Its a good discussion point on any day. I might as well contribute some con=
jecture.
There is probably a fairly narrow range of levels that work well for a typi=
cal home listening environment. The material has to be loud enough to be e=
njoyed over the background noise of the listening environment, and quiet en=
ough not to be disturbing.
Unless you care to publish only material that was naturally robust enough a=
t the original microphone location to be easily enjoyed at that same origin=
al level against the background noise of the listening environment, then yo=
u may want to boost it. Material recorded and then played back at 40 dBSPL =
may lose much of its subtleties against a background noise of 30 dBSPL.
Other material, water sounds for instance, may need to be mastered at a lev=
el significantly below natural so it sounds like it is in the ambient backg=
round, because who enjoys listening to a rushing stream with their head sub=
merged in it for very long at all.
Material with transitions that have a wide dynamic range start quietly, daw=
n choruses for instance, may deserve to be mastered to the enjoyment of the=
most robust parts.
There is nothing wrong with putting a note explaining things.
John Hartog
oregonsoundscapes.com
--- In "Grant Finlay" <> wrote:
>
>
> Just wondering,
> How do you guys/gals listen back to "nature" recordings level wise? =
> I'm just toying with the idea of a line up tone for my tracks that are fo=
r sale, mainly because many people listen too loud and destroy the "feeling=
" of the recording. After all, many locations I record are around 40-50dBSP=
L and should not be played back at "pop music" levels.
>
> Sure, I do tend to master the quieter records at a lower volume but knowi=
ng many use earbuds and/or listen back on laptops in less then ideal ambien=
t conditions, this isn't always ideal. These days I'm putting a note on the=
album, "turn the volume down for the best experience".
>
> Are we (in general) listening too loud to nature recordings?
> Just wanting to start a discussion.
>
> Apologies if it's been mentioned recently, I've been away for a while.
>
> Regards,
> Grant.
> http://naturesounds.co.nz
>
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