Red Mosquito

Serious question--would you master an album differently if you expect it to be primarily played through streaming services then you would through headphones or some higher bitrate mode of consumption?

I think it should still be mastered to sound as good as possible. Because, again, the only people who are gonna care how it's mastered are gonna be the ones who seek out a high-quality way to listen to it.

So there's nothing about mastering something to sound great on a pair of quality headphones that might make it sound even worse on a phone or something like that?

stip wrote:Serious question--would you master an album differently if you expect it to be primarily played through streaming services then you would through headphones or some higher bitrate mode of consumption?

iTunes offers a lot of music mastered for iTunes. Supposedly geared more towards use with earbuds and laptop speakers. No idea if it actually makes a difference.

stip wrote:So there's nothing about mastering something to sound great on a pair of quality headphones that might make it sound even worse on a phone or something like that?

But the people who would listen to it on a phone clearly don't give a shit, so why master it to suit them?

Stip, I don't have the same technical knowledge here that Chud and Spenno do, but I don't think mastering something differently in anticipation of it being streamed at low bitrates would "optimize" its potential at said low bitrates, if that's what you're asking. No matter what the initial mastering job is like, the sound is going to deteriorate by degrees as you reduce the bitrate, with no way to retain the fullness of sound achieved by the upper and lower frequencies of the sound file. This isn't quite the same as mastering differently for CD, vinyl, iTunes, etc., where the engineer anticipates the difference in delivery system but not an inherent compromise to the quality of the audio track.

this new discovery playlist thing in Spotify is awesome! good way for a lazy bastard like me to find new stuff

BurtReynolds wrote:this new discovery playlist thing in Spotify is awesome! good way for a lazy bastard like me to find new stuff

rdio.com is better

Kevin Davis wrote:Aren't the 256 Apple files somewhere in the ballpark of a 320 mp3?

I can hear a difference between 256 and 320 MP3s. Not sure how that translates to whatever codec apple is using. Sorry for this useless post.

cutuphalfdead wrote:

Kevin Davis wrote:Aren't the 256 Apple files somewhere in the ballpark of a 320 mp3?

I can hear a difference between 256 and 320 MP3s. Not sure how that translates to whatever codec apple is using. Sorry for this useless post.

you're doing great chud. Keep it up.

stip wrote:Serious question--would you master an album differently if you expect it to be primarily played through streaming services then you would through headphones or some higher bitrate mode of consumption?

It would make sense to, in theory. A lot of the compression and lack of dynamics that we loath (and has led to the loudness wars and brickwalling) are practices that make sense to a certain degree in certain listening environments. Basically, with shitty equipment in a noisy atmosphere you want to compress a little bit more.

I think its rather fascinating that the brickwalling thing every fucking happened. probably the same reason why commercials became so fucking loud to an unbearable point.

cutuphalfdead wrote:

stip wrote:Serious question--would you master an album differently if you expect it to be primarily played through streaming services then you would through headphones or some higher bitrate mode of consumption?

It would make sense to, in theory. A lot of the compression and lack of dynamics that we loath (and has led to the loudness wars and brickwalling) are practices that make sense to a certain degree in certain listening environments. Basically, with shitty equipment in a noisy atmosphere you want to compress a little bit more.

how do you know so much about audiology pete? i can respect that.

Chris_H_2 wrote:

cutuphalfdead wrote:

stip wrote:Serious question--would you master an album differently if you expect it to be primarily played through streaming services then you would through headphones or some higher bitrate mode of consumption?

It would make sense to, in theory. A lot of the compression and lack of dynamics that we loath (and has led to the loudness wars and brickwalling) are practices that make sense to a certain degree in certain listening environments. Basically, with shitty equipment in a noisy atmosphere you want to compress a little bit more.

how do you know so much about audiology pete? i can respect that.

