Do good quality recordings sound louder

[spaace]

Hi,

Is there any correlation between recording bit rate or quality and its loudness ? Some of the high bit rate recordings i have obtained of the same songs do seem louder to me and i was wondering if this is expected

Thanks
Arun

 

[mpw]

Lower noose floor perhaps ?

 

[plasmoid]

No clue if this has to do with bit rate, but most of the remasters/modern masters are a lot louder than the older ones (pre 1994). This is not necessarily a good thing as they have dynamic compression and unnecessarily boosted loudness, bass and treble. Older mastered music sound more balanced and natural.

The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse
What is the Loudness War ?

 

[Music Freak]

Hi,

Is there any correlation between recording bit rate or quality and its loudness ? Some of the high bit rate recordings i have obtained of the same songs do seem louder to me and i was wondering if this is expected

Thanks
Arun

No wonder folks crave for the first edition CDs or vinyls than the remastered or the upscaled versions! That's the problem even I sense at times on Tidal too. Most of them are remasters and sound "odd" to me.

 

[plasmoid]

No wonder folks crave for the first edition CDs or vinyls than the remastered or the upscaled versions! That's the problem even I sense at times on Tidal too. Most of them are remasters and sound "odd" to me.

Very True. I've been collecting CDs for around 30 years and have all the early pressings of my favorite bands. The' Digitally Remastered' craze came in 1995/96 and lots of people sold/gave off their old versions for the new cds. I bought a few remasters at the time and like you found them 'odd', harsh and fatiguing. If you have a good setup, the old versions sound absolutely amazing.

Having said that, there are exceptions to this. Some audio engineers are still doing some very tasteful remasters - Steve Hoffman( Rush, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple), Vic Anesini ( Santana) & Doug Sax ( Pink Floyd) to name a few.

 

[Deleted member 15865]

No clue if this has to do with bit rate, but most of the remasters/modern masters are a lot louder than the older ones (pre 1994). This is not necessarily a good thing as they have dynamic compression and unnecessarily boosted loudness, bass and treble. Older mastered music sound more balanced and natural.

The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse
What is the Loudness War ?

That has exactly been my experience. I use Tidal and there are both the original and the remastered version for most of the famous albums there. Invariably I like the original one better, though the remastered is almost always louder. I find the originala exactly like you mentioned - natural and balanced, also calmer (less agitating). I can get more ‘into’ the music with them. Always felt there might be some artificial dynamics introduced in the remastering that makes it louder, but worse.

Having said that I’ve found the RVG remasters of Jazz classics sound good. And some other notable exceptions like Jethro Tull’s remastered ‘Aqualung’ album. But those are rare cases.

 

[plasmoid]

That has exactly been my experience. I use Tidal and there are both the original and the remastered version for most of the famous albums there. Invariably I like the original one better, though the remastered is almost always louder. I find the originala exactly like you mentioned - natural and balanced, also calmer (less agitating). I can get more ‘into’ the music with them. Always felt there might be some artificial dynamics introduced in the remastering that makes it louder, but worse.

Having said that I’ve found the RVG remasters of Jazz classics sound good. And some other notable exceptions like Jethro Tull’s remastered ‘Aqualung’ album. But those are rare cases.

Jethro Tull's Aqualung has 3 remasters. The 1998 one is pretty bright/harsh. The good ones are the DCC by Steve Hoffman and the 40th Anniversary remix and remaster by Steven Wilson( My go-to version )

 

[raghupb]

Advent of mass market boom boxes with CD, digital remasters went through first round of dynamic range compression.
With the coming of iPod and personal music players, yet another round of DRC happened for "tinny" earphone listening.
I guess with streaming services, there is also bit-rate compression and some DRC going on.
So yeah, one has to search for the "right" sounding version. And this is subjective of course

Steven Wilson remasters of Jethro Tull are very good to my ears.
Cheers,
Raghu

 

[Deleted member 15865]

Jethro Tull's Aqualung has 3 remasters. The 1998 one is pretty bright/harsh. The good ones are the DCC by Steve Hoffman and the 40th Anniversary remix and remaster by Steven Wilson( My go-to version )

Same here. The 40th anniversary edition.

 

[spaace]

[QUOTE="plasmoid, post: 860528, memb Some audio engineers are still doing some very tasteful remasters - Steve Hoffman( Rush, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple), Vic Anesini ( Santana) & Doug Sax ( Pink Floyd) to name a few.
[/QUOTE]

Is there some site that can help us find a good recording of popular albums ? How can one find this info ?

 

[plasmoid]

[QUOTE="plasmoid, post: 860528, memb Some audio engineers are still doing some very tasteful remasters - Steve Hoffman( Rush, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple), Vic Anesini ( Santana) & Doug Sax ( Pink Floyd) to name a few.

Is there some site that can help us find a good recording of popular albums ? How can one find this info ?
[/QUOTE]
Check stevehoffman.tv - lots of valuable info and opinions on good recordings/masters for cd,sacd and vinyl releases.

 

[bornfi]

If I were to answer the question on the title of this thread then the answer is 'no'. Every recording has level set and I do not think all recordings use exactly the same level. Since you brought this subject up, I recollect, please check recording of Joggers Park, it appears to be recorded at a way higher level than all other hindi movie OSTs on an average.

Now, a different level of question, if for a same track, does uncompressed sound louder than the compressed one, the answer is 'yes' based on my experience. In fact, uncompressed is more dense and dynamic.

So, in my opinion based on my experience, it is not necessary that a good recording is louder. Though it is possible that for an album, if remastered, a rerecording could have been done at higher level and that will sound loud to you.

Now defining good itself is a challenging job or subject because perception of good varies from listener to listener.