[MLA] Avenged Sevenfold

[Kevin Gross]

Spotify uses the ReplayGain algorithm for loudness measurement. It might
help to finish the work to update ReplayGain to use BS.1770.

I think Spotify actually uses a lower target level than YouTube. Lower
target should help improve normalization. If limiting is in play, that
complicates things. I don't think we advocate limiting as part of
normalization.

Sent from my mobile thingy

On Apr 22, 2017 5:55 PM, "Ian Shepherd" <ian at mastering-media.co.uk> wrote:

>
> Hi Bob,
>
> I’m really sorry to hear this, I can imagine how discouraging it must be.
>
> For what it’s worth, I can’t agree with the band’s comment that the
> streaming services aren’t levelling it, though. I did some quick tests and
> YouTube and iTunes both play the album at a similar level to both the last
> Trivium album (another dynamic release) *and* Death Magnetic. There *are*
> audible differences in the sound, mainly in EQ response and density, but in
> terms of perceived and measured level there was very little in it, and on
> some songs A7X comes out on top. I haven’t checked but I imagine that the
> same is true of TIDAL.
>
> The one exception was Spotify, in which case A7X does sound noticeably
> quieter, which makes sense since they use the highest normalisation level,
> but is a little surprising given that they also use a limiter and normalise
> up - or at least, they used to. I’m guessing this is the platform that has
> skewed their perception the most.
>
> Personally I’ve seen two very negative reviews of the sound of the album,
> but most of the responses have been very favourable. I’m struck by the
> phrase “very poor production” since I saw exactly that wording on a forum
> post somewhere and it reminds me of the research which shows that bad
> experiences are seven times more impactful on people than good ones. If
> that holds in this case we would expect the band to read 6 good reviews and
> one bad one, and come away with an overall negative impression - or get 6
> positive fan comments and one bad one and focus mainly on the critical one.
> The deck is stacked against us !
>
> None of this really helps though, especially since Spotify is still such a
> big player. I guess if there’s any good news it’s that the band only want
> “at least a little more” level on the next release - there would be room to
> lift this album several dBs and make them feel more secure with only
> minimal compromises to the sound.
>
> Still frustrating though, we always want people to completely love the
> results of our work ! Makes me want to try reaching out to Spotify again
> and see if they’ll reconsider their normalisation level and algorithm.
>
> Ian
>
>
>
> On 21 Apr 2017, at 21:38, Robert Ludwig <gatewaybob at mac.com> wrote:
>
> FYI everyone:
>
> Matt from Avenged Sevenfold called and said that they need to put at least
> a little more level on their future material, he said that so many fans
> complained about the “very poor production” on the album and how low-level
> it is and I guess they really complained a lot!  He said the streaming
> services are not leveling it out and their stuff makes fans turn up the
> volume too much when their new songs come one.  A valid point at this time
> in history I guess.
>
> On another note, a client was in who listens to Google Play and he
> complained that the levels were all over the place and they should do
> something about it!
>
> All else is well here.
>
> Best,
> Bob L.
> _______________________________________________
> MLA mailing list
> MLA at grimmaudio.nl
> http://grimmaudio.nl/mailman/listinfo/mla_grimmaudio.nl
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> MLA mailing list
> MLA at grimmaudio.nl
> http://grimmaudio.nl/mailman/listinfo/mla_grimmaudio.nl
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://grimmaudio.nl/pipermail/mla_grimmaudio.nl/attachments/20170423/6eacdbd7/attachment.html>