Since I have nothing creative to report at the moment, I would like to continue with my series, in which I describe what I learned from the last album. Today I want to explain the subject of loudness, limiter and LUFS. Some of you may have known what I am saying for a long time, others will not.
I think sometime in the 80s, what many call the "loudness war" began. Back then, it was about every CD trying to sound as loud as possible in order to achieve the best possible sound result for potential CD buyers who listen to several CDs in the shop. Even if it is not clear to everyone, it has been proven that the same sound is perceived as better by (even experienced sound engineers) if it is only louder.
In order to achieve this loudness, you always use limiters after the mix, when mastering. These limiters do nothing more than reduce the difference between the loudest point in the mix and the quietest point - it made the song more consistent in volume. For example, if a song has a very loud snare-drum, the mix will not be louder than this snare drum. If, on the other hand, you adjust the snare drum to the rest of the volume, it is possible to make the song as a whole louder because the snare drum is no longer "in the way".
However, this led to two issues. The first issue wasn't with the music, but rather with the radio and TV channels. The commercials switched on should of course attract as much attention as possible, which one tried to achieve by making them as loud as possible using a limiter. That always led to the very unpleasant effect that these advertisements always pop into the film and really scare you. The second issue occurred on the CDs because the limiter not only makes everything louder, but also attenuates the loud peaks. It made the overall sound less dynamic and the drums quieter.
To solve these problems, science began to research loudness (which differs from volume in that it is subjective). Characteristic values such as LUFS were then created, which measure the subjective listening experience in the form of loudness. In these calculations it was not only taken into account that e.g. a loud snare drum does not automatically make the allover loudness of a song higher, but also takes into account that different frequencies are perceived differently loud. In this way it was possible to ensure that a dynamic song, can have the same LUFS value as a heavily limited one.
In the course of the success of the entire streaming services such as Spotify etc., this key figure began to be used to make all the songs they offer sound equally loud to the listener. From that point on, it was no longer necessary to "destroy" the dynamics in order not to go under in comparison with the other songs.
At the beginning of Ice Ages it was important to sound as loud as possible and that's why I limited it heavily. Later I got used to the limited sound and even preferred it because it somehow makes the sound more sluggish and less "funky". But with my last album I finally got used to a more dynamic sound and also understood how I can integrate it into my sound ideas.
All that I have now written is certainly not 100% correct because I am not a loudspeaker expert. You are welcome to draw my attention to mistakes if you find any.