A little from work, a little from reading. Honestly, I know just enough to sound like I know what I'm talking about but little enough to often miss the point entirely.

cutuphalfdead wrote:

Chris_H_2 wrote:

cutuphalfdead wrote:

stip wrote:Serious question--would you master an album differently if you expect it to be primarily played through streaming services then you would through headphones or some higher bitrate mode of consumption?

It would make sense to, in theory. A lot of the compression and lack of dynamics that we loath (and has led to the loudness wars and brickwalling) are practices that make sense to a certain degree in certain listening environments. Basically, with shitty equipment in a noisy atmosphere you want to compress a little bit more.

how do you know so much about audiology pete? i can respect that.

A little from work, a little from reading. Honestly, I know just enough to sound like I know what I'm talking about but little enough to often miss the point entirely.

The rabbit hole that is audiophilia is fascinating and dark.

Strat wrote:

cutuphalfdead wrote:

Chris_H_2 wrote:

cutuphalfdead wrote:

stip wrote:Serious question--would you master an album differently if you expect it to be primarily played through streaming services then you would through headphones or some higher bitrate mode of consumption?

It would make sense to, in theory. A lot of the compression and lack of dynamics that we loath (and has led to the loudness wars and brickwalling) are practices that make sense to a certain degree in certain listening environments. Basically, with shitty equipment in a noisy atmosphere you want to compress a little bit more.

how do you know so much about audiology pete? i can respect that.

A little from work, a little from reading. Honestly, I know just enough to sound like I know what I'm talking about but little enough to often miss the point entirely.

The rabbit hole that is audiophilia is fascinating and dark.

My point was even though many of us want the quiets to be quiet and the louds to be loud and have lots of space between when we're listening on a decent setup at home, the problem is when you're on the train listening with earbuds on your phone you can't even hear the quiet parts over the sound of the wheels on the track and the prick having a too loud conversation next to you, so in that situation compressing the audio a bit and sacrificing dynamic makes sense. It just sucks that that type of sound has become the default.

Strat wrote:

BurtReynolds wrote:this new discovery playlist thing in Spotify is awesome! good way for a lazy bastard like me to find new stuff

rdio.com is better

too random

cutuphalfdead wrote:

Strat wrote:

cutuphalfdead wrote:

Chris_H_2 wrote:

cutuphalfdead wrote:

stip wrote:Serious question--would you master an album differently if you expect it to be primarily played through streaming services then you would through headphones or some higher bitrate mode of consumption?

It would make sense to, in theory. A lot of the compression and lack of dynamics that we loath (and has led to the loudness wars and brickwalling) are practices that make sense to a certain degree in certain listening environments. Basically, with shitty equipment in a noisy atmosphere you want to compress a little bit more.

how do you know so much about audiology pete? i can respect that.

A little from work, a little from reading. Honestly, I know just enough to sound like I know what I'm talking about but little enough to often miss the point entirely.

The rabbit hole that is audiophilia is fascinating and dark.

My point was even though many of us want the quiets to be quiet and the louds to be loud and have lots of space between when we're listening on a decent setup at home, the problem is when you're on the train listening with earbuds on your phone you can't even hear the quiet parts over the sound of the wheels on the track and the prick having a too loud conversation next to you, so in that situation compressing the audio a bit and sacrificing dynamic makes sense. It just sucks that that type of sound has become the default.

Im agreeing with you i was just stating that when i started reading into all this stuff it became madenning. Started when i tried to learn how to record at home, then getting a record player, its crazy the opinions out there and how far you can get into this.

Also, Apple should stop selling those fucking earbuds. Maybe those are the biggest culprits in shit music quality.

What's frustrating is, music could be mastered with a better listening environment in mind and this compression can be added at the user end.

cutuphalfdead wrote:What's frustrating is, music could be mastered with a better listening environment in mind and this compression can be added at the user end.

Do Ipods still have there built in Sound EQ settings? That could do the trick for some people. I know the Iphones dont have that