on the sound system. According to Aragon, you can now do that with the PS4, using any song on Sony Music Unlimited — and you couldn’t do that with the PS3.
Most gamers Sony’s music and video division have surveyed would do something like my old trick, but with earbuds connected to a phone. The new solution is way easier, not to mention better, and it lets you alter music volume independently of the videogame’s sound effects without leaving the game. And all of the music and sound effects come out of whatever speakers you’re gaming on.
2. It’s kind of like Facebook
When you first fire up the PlayStation 4, you’re presented with a mix of stuff in one unified interface — music your friends have listened to, music your friends have liked, and music you are likely to like, all within the same mix of stuff from the rest of your Playstation 4 friend network. For example, if your friend scored a great goal in FIFA 14, they might share that to the network with the Share button, right alongside your Javelin likes.
“It’s almost analogous to your Facebook feed,” explained Aragon to Evolver.fm, as he demonstrated the PS4 What’s New welcome screen. “It’s kind of a mash-up of all the cool things online with your friends, and we think this is going to be a really integral part of discovery for both video and for music.”
The screen also contains artist stations, genre stations, mood stations, and more, using Sony’s internal recommendation system.
3. Gamers listen to more on-demand music
We figured that since gamers are more focused on, well, games, that they’d be more likely to listen to artist, genre, or mood-based stations — a phenomenon we figured would be exacerbated by hard it is to request a specific song by entering text on a videogame controller. We also knew that because Sony Music Unlimited reaches gamers on Playstation as well as non-gamers on iOS, Android, and the web, Sony would have insights into the listening behavior of gamers vs. the rest of us.
Contrary to our suspicion, Aragon said gamers actually like to choose exactly what to listen to more than non-gamers. However, we were correct in assuming that they don’t do this on their gaming consoles. The default behavior, he said, is that people create playlists on iOS, Android, or the web, and then access them on their PlayStations — a trend that will likely continue with the PS4.
Eventually, search will be easier on the platform, but in a roundabout way: Gamers will be able to search for Sony Music Unlimited tracks on the PlayStation 4 using their Android or iOS devices.
4. 30 free days of 22 million tracks comes with every PS4
As with certain Sony televisions, each PlayStation 4 comes with 30 free days of Sony Music Unlimited, with on-demand and programmed access to 22 million songs.
5. The PS4 might help Sony Music, the label, in some small way
Sony Music Unlimited has about 22 million songs, from all the major labels and most of the indies (other than the usual on-demand subscription holdouts). It needs that other music in order to provide a comprehensive service, but the fact that Sony owns a label, a music service, and a gaming console means it can do some interesting cross-promotion. So far, Sony has experimented with having Sony Music artists curate playlists for Sony Music Unlimited on the PlayStation 4.
6. The PS4 music interface will replace current iOS/Android designs
Eventually, Sony plans to scrap its current iOS and Android app designs, and roll out something quite similar to the new PS 4 interface across those platforms, for a unified look and feel on all screens. We imagine that a great deal of Sony Music Unlimited users are coming from PlayStation, so this will give them a consistent, updated interface, with access to all of the Facebook-style social updates of the PlayStation 4.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Inspiration & quotes 3

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Focus on the progress

Focus on your process, rather than the results you are looking for. Ask yourself: "How can I change my process to be more creative?" Or: "Am I stuck because of the process I am using?"
Keep moving, is all I got to say. And what I mean by that is always find ways to keep your progress moving forward, not backwards, or if you do have to take a step back. Don't stay long, or try to figure too much out of it. Cause this will just throw you for a major loop, and fuck your head up completely, and discourage you to move on. So don't do it.

Act the part

Your behavior may be affecting how you work, so act like a professional would. As New York Times best-selling author A.J. Jacobs once said: "Act your way into a new way of thinking, rather than trying to think your way into a new way of acting."
What A.J. Jacobs had meant in his quote is try to reinvent yourself in the way you are thinking, rather than figuring out how you should act in your current situation. For instance, if you are a blog writer and you like writing in your blog. Try this: Find a new way to keep your blog posts current, and always coming up with new stories to tell. And another is maybe you might get a little tired of writing about the same thing over, and over again. Try to venture off to another topic without going to far off your subject.

