The Value of Space, part 1
Posted on | May 28, 2008 |
It’s become the trend to over-compress music. Gladly, it seems like the days of hyper-compression are behind us, but what’s become the norm is to just use compression very liberally.
Compression does just what it says it does: compresses. It takes the quietest sounds and makes them louder and the loud sounds and makes them quieter, sandwiching things together and reducing the space between them.
Sonically, this can be valuable…but there’s also a value to space. For one thing, it allows you to appreciate the moments of impact when they arrive. It gives you a sense of perspective.
ImeanwhatifIstartedremovingallthespacefrommytyping?Wouldn’titbedifficulttocomprehend?Sure,overtimeyourmindwouldadaptitselftofiguringoutwhatthehellIwasdoing,andbythenyouprobablywoudn’tmissthespaces.
Conversely,
if
there’s
too
much
space,
that
can
be
a
difficult
situation
to
remedy
as well.
And that, my friends, is the point of mastering: to have a knowledgeable, objective person make the “sonic spacing” decisions for you so that it communicates your music’s message to the widest audience effectively.
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From Ohm to Om reflects the opinions of mastering engineer Paul Abbott, owner of San Diego's ZenMastering.
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