BBE Loudness Maximizer

This is a piece of mastering gear I can recommend in combination with a few other things. Many producers think the BBE loudness maximizer is not a good tool for mastering. I think they should spend more time with it. I got this used at a local music resale shop for about $100. This model is the 422A from the 90s. I actually like it better then most of the newer models for a few reasons. One is that the 422A has a manual/auto button. For the most part I use manual but I've used the auto once or twice. Another reason is that the knobs click into place. On the newer models they don't and it's a little bit harder to know if both channels are running at exactly the same setting or not. Also, I prefer the black as apposed to the new cheesy Red and Silver. One of the new models has an additional output for a sub. I think this is a great idea and if I had a sub in my studio It would be useful to have the output.
http://www.bbesound.com/products/sonic-maximizers/default.aspx
There are a few problems I've run into using this unit. One is that it seems to make the high end louder then it should. I've solved this problem in my setup. I have my EQ(I have a 30 band Alesis EQ) in the setup before the loudness maximizer. This way, when needed I can turn the highs down before they hit the BBE. It works best on songs that have a dirty aesthetic or really anything that has a distorted sound in the song will benefit. Songs that are meant to sound 100% clean don't sound right when you run the BBE so in that case I just hit the bypass button. It's especially good though if there is a song that sounds a bit too dark or muddy. It's great for making everything sound more crisp. It also brings out the bass better then anything else I've used. It looks like they're trying to sell a software version but I wouldn't bother with that. Software doesn't need a fuse and I doubt it can kick out in the same way.

Skullcandy Headphones are Worthless

It's not a surprise that warranty info is the second page that comes up on a Google search for Scullcandy. I refuse to ever buy a pair of these headphones. I used to work at a commercial CD shop and they were the only earphones sold there. They were retardedly overpriced and OFTEN came back and returned within a FEW DAYS. Everyone said the same thing: "I was just wearing them and they fell apart". Just by looking at them it's obvious that the budget is being spent on the look of these headphones and not the sound quality. What GOOD headphones come in three or more different looks? These headphones really are trash right out of the box, just ask anyone at

http://www.last.fm/group/Skullcandy+sucks!

One of the animals I live with destroyed my Koss headphones so I ventured out to Best Buy to pick up another pair. I thought it closed at ten but the store closed at nine and I had to think of an alternative. First I tried the 24 hour Midwest super store Meijer.


The Headphone section was almost entirely Skullcandy. Aside from two pair of Sony headphones, but the worst models. Don't get me wrong about Sony. They do make some great headphones but I used to own a pair of the cheap Sonys that were here and they were terrible! The other model was the "Noise Canceling" model. which "may introduce additional noise, usually in the form of high-frequency hiss." Also, I dunno it seems kind of dangerous to me. What if there's a tornado or something and you don't hear it because you have your "Noise Canceling Headphones" on. So then I tried Target.

The "Hear and Now" section at Target was pretty similar. I outlined the Skullcandy part and it went on like that for a bit longer. You can see the two Sonys down there next to the I-Pod speakers(don't get me started). I was surprised by this though.


I'm sure they would have sounded great if I had been in the market for $140.00 headphones! I have to be happy that the expensive ones are still around. I'm not going to buy them, but at least were not totally stuck with Skullcandy. I find it ironic that:

"In 2008, Skullcandy announced its partnership with Metallica for the band’s ninth studio album, Death Magnetic, released in September. The collaboration produced Metallica-branded Skullcandy headphones, Metallica Hesh and Metallica Lowrider, to debut alongside the new downloadable album." -Wiki

Death Magnetic was remastered on Guitar Hero 3 by an unknown person and it became an internet phenomenon. The original album sounded so terrible do to the "Loudness War" that many fans claimed that the GH3 version sounded better! Could the Skullcandy name next to Metallica's be the reason fans paid so much attention to the sound of the album? Or did it sound bad because they were cruzin' down a half pipe on a skateboard listening with one Skullcandy ear bud cause the other fell apart. Guess I'm buying some mid-grade Koss headphones tomorrow.

Digital Remastering is Horrible

For the past ten years digital remastering of older music has been a music industry fad. This is happening to just about any older music you can think of. If you buy a new compact disc at a retailer and the music was originally made before 1990, it's probably digitally remastered. I believe this idea was originally invented to restore sound to it's clearest original source much like the older style Audio Restoration studio techniques. This unfortunately is not the outcome of Digital Remastering.

