April 14, 2012 editorial: comments

Dear Fellow Audiofanziners!

March 16th came and went, and unknowingly, I forgot to inform you that this was Dynamic Range Day.  Apologies, but it's never too late to bring awareness to this special day.  Started by Ian Shephard, a UK-based mastering engineer, Dynamic Range Day is a movement to reduce compression in recording, put an end to 'loudness wars' and reward recordings with a healthy dynamic range.  Loudness Wars is a phenomenon that grew as one engineer would try to outdo another by making his recording louder by employing compression that destroys the dynamic range of most recordings today.  It is for this reason, that Shephard also uses his website to advocate this a give Production Advice.  

Furthermore, Shephard explains why if you like music you should avoid mp3s: "The one that springs to mind is to avoid MP3, especially if it's 128 kbps. Apple uses a more advanced technology called AAC, but if someone can get lossless files like FLAC that's a better place to start...Very heavy dynamic compression and limiting makes MP3s sound worse, so the loudness wars indirectly make MP3s sound worse."

And on that note I will wish you a great spring weekend wherever you are!  Make sure to read our epic review of Presonus Studio One 2.  Trust me, there is nothing like it on the web.

Chater-La