[MLA] Tidal

[Bob Katz]

This....


On 10/14/17 1:36 PM, Kevin Gross wrote:


> The question is, is there a way that the OS can mitigate the 
> difference between normalization on and off?


is a VERY difficult question that we've all been wrestling with for 
years. I predict that only a small percentage of users will complain. 
Most of them will just turn their volume controls up a little and 
cruise. So I would not suggest any kind of complex modification that 
could become a real software nightmare --- and postpone the introduction 
of normalization, which we do not want.

There are three classes of listeners who may complain after the switch:

1) Listeners who've been listening to soft material on European-weakened 
mobile devices. Hopefully the -14 loudest song target for the loudest 
song in album norm will give sufficient volume-control-room on mobile 
devices. Thomas was the one to suggest the -14 target for album norm and 
I bet he already thinks it would work for current European devices or he 
would have put his foot down by now  :-)   Thomas?

2) Deaf listeners who like to listen to hard rock LOUD. Things will come 
down a bit. But my experience with the iPhone at least shows there's 
tons of room on the volume control on the American device.

So I think Tidal should stress the positive, as has been noted already 
in this thread. They can say, "if you notice the volume has come down a 
bit after this change, just turn your volume control up a bit and your 
experience will be even better than before normalization."

3) *Attention Eelco: *Listeners who like to listen softly to background 
music rather than foreground music, at low levels. They're looking for a 
"processed, broadcast-style radio sound". THIS GROUP OF LISTENERS IS THE 
REAL GOTCHA. That's because track normalization is a form of upward 
compression: Soft songs are played louder than they are intended to be. 
So it forms a kind of free compressor for people who are playing music 
softly and not attentively. The only solution I think is to provide a 
track normalization option for those listeners or a compression option. 
Eelco, I think you should mentally prepare Tidal for this kind of 
listener. But honestly, I don't think the kind of listener who 
gravitates to Tidal is a background music listener so this may be more 
of a problem for Spotify and Prodigy....  Tidal is a quality-oriented 
service.



Hope this helps,


Bob
-- 

If you want good sound on your album, come to Bob Katz 407-831-0233 
DIGITAL DOMAIN MASTERING STUDIO Author: *Mastering Audio *Digital Domain 
Website <http://www.digido.com/> No trees were killed in the sending of 
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