The digital remasters are not improvements but produced destruction of the original sound. Compression is more and more overused as record labels try to compete to output the loudest records. This is know by many producers as the "loudness war". Compression is a technique of studio mastering. Used lightly it can make the drums "pop" a little more and make a voice just a little clearer. The problem with compression is when it's overused. If audio is over compressed it will sound louder over all, but nothing will stand out as louder then anything else. For example if a song is over compressed then a guitar would be as quiet as a whisper. Granted, the whisper would sound as loud as the guitar. Although they would sound very loud together, there would be no quiet parts, or loud parts of the song.

It's one thing if the loudness war causes producers to produce new music this way. It's another to go back and make the Beatles sound like they came out yesterday. The Beatles sound like the Beatles already so why change the recordings? It might even make more sense to go backwards and listen to them on Vinyl Records! Even worse, as the digitally remastered discs sit around long enough the originals become hard to find! So you want to listen to that old sound of the Beach Boys? Too bad! you can only buy the digitally remastered version which stays exactly the same volume through the entire CD.

Another major problem with Digital Remastering is the loss of subtle sound. Things like echo and applied reverberation, most panning and the natural sound of the room in which the band is playing. These are all things that just disappear when too much compression is applied. So although the sound might seem to be a little bit louder, it would be much better to keep the dynamics and just turn up the volume on your cd player a little more... RIGHT?


Original CD Recording

Digitally Remastered CD



These are pictures of a whole song in graphic form. These examples are taken from a CD I purchased twice because I just could not stand the remaster and had to find the original CD on E bay. In the picture of the original recording you can see some dynamics when drums hit harder and things like that. The digitally remastered version(picture 2) shows almost no sign of ANY change in volume. Looks extreme right? It is and halfway through the disc you will either turn it off or stop paying attention. Let's face it, at this point digital remastering is nothing more then a marketing tool to make people re purchase CDs that they already have at home. For the first ten minutes you might think it sounds great but after 40 you'll have to agree, it sound like shit. You know what? People like remastering so much that I think it's about time someone starts remastering visual art. I present to you, the Mona Lisa DIGITALLY REMASTERED.

Selling Danzig's Mother on Ebay

Looking for the Danzig song Mother? That live version you heard with the music video or heard on the radio? We'll Guess what it's NOT on Thrall-Demonsweatlive. It's on this promo disc that was just made as promotional CD. The Promo disc contains:

1. ('93 remix)
2. (live version)

There is also a live version on Thrall-Demonsweatlive but it sounds much worse because it's ACTUALLY LIVE and not just the studio recording of "Mother" with crowd noise added. Because I know you want to hear the REAL live version I've included the CD Thrall-Demonsweatlive in this auction. Thrall-Demonsweatlive is actually worth checking out for the new studio tracks only available on this EP. The EP contains:

Thrall:
1. It's coming down
2. The Violet Fire
3. Trouble
Demonsweat live recorded Oct 31 1992:
4. Snakes of Christ
5. I am Demon
6. Sistinas
7. Mother

After track seven there are many silent tracks that equal out to be 6 minutes and 66 seconds of no sound then the '93 remix of "Mother" but you won't need to go through all that because it's Track 1 on the 2 song Promo Disc. Both discs are in Near Mint condition. HAPPY BIDDING!

Max Norman

From an interview with Steve Grimmett.

"Max Norman seems to get the best overall metal sound, especially his huge guitars and upfront drums. Is there any secret to it? "I think it's down to miking technique. Max spent two days miking up the guitar cabs alone, moving them one inch this way, then that way. The studio didn't have any special equipment, although we hired a lot in. He also spent ages miking up the drums and one thing I've noticed with Max is the massive drum sound he gets. Max spent seven years as an engineer so he knows what he wants and what the band is capable of."

This guy recorded the first five Ozzy solo albums as well as Grim Reaper's "Rock You to Hell" and a bunch of other Metal stuff. His sound was truly professional and of course he retired around 1993.

It's about time

This is a place for documentation of my sound discoveries. The main purpose of this blog is to open up my production techniques for other low income music producers. I find that people give up on making music too quickly because they feel like they can't afford to sound professional. It doesn't cost much, but it does take time and practice. This blog will also cover the horrors of modern music mastering and why it's not good mastering, MP3s, Scull Candy Headphones, and the Shady record producers that made your favorite band go back to working at hotdogonastick. Other topics like the inner workings of pressing vinyl records and trying to run a record label will also be blogged; along with whatever the hell else I feel like talking about that has to do with sound. I'm not sure how often this will be updated but I hope it will be helpful or at least an interesting point of view.