Uploaded August 2011 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Episode 33: I take special pride in my sound work on this show. I'm not content to accept the rudimentary sound editing options in iMovie; I do my post production sound in GarageBand. This allows much finer control over the balance and overall level of my mix; also GarageBand allows a bit depth of 24 bits, providing much more headroom and extended dynamic range.
"Dynamic range" is actually my topic today. Most people, particularly in today's world where most music is played through small, low fidelity devices, probably wouldn't recognize the term; only high fidelity sound enthusiasts who are into high end sound gear would. Still, most people know that something has gone seriously wrong with the sound quality of modern music, even on small devices.
Although this show is more geared towards sound mixing for film and video (like here on YouTube), the principles described here apply to creating high quality sound in any medium be it music, cinema, television, radio, even computer games.
Dynamic range is a vital, and often overlooked, principle in recording high quality sound because artists are all trying to be "louder" than one another to stand out; in the process, they crush the dynamics of their sound, making EVERYTHING LOUD in a mix. The problem is, if there are no quiet parts in a recording, then "loud" parts don't stand out.
Volume is controlled by the listener's volume control; if everything in a recording is loud, the user is just going to turn it down anyway, then NOTHING is loud. However, if most of your recording is quiet, this encourages the listener to turn the volume up and then the extra volume gives you headroom to hit them with louder sounds to emphasize the "bigger" parts of your recording.
That's dynamic range.
Trying to make a RECORDING "loud" is pointless; it'll be played by the listener at their preferred volume regardless.
Sound engineers have been trying for decades, with the old analog equipment, to get the widest dynamic range they could; just listen to Led Zeppelin's venerable "Stairway to Heaven" (the original mix, not the remaster) to see what I mean. Back then, however, they were limited by the relatively high noise of analog magnetic recording media, limiting the quietest sound they could record.
Modern digital recording, even at a mere 16 bits, offers dynamic range far superior to anything Led Zeppelin had back then.
So why aren't we using it?
Don't take my word for all this; watch this show for some concrete examples.
Episode 33: I take special pride in my sound work on this show. I'm not content to accept the rudimentary sound editing options in iMovie; I do my post production sound in GarageBand. This allows much finer control over the balance and overall level of my mix; also GarageBand allows a bit depth of 24 bits, providing much more headroom and extended dynamic range.
"Dynamic range" is actually my topic today. Most people, particularly in today's world where most music is played through small, low fidelity devices, probably wouldn't recognize the term; only high fidelity sound enthusiasts who are into high end sound gear would. Still, most people know that something has gone seriously wrong with the sound quality of modern music, even on small devices.
Although this show is more geared towards sound mixing for film and video (like here on YouTube), the principles described here apply to creating high quality sound in any medium be it music, cinema, television, radio, even computer games.
Dynamic range is a vital, and often overlooked, principle in recording high quality sound because artists are all trying to be "louder" than one another to stand out; in the process, they crush the dynamics of their sound, making EVERYTHING LOUD in a mix. The problem is, if there are no quiet parts in a recording, then "loud" parts don't stand out.
Volume is controlled by the listener's volume control; if everything in a recording is loud, the user is just going to turn it down anyway, then NOTHING is loud. However, if most of your recording is quiet, this encourages the listener to turn the volume up and then the extra volume gives you headroom to hit them with louder sounds to emphasize the "bigger" parts of your recording.
That's dynamic range.
Trying to make a RECORDING "loud" is pointless; it'll be played by the listener at their preferred volume regardless.
Sound engineers have been trying for decades, with the old analog equipment, to get the widest dynamic range they could; just listen to Led Zeppelin's venerable "Stairway to Heaven" (the original mix, not the remaster) to see what I mean. Back then, however, they were limited by the relatively high noise of analog magnetic recording media, limiting the quietest sound they could record.
Modern digital recording, even at a mere 16 bits, offers dynamic range far superior to anything Led Zeppelin had back then.
So why aren't we using it?
Don't take my word for all this; watch this show for some concrete examples.
