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Sneak Stab All The Dragon Priests

from Genesis by Midnight's Ocean

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Leveled -14iLUFs.

Over producing.

Over produced music is liken to a beautiful landscape full of mountains, streams trees and whatnot, turning into a flat green featureless parking lot.

Most modern music is over produced. When a raw mix is “leveled” sitting well and highly faithful to the artistic vision, that is the time the production process should be over. Sadly it’s only just begun at that point. Why? Why continue when the art is effectively “complete”? Because you have to mix it and what that means is, it needs sonic optimization.

Whether people want to admit it or not, MOST production at this point is simply optimizing the sonic character of the mix. this is done, not for art sake but purely so the mix pre-amp level can be pumped to reach competitive LUFs loudness. Loudness levels that only exist because most listeners long since gave up evaluating musical arts with their intellect and instead judge with their body’s response. Louder is better, says the animal body.

This wouldn’t be a problem if all that sonic optimization wasn’t detrimental to the art. It is however because when you process to that degree, it unavoidably destroys macro and micro dynamics.

Macro: Volume changes section to section within a tune.
Micro: Volume level changes split second to split second, beat to beat, note to note.

Harmonic structures are also modified. This all can wreck delicate inter-instrumental relations that MAKE a piece of music, exciting, inspiring, alive, and truly special. So often all it takes is 1db or so to through off what was a magical balance between complimenting sounds. Sure there are measures taken to “minimize” this issue but really all that means is, there’s a problem. In truth, art is apposed to the act of mixing and the issues created by mixing are never as minimized as most would like to think.

The entire process is at best a catch up game of diminishing returns and inartistic compromises. Compromises that are only “necessary” so a track can be loud and homogeneous enough to satisfy the lowest common denominator listener. The type of person who apparently prefers destroying art, if it means the convenience of not having to touch their volume control even once in a day.

Though the abilities of mixing engineers are highly respectable, the need for their profession from an artistic point of view, is sorely lacking. For it is a profession that enables the lowest common denominator audience and inartistic executives to dictate detrimental practices for the processing of art. Entire genres, some of the largest/oldest in the world, have been almost completely eliminated from the public mind. All thanks to volume levels “needing” to be loud as possible. Dynamic range is drastically reduced and micro dynamics are eliminated almost completely. There are only a select few genres who, in their simple nature, actually benefit from this standard. No surprise they have become the dominating genres after decades of the loudness war.

credits

from Genesis, released May 7, 2018

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Midnight's Ocean New Jersey

Long time composer/production engineer. Apparent pioneer of the "Nontoxic music movement". This site features a wide variety of original non-apologetic musical exploration. Made from the mind & heart. Art as an extension of the human spirit, not corporatism. Herein is sonic material for the adventurous & discerning multimedia project creator, as well as open-minded listener. ... more

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