[MLA] Loudness normalization with MQA

[Robert Ludwig]

Hi everyone,

The question came up and I asked Bob Stuart if MQA can support Loudness Normalization on Tidal.  I got to spend 3 days with Bob Stuart, George Massenburg, and the great Shawn Murphy soundtrack engineer (Star Wars etc.) in Montréal.  I forgot to ask him in person but he just got back to me:

5) Can Tidal stream loudness normalized MQA streams?  As you heard from my talk, we mastering engineers hope universal adoption of Loudness Normalization will lead to the end of the Loudness Wars.
    
   * With MQA the exact file you create is streamed. 
   * As a download this can include the loudness/replay gain info in the header. 
     Our encoder calculates it. It's up to the label if the leave it there.
   * Tidal (and other streaming services) keep replay gain information and that is sent to the App at streaming time. 
      The App can level the gain.
      In the case of MQA it can't just apply gain to the audio because that breaks it so the replay gain is passed on to the MQA decoder. 
       The way we do it is best because we want replay gain to be passed all the way down the chain until it hits the only (and hopefully analogue) volume control. Not all MQA decoders respond to this information yet although we expect firmware updates to make that happen in the next few months - now that we have a clear policy from the streaming companies.

MQA fully supports normalisation in the RIGHT way (as you might expect)..


Have a great Sunday!

Bob Ludwig

Gateway Mastering Studios, Inc.
428 Cumberland Avenue
Portland, ME 04101
(207) 828-9400
www.gatewaymastering.com







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