Hello,

Been away from these forums for a while, but listening to bounce latley has got me thinking and decided to post some thoughts on here.

I've read people thoughts on Bounce's production and many people say the dislike the use of drum computers etc (which i'll come to in a minute but they are drum loops) however I dont feel this is the real gripe with the sound cause well crush was littered with modern production techniques/samples/loops. I think it is the mastering.

For those that dont know "Mastering" is the procdure that happens after the album has been recorded and mixed (all the volumes of instruments balanced and effected etc).

It basically involves taking the final tracks and polishing them to sound clear and professional, making them sound similar if they have been recorded by different engineers in different studio's and if they have had different producers and mixers.

It also involves editing the beginings and endings and compiling all the tracks together.

But the most important thing in commericial mastering latley is the use of Normalization and Maximizing the VOLUME of the record. Have you ever noticed that home made cd's or demo's of your own musical recording sound a LOT quiter than professional CD's. Well this is due to Mastering and the specific process called Normalization.

What it does is raises the maximum volume of the track to 0 dB the loudest it can be, and so every other part of the track is raised too relativley.

Now the current fashion/trend is to make your CD louder and louder and louder than everbody elses. The record companies are especially after this because they think louder = better, therefore more easily noticed on radio. (i know it sounds stupid but this really is the sad reason) The big problem though is that you CANT normalize past 0 dB because if you do then you get NASTY digital distortion that sounds terrible. On old recording systems that were analogue you could get away with pushing the volume up into analogue distortion because it was a desired warm sound. However now with everything being digital distortion is a big big no no.

So how do they get around this problem? They need it louder to compete on radio, but without sounded like a Nail Gun on corragted steel. Well their is another process called compression, limiting and maximization. What this does is make those loud parts of the record quieter and the quiet parts louder. This can then ALL be whacked up to 0dB making the whole thing percieved as louder.

Now this should be great, but we lose something very importatnt in this process, its called dynamics!!! We lose a lot of the clarity and detail and dynamics...all the stuff that digital recording was supposed to bring to the table as benefits.

This is the first problem with Bounce. The dynamics are very narrow. You get what are supposed to be loud hard rocking sections right next to soft quiet sections that are virtually the same volume. Therefore the music isn't as powerful or engaging. No matter how well written it is.

Next, to make matters worse. There is another technique, well its actually a software plug-in called an ultra-maximizer (lol i know it sounds like i'm making it up but its real honest).

This device (well its buklt into hardware too but my experience is with the software plug-ins) compresses the sound further and raises the volume even more overall and applies limiting (chopping off sound where its about to become that nasty digital distortion) where it is going to disrtort. This is another way of making it louder. And it is this which is the worst crime with bounce.

The whole record sounds very grainy and at times has been pushed too too far close to digitally distorting. I know the guitars are supposed to sound heavy, but that is real normal distortion - on top of this they sound like they are "bleeding" out of the speakers at times. The drums are soo compressed that the tom tom drums sound really flat and have no power.

The worst examples are in Hook Me Up (which makes me cry cause its a great song i think), Love me back to Life (again sad because one of my favs on the record) esp 3 mins in where Jon screams (i know i know his voice aint what it used to be for doing the high screams thats another issue) the very dry use off effects (no reverb or delay) makes it so harsh to listen to.

I feel that bounce has the potential to be another fantastic album like KTF and TD. I was very excited before it came out. However I know see it as quite a commercial attempt that has been ruined by the produciton and mastering. I actually cant listen to it all the way throuhg in one sitting because it gives me an awful headache (and not because its heavy i listen to a lot of metal albums all the way through) from the near digital distortion.

In essense the songs had potential, but I think musically and technically they were watered down for some reason, perhaps commercially. I think to how the ideas could be developed and its sad because Undivided, Everyday, The Distance, Hook Me Up, Love Me Back To Life, and Bounce could all have been fantastic rockers if they hadn't been holding back. You only have to look at the average track length of Bounce to say KTF or TD and its obvious. Bounce track lenghts are around 3 mins 30 KTF was much closer to 5 mins. But i digress.

Volume wise These Days is very loud but suffers none of the issues that bounce has technically. Perhaps until this insessent craze for uber-volume dies down in the industry they should go back to analgoue recording and mastering. KTF and TD were certainly better albums (along with the integrity of the writing) for it.

Anyway just some thoughts and information for people who might hate the sound of bounce or find it hard to listen to and didn't know why. Sorry if it was very boring or long, just had to get this off my chest!

Track