PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production "Born to Run" Vs. "Radio Nowhere" Mastering Dynamics

Wow! Really? I won't tell anyone if you don't Do you know which patch by chance? It fit so perfectly!

From original post..

Have fun!!!

Been listening to a lot of early Elton John lately. God that stuff was good.

https://soundcloud.com/david-snyder-gigs/seventeen

One real track.

Seventeen
By David Snyder
Key=F , Tempo 65, Length (m:s)=3:11
RealTracks in style: 894:Piano, Acoustic, Solo
_________________________
Audiophile 2016 David Snyder
Regional Coordinator
Nashville Songwriters Association (NSAI)
http://www.reverbnation.com./davidpsnyder
https://soundcloud.com/david-snyder-gigs
www.linkedin.com/in/davidsnyderraleigh
www.youtube.com/user/DavidPSnyder

I know there is plenty of creative stuff going on in the music industry, but I can't seem to find this kind of stuff. I miss it!

You are so right about how great it was! Still is, but you know what I mean

Amen, brother.

Bluejean Baby.

LA Lady.

Seamstress for the Ba---and.



When you have you heard something that catchy lately??

One of my favorite tunes from him.

When Elton's first LP came out, I was working for M.C.A. Records and got front row tickets. Only concert I've ever walked out on.



Regards,

Bob

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic?

If you aren't, why did you walk out?

It was in 1970, at The Electric Factory in Philly. He was touring with a bass player and a drummer. Came out alone, sat down and played “Your Song”. It was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. A moment I've never forgotten.


Then the show became a bit more “flamboyant”. A bit too flamboyant for Philly in 1970.

Things were very different then.



Regards,

Bob

I was living in South Jersey at that time. We could see the buildings of Camden and Philly from one of my buddies back yard. David Bowie also play The Scene in Philly a lot. I never saw either Bowie or John back in those early days. I did manage to see quite a few big name bands at the Spectrum. Some real icons back before they became icons in the biz. Bob Segar as an opening act... Foghat with one hit song.....ZZ Top before the beards..... Wishbone Ash in Camden in a renovated movie theater.....

What a great time. Yes, things were quite different back then.

Philly had a great music scene back then. I saw Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee at the 2nd Fret and The Velvets numerous times. Everyone who was touring came through Philly.

I was hangin' out at 8th Street Music one day with a pal, and these hairy hippy guys walked in and started shopping. My buddy is freaking out, and I can't understand why.

"Don't you know who that is? he asked me.

"Nope."

"That's the Grateful Dead, man!"

I had no idea who they were. They couldn't find everything they needed for their show that night, so my friend Cliff and I rode around Philly in the back of their rental truck showing them where all the music stores were. They were very nice guys.



Regards,

Bob

What a cool story! I never got into their music, but they always came across as kind souls.

When I first heard "Radio Nowhere" on the "Magic" CD, I noticed the extreme compression, and at first I didn't like it, especially since the rest of the cd didn't sound like that.

But later I realised that the compression may have been an artistc nod to the over compressed sound of AM radio.


-rob

Hey Rob,

Interesting thought!!! You may be right!! I never thought of it but he may have done it on purpose.

Hmmmmmmm....


Very interesting!!!

It seems that The Loudness wars are being discussed more than anything. With the drive for maximum volume has come the collateral damage of minimum dynamics.
Compression, Limiting, Brick Wall Limiting and Normalizing can all achieve increased loudness in many circumstances. There are restrictions and inherent problems with each. Normalising, for example, can only take the loudest points in a track to the selected maximum volume the range of volume between the loudest and quietest parts is preserved - the dynamics are retained. If you've mixed a track with an aberrant, super loud cymbal hit in one spot the amount of volume or level increase will be minimal if any at all.
Compression, (my 1st experience was with TV ads where everything is as loud as everything else), reduces peaks that will then allow the general volume to be "normalized" in relation to those reduced volume peaks.
Compression with "catch up" or "make up" gain will reduce the peaks, (by a ratio as set my the user and with a bundle of other variables as well), and automatically lift everything else up toward those new peaks.
One of the biggest issues regarding the use of these soft or hardware items are "pumping" where the effect is obvious and the response of the unit/program can be heard starting and ending on the caught peaks. "Colourization" is when the process alters the sound by more than its expected effect due to errors or planning in design and manufacturing(EQ, phase etc). Often we perceive these colourations as advantageous which is why so many old analogue units are being replicated in the digital world.
LOUDER is a competitive thing that became a fad and is now, thankfully, receiving a backlash. Will my track sound loud enough beside the previous track on the radio? Well, my songs won't get played there so, from that point of view the issue is moot. The fact that people don't like to adjust the volume control on the phone/MP3 Player/I pod/DAP has a lot to do with it too.
Take a track and run it through a sonic maximiser or Aural Enhancer. 1st listen will probably be impressive but, like LOUDness war tracks, repeated or sustain listening will probably render the listener and her/his ear fatigued. Sometimes, when used subtly, the effect is wonderful and not deleterious to the song and listening experience.
Mastering? I've experimented with Ozone & the ilk - even LANDR (they offer a free MP3 jobbie and I wanted to do a Mix - LANDR Master- ME master comparison for the sake of thoroughness). The LANDR job was unsympathetic and what I expected for an algorithm based, (upload, select genre, run, listen to result, select variation on that result, give up) attempt.
Managing dynamics, by whatever means, requires subtlety and, most crucially, GOOD EARS. I don't have much of the former and almost nothing of the latter so I get a mix as good as I can, (with reference to ears here and other forums), then send it to an M.E. who's work I've sussed out, done before & after comparisons etc. I currently use 2 M.E.s, (more correctly production master engineers), because one does a certain type of my stuff in a way I prefer and the other covers different stuff appropriately.

Dang,

That was a ton of useful information brother. Thanks!!

One of the most exciting songs I've heard was listening to Florence and the Machine play Dog Days are Over, live in the studio at the Colbert Show. I was in the audience. The dynamics between Florence's soft singing and the cataclysm of the band coming in was awesome. You can't have dynamics like that if everything is the same volume. These days, I try to arrange and master my songs so they look like the Born to Run wave.