NIK WILSON Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I quite like the sound and Myles as ever sounds on
> form.
>
> My only gripe from my first impression is this
> 'brickwall' (I think that's the term) trend in
> the mastering with the drum track sounding
> over-saturated.. I found that with modern day AB
> albums too and it loses some finesse in the song.


Nik, I absolutely hate that too! That's one of the services I provide in my studio business. I can't tell you how many jobs I've walked away from that wanted that loud, smashed sound. When done correctly, a good master will turn up and up without distortion and without killing the dynamic value of music.

The story behind what they call "the loudness wars" is quite silly as well as a major degradation in sound. However, there ARE some acts that benefit from this because their music is best enjoyed aggressively. But for melodic Myles, it totally kills the nice ups and downs that help us to enjoy music. When the dynamics are gone and all you get is a loud, smashed sound, you can also get ear fatigue from it because it's just balls open and never cuts back. Why people think that is important, I'll never understand. Then again, we've been dealing with people that listen to music through phone speakers and crappy ear buds. So it doesn't surprise me that they'd crash and burn with brick walled audio too. Sad.

Danny