The Decibel War

Posted on November 26th, 2007 by admin.
Categories: Analogue Anarchy, Audio Visual, Digital Demons, Studio Shenanigans, You Might Not Care But We Do.

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As most of us in this sector of the industry are aware - recorded material is getting ‘louder’ in an effort to compete for the attention of your average listener. As Bob Katz, chief mastering engineer of Digital Domain says:

“The level of compact discs went up about 20 decibels in 20 years,”

This, coupled with the ever increasing use of MP3 players and the ‘normalizing’ software they often incorporate is worrying to hearing specialists. In fact it’s really grinding their gears.

“As a culture, we are becoming more used to loud noise,” said Monita Chatterjee, a hearing specialist at the University of Maryland, College Park. “I really feel like we are pushing it.”

Is she worrying unnecessarily? A Maryland chicken perhaps?

You can read a real life article here about it if you give a damn.

The article in full

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2 comments.

Toby

Comment on November 27th, 2007.

And the great thing is that there is currently a white paper being written to limit SPL in public areas. Last I heard they were talking about limiting to 90dB in all staffed areas eg bar, cloakroom, DJ booth etc. Technically this would include the stage for live if either the band or the monitor engineer were financially compensated.

Just as a comparison, 90dB is the equivalent of standing 100 feet away from a tube going through a station or standing 25 feet away from a motorbike.

Now a live drummer can push 100-110dB, you work out the maths

admin

Comment on November 27th, 2007.

Whilst thinking very carefully about giving too much away, I do know several stories of sound engineers getting away with this…

All I’m going to say is if someone mentions any number near 70db to you, shout very loudly in their face.

They won’t like it, but it’ll probably be around 70db.

However, I would like to discuss this with you in person, with a beer, at 70db.

And then some.

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