Amplify the positives

What are the positive attributes of your situation? Try amplifying those to see how it affects the negative ones (like feeling stuck or not having enough motivation).
Well with the internet being the way that it is, this idea isn't that hard to do. It's just staying positive with yourself, and your fans is more of the problem with this. With FacebookGoogle +, and other social media outlets keeping your friends, family,  or even fans is easier. The main thing is not to have all these people and not keeping everyone up to date with whats going on. The easiest way is to posts all the time, also there are tons of apps available now that makes all this possible.
Plus you can do a lot of this on your cell phone, or smart phones now. Apps like Foursquare, Get Glue, Instagram, and Pinterest to name a few.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Cult Classics: Going Beyond Hit Status

Cult Classics: Going Beyond Hit Status

Dark_Side_of_the_MoonFrom the Nielsen Newswire.
All music lovers have at least one album in their collection that they know all the words to (including all the backup vocals), just like movie buffs have that one DVD that seems to spend more time in the player than it does in its case. It’s these titles that initiate fans into that special group that loves that content to death. While these titles aren’t always traditional cult classics, their followings have become cult-like over time. Here, we explore just a handful of these titles and how they’ve continue to engage us well years after their initial release.

MUSIC MUST HAVES

When English rockers Pink Floyd first released Dark Side of the Moon in 1973, they probably couldn’t have imagined how popular it would become over time. Today, four decades after its release, it continues to sell an average of more than 3,000 units a week. And during the week of its 40th anniversary, it sold over 19,000 copies. The same goes for the Beatles’ 11th studio album, Abbey Road. Originally released in September of 1969, this pop classic continues to sell an average of 1,500 albums a week, while the top track “Here Comes The Sun,” continues to sell approximately 2,500 tracks a week.
Bob Marley and the Wailers’ 12th album Legend lives up to its name, having sold more than 11 million records in the U.S. to date. This year alone, it continues to sell an average of over 4,000 records each week. Michael Jackson’s Thrillerisn’t just for Halloween—music fans continue to buy an average of 3,000 albums a week, even 30 years after its original release. These titles aren’t just timeless because of the legacies and personalities of the artists behind them. They’re legendary compositions that people continue to enjoy many years later. They’ve also gone on to become some of the best-selling albums of the past two decades.

CHILDHOOD AND CLASSROOM CLASSICS

Our obsession with content starts at a very young age. And while the phrase cult classic isn’t typically used to describe kids’ picture books, it’s actually very applicable.
The books and picture books that we read in our youth are special to us because we’re exposed to them when we’re most impressionable. They’re also special to retailers, as picture books like Goodnight Moon, Love You Forever, andBrown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? have all landed on bestseller charts.
Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown (first published in 1947), is one of the oldest pictures books on record and continues to sooth generations of munchkins to sleep more than half a century later. It sold nearly 7,500 print titles the week ending Oct. 20, 2013, while Love You Forever, by Robert N. Munsch (first published in 1986), sold over 5,700 physical titles during the same week. Also, originally published in 1967, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle sold more than 6,000 units of the print title the same week—proof that required reading starts at a very young age.
When we look at literary classics like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby, it’s clear that their authors had a talent for creating works that would engage readers for decades. Copies of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, first published in 1960, sold more than 6,000 print copies in the week ending Oct. 20, 2013. Meanwhile The Great Gatsby, originally published in 1925 by F. Scott Fitzgerald sold over 5,700 print books during the same week ending Oct. 20, 2013. The book also remains a literary classic used in academia, as it was used in more than 1,000 colleges in the 2012-2013 academic year, prompting sales of 16,000 copies at university bookstores.
This summer’s film adaptation of Fitzgerald’s tale about the young and mysterious Jay Gatsby has helped spark renewed interest in this classic. The film release (May 10, 2013) likely spiked book sales, ultimately pushing the title to the No. 3 spot on the top 10 overall best-selling titles the week ending May 19, 2013. And that popularity—along with the star power of leading man Leonardo DiCaprio—has helped the film as well. The movie title, despite only being released Aug. 27, 2013 has already sold 885,000 discs to date.

GRAPHIC NOVEL INSPIRATION

Anyone who has been to Comic-Con is well aware of the great lengths fans will go to show their excitement for their favorite superheroes. And that level of enthusiasm has been a boon for publishers of the array of movie franchises that began as graphic novels. Marvel’s The Avengers (released April 2012) had sold over 7.7 million DVD and Blu-ray discs combined to date as of week ending Oct. 13, 2013. Thor, released September 2011, has also proven to be a home entertainment favorite, selling more than 3 million disc units to date. And then there’s Batman, one of the most enduring comics on the big screen. The most recent trilogy, Batman Begins (2005) The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012), continue to entice home entertainment fans, with the final installment selling over 5.8 million discs since its release.

