What is Dynamic Range and why it matters?

[square_wave]

Yeah..Heavily Amplified music, especially rock and mostly Pop is very often done very wrong and gives a headache ! I prefer recordings to that as well

This is quite true. I am an avid concert goer. All types. Most stadium rock are just too loud, You don't hear most of the nuances in the music. it gives a headache too. But the whole point of stadium rock is different. It is a social and cultural experience and makes memories.

On the other hand, you put the same band in a smaller venue with great acoustics and it changes color like a chameleon. The experience is so much better than the best hi fidelity system.

As a group, classical recordings have the widest dynamic range of any genre. The same study cited above found that recorded classical music typically offers between about 20 dB and 32 dB of dynamic range. While that might seem like a lot, it’s still quite a bit smaller than that of a live symphony orchestra performance, which can be as large as 90 dB.

Live classical is something else! There is no way in heaven or hell, that can be matched by any music system. The dynamic contrasts is sheer magic!

 

[sachinchavan 15865]

Live classical is something else! There is no way in heaven or hell, that can be matched by any music system. The dynamic contrasts is sheer magic!

True. The aural experience of a live concert cannot be matched by recordings. However, the recording and playback industry has revolutionised music. What was once the exclusive privilege of the ruling class and the elite, became, with records and radio, increasingly available to the masses, which was heretofore limited to folk music. Even on the performers side, it was the work of academicians like Vishnu Bhatkhande that ensured that anyone interested could learn formal music, irrespective of birth. Online platforms have further paved way for this democratisation.

Recordings and playback systems shall keep improving. With technology they’d also keep getting more affordable. What is still a huge gap between live and played back music shall keep reducing - what with binaural, spatial recordings or higher resolution digital storage/streaming or even VR and what not! Recoding studios of tomorrow would bear little resemblance to those of the past.

When the social and professional parts of our lives have now become largely online/distant, entertainment can’t lag. Music, technology and commerce would continue to fuse in unimaginable ways to bring the musical legends of the past, present and future to our lives, hopefully in an increasingly realistic manner.

 

[arj]

True. The aural experience of a live concert cannot be matched by recordings. However, the recording and playback industry has revolutionised music. ..

Very much so. and better the recording better the appreciation.

Just that, for those who are able to do so, listening to music in this form "tunes" the ear on what to look for in music and gives it a path.But again even in Opera houses with natural acoustics , the same music can sound different in 2 different halls but both will be richer than any recording reproduction.

 

[Analogous]

Yeah..Heavily Amplified music, especially rock and mostly Pop is very often done very wrong and gives a headache ! I prefer recordings to that as well

But if you do get a chance to listen to unamplified then its quite different .need not be by any of the greats even a local singer singing an acapella sounds so good.

and a well done sound in a rock concert is amazing. Roget Waters shows come to mind....very much like the Cinemas with good and average audio systems

would the discomfort (headache etc) be attributable to overall loudness of the amplified music as in being close to the speakers at rock concerts or large/small dynamic range?

 

[arj]

would the discomfort (headache etc) be attributable to overall loudness of the amplified music as in being close to the speakers at rock concerts or large/small dynamic range?

yeah..definitely. At my age I stay far away

 

[Analogous]

“ Compression in Music Production
Dynamic range refers to the level difference between the highest and lowest-level passages of an audio signal. Dynamic range compression (or dynamic compression) is a method to reduce the dynamic range by amplifying passages that are low in intensity more than passages that are high in intensity. Dynamic compression can serve different purposes in the music production process. It may have an aesthetic purpose in the mastering process to make the mix more coherent and to minimize excessive loudness changes within a song (Katz & Katz, 2003). It may also have a pragmatic purpose if it is employed to adapt the dynamic range of music to the technical limitations of recording or playback devices. Dynamic compression, however, can and has infamously been used to increase the loudness of a song. It is widely believed in the music industry that loudness levels and record sales are correlated (Vickers, 2011). A very strong compressor called a limiter is employed to reduce peak levels. A so-called makeup gain then amplifies the whole signal until the peaks reach full scale again. This method increases the overall energy of the signal but often introduces distortion (Kates, 2010) and compromises signal quality. Even when distortion is not perceptible, highly compressed music can become physically or mentally tiring over time (Vickers, 2011).”

Excerpt from here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4753356/

 

[Analogous]

Apparently preferences of dynamics is not a constant in individuals; it varies at different times of the day (as also preferences of other characteristic/qualities of music) according to this interesting study based on data from Spotify streaming music services.



The full paper is here:

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.210885

 

[square_wave]

yeah..definitely. At my age I stay far away

I have talked to a guy who does sound for stadium rock for a living. Getting stadium rock sound right is a total nightmare. The space is too large and getting uniform dispersion to all the people at the right sound pressure level is the biggest problem. Solving that itself is a big job especially if there is wind involved. Everything else like balance of frequencies, tone, timing etc are afterthoughts. There are some standards that they follow for all that. Most don't follow all that strictly because for the demographic that goes for a stadium concert, ...all that is not so important. Cost is also a big factor. It has to sound deafening and all nuances get drowned in the sheer wall of sound. Stay in the middle of the stadium and it is pretty decent though.

People like Pink floyd / Roger waters follow standards down to the T. Hence they sound pretty good.

Stadium rock is dead

Terrible acoustics, zero atmosphere and a total rip-off - rock stars should be banned from playing stadium gigs.

www.theguardian.com

The challenges of audio for outdoor events - Installation

Noise regulations and increasingly elaborate staging have generated a fresh wave of challenges for audio crews working on outdoor events. But, as David Davies discovers, a great result can often be achieved by careful planning and the use of directive audio systems. Professional audio has been...

www.installation-international.com

 

[Analogous]

The wall of sound: