How loudly do you master?  I find today's music almost intolerable due to everything being mastered to the wall.  What say you?
 
http://www.completemusicu...m/article/qa-bob-katz/

I agree. I like dynamics in a song. I don't mind songs a little slammed in spots, but it needs to be broken up with some softer passages. But even in the louder parts there has to be dynamic activity to keep it from sounding like chaotic noise in my ears. Plus when you have softer passages, it just makes the louder passages that much more powerful.

"Just make everything louder than everything else".  Ian Gillan
 
I like 70s mixes better than many recent mixes. Music loses some of its very heart without good dynamics. This is the sort of thing that happens when artists/producers put out material that they think people will like/buy instead of putting out what they, as artists, like. IMO... thanks for the link, I will read it. There was something similar a while back.
 
J

Dialing back dynamics reduction is the simplest, easiest, cheapest way to a better mix. Although we always say there's no such thing, it's the closest to a magic bullet I've ever found. Forget the quest for the ultimate limiter/compressor/magic juice box. Just allowing an extra 1 or 2 dB of crest factor can do wonders for clarity, separation, width and depth.

It's tricky . . . when I like my mix, then in mastering feel the need to slam it to the wall with a limiter, then I don't like it so much.
Made the mistake comparing my mix, and recently analyzing the audio on Paul McCartney's new album. It's loud, compressed, obviously has much limiter applied, but it still sounds good. Seems there must be a balance of squashed vs. dynamics that still musically works.
Still, I wish I could hear the pre-slammed version of his music to really appreciate it, instead of the "packaged" version that gets widely released.

jbow
"Just make everything louder than everything else".  Ian Gillan
 

This is one of the reasons why I never bothered listening to Deep Purple, and so many other bands in those days ... it was all about being loud, loud and louder and the music simply was not that good.
 
Too many of these bands were just about the noise and the money, and had nothing to do with the music. Sure they had one song or two, so what? So did you and Bapu and the Coffee House!
 
I have a bit of an issue, and it might sound a bit stuck up, but considering the words like Ian Gillian gave you and then think that he is a metal god, or some kind of hard rock important figure, just tells you how little music there really was in the first place! Take your money and run as fast as you can before it ain't there, buddy!
 
Sorry. There is better music out there and a lot less greed!
 
 
And you know what's sad? ... looking at the other person here wanting to christen his new guitar and he is looking at some of this crap, instead of finding the one note or sound inside his heart and play HIS SONG, not someone else's. Makes you wonder ... how empty are these folks, anyway?
 
You, I, anyone, don't want to hurt him or his work, but in the end, there is not enough person behind it to know what he/she needs to do, and I find that sad!
 
Rain ... either play Amazing Grace, or the National Anthem. Forget all that other crap! Make a statement! Try this one if you have guts! (Might even listen to Sandy Denny's take!)

• "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood" (Music: Trad. Lyrics: Richard Fariña) - 4:28

 
Btw, my apologies if this doesn't sound right ... it's meant to help shine your heart, not dim it! You can't shine it with someone else's light!

Well, I like my quiet music as much as anybody, but c'mon, let's not be dissin' Deep Purple! In their heyday they were the best jam band around. Not the loudest, either.

bitflipper
Well, I like my quiet music as much as anybody, but c'mon, let's not be dissin' Deep Purple! In their heyday they were the best jam band around. Not the loudest, either.

Sadly, I've walked out of three concerts in my life!
 
1. Deep Purple/Leon Russell - Long Beach Arena. Too loud and DP was out of tune. Leon Russell was ok.
 
2. The Rolling Stones in LA - Too loud and out of tune. Good thing I did not pay for those tickets!
 
3. Ozric Tentacles - 3rd visit in Portland on a free show. The sound guy was an idiot and the keyboards would go out every 10 minutes, and then Ed's keyboard went out and his effects were all gone. And the sound, was worse than a high school band in your garage! Saddest thing I have ever seen with such a good band, but they need to take care of their own sound a lot better than they did!

Loud....?  Yeah I like loud.  But that's what the volume control on the amp is there for.
 
Loud concerts? Yep, I've been to more than my share of those too. But when the country star's band is so loud that you can't understand the words to the songs you know, and you're wondering when the bass is going to start playing, then you realize it IS playing.... that's too loud.
 
Loud recordings?  No... not to where I have squeezed every dynamic out of the music....again, the volume control will get you there if that's where you want to go.
 
I prefer to have my waves look like this: 
 

 
Trust me when I say it can keep up with the stuff on the radio and crank that volume control hard in the clockwise direction and it'll make you happy.

having a loud band play loud...
 
and capturing what they sound like..
 
are two completely different things.
 
 
for example, deep purple (MKII) created incredible dynamics, thru sheer volume and ARRANGEMENTS