BRING ON THE BOOK FRANCHISES

And no book-to-movie discussion would be complete without including Harry Potter. The books in the series have sold 516,000 physical units to date, and disc sales have been solid post theatrical release as well. When looking at the most recent disc releases, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 has garnered 5.2 million discs sold in full (over 84,000 year to date), while Part 2 has sold 4 million discs to date (over 154,000 year to date).
Sci-fi book Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, was originally released in 1985. The title sold 22,000 physical units through the one week ending Oct. 20, 2013, potentially as interest rises with the movie adaptation to be released Nov. 1, 2013. And just in time for Halloween, a new remake of Stephen King’s Carrie hit theaters on Oct. 18, 2013. WithCarrie hitting the screens again, the title sold over 5,000 print book units the week ending Oct. 20, 2013.
These titles may have started as cult classics, but the strong devotion of fans has elevated their popularity to heights never originally imagined. What makes them classics? It’s an enduring momentum that continues to build as legions of fans keep them in heavy rotation and the entertainment industry finds new ways to tell their timeless tales.

Create a moodboard

Consider the different elements of what you're trying to do and then gather inspiration to create a moodboard. Grab photos, quotes of inspiration, colors, and anything else you can use to inspire your brain.
Make a mind map of your idea, and then create a section where you can place the notes of what mood everything makes you feel.

Inspiration & quotes 2

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Always let things settle in the midst, before going overboard and having terrible things from happening.

Image: Inspiration & quotes 1

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Set smaller goals

Identify what you're trying to do and then break it down into smaller goals. Write the goals down somewhere and check one off as you complete it as a way of monitoring your creative progress.
This idea is to breakdown your ideas. First and foremost come up with an idea. Set a major goal that you want to accomplish. And then break that whole idea down to a lot of little ideas that you want, and must accomplish for your goal. And then once those are accomplish then move on to the next one, and then the next one after. Do all this until you have accomplished everything that you had set to accomplish.

SEO For Musicians: “Don’t Chase The Algorithm”

SEO For Musicians: "Don't Chase The Algorithm"
There are a number of technical things one can still do to have a higher presence in Google and other search engines. But, unless you're really into playing search engine games, most of the time it's better to set up your site correctly and then focus on creating and sharing content, such as pics and blog posts, in addition to your musical activities. Jennifer Ha recently shared 7 tips from SearchEngineLand's Matt McGee to improve your search presence without chasing the constantly shifting details of Google's math. One in particular, "strive to be the authority in your space," sounds a bit odd for a musician but may actually provide a way to create a Google-worthy site that your fans will enjoy.
Don't Chase The Algorithm
The title to Jennifer Ha's Post at Federated Media, "Don't Chase the Algorithm," is an ideal mantra both for those just getting into search engine optimization (SEO) for music sites and for those with more experience. To me it speaks of avoiding the ongoing obsession with every tweak of Google's algorithm to focus on the bigger picture of what you're trying to create.
I really believe you could get by on the technical side by digging in once a month at Search Engine Land, identifying trends via headlines and then digging into the stuff that seems to be getting everybody worked up. If your site keeps up with basic best practices, you really don't have to do a lot of technical stuff to stay current.
Your main focus should be communicating with your fans. However you do that, you should include sharing meaningful news updates and content like behind-the-scenes pics that your fans will want to check out and share.
As it turns out, organizing your site to suit your visitors and giving them meaningful content in addition to music and music videos, is the kind of thing that Google wants to see and so does Facebook.
Be The Authority On Your Own Act
In Jennifer Ha's interview with Matt McGee she closes with "7 Tactical Steps" for improving your site's SEO. They're all good, basic technical tips worth checking out.
But the first, "Strive to be the authority in your space, and publish consistently," sounds like the kind of thing that a business person or wannabe thought leader might be more concerned with than would a musician.
However, I think the idea of making your official website the "authority" on your act is actually a great way to get yourself organized. When you look at it that way, then all the various components of a site make more sense and the possibility of content beyond the everyday becomes easier to imagine.
Becoming the authority on your own act can mean a number of things. For example, if your site is well-organized with multiple sections of content, news and events, it may mean that not only will your official site come up first in searches for your band's name but that Google will do that nice mini-directory to internal pages that they do for sites like Search Engine Land.
Add a Wikipedia entry, which Google will put in the sidebar of results, and you're dominating the section of initial results folks will first encounter.
Becoming the authority on your own act can also mean taking content to another level. For example, one could include song lyrics and stories behind the songs. Perhaps you have visual material that relates to those lyrics or stories. This could make for a meaningful addition to your site that is also quite unique.
So, rather than chasing that algorithm, try becoming the authority on your own act instead and see what it does not only for your search presence but for your relationship with your fans.