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Level matching in compilation albums

cctaylor

cctaylor

pfm Member
Now that I have access to streaming through Qobuz I'm exploring artists that I've heard of but not really listened to properly sometimes by listening to the "Best of" albums as an introduction

Tonight I picked "In Time: The Best of REM". The level matching between tracks (or rather the lack of) had me reaching for the volume control on several occasions. Luckily my streamer has a remote for the volume. I wouldn't say any effort at all was put in to mastering of this collection. I seriously doubt if anyone listened to it before release.
 
I wonder if the streaming service is doing anything odd. I know they have loudness algorithms that are supposed to counteract the 'loudness wars' brickwall limiting approach to mastering.
 
According to this DR Database entry this REM compilation has its tracks all mastered at the same (very loud!) level. What you describe therefore sounds like Qobuz don't actually have the "In Time: The Best of REM" album on their servers and have instead compiled it themselves by sourcing the relevant songs from REM's various studio albums. This would make sense from a storage POV as it reduces the number of duplicates being stored in the cloud, but is a PITA when it comes to track-to-track level consistency as you've found! I'm merely speculating about this though as I don't use streaming services myself.
 
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Some software provides a level normalisation option (e.g. iTunes, Spotify, HQPlayer).
 
cctaylor said:
@ToTo Man interesting comment, it is a possible reason for the difference in levels especially seeing the post by @Leeken.
Click to expand...

For years now CDs/files have been mastered with extreme levels of gain and dynamic compression.It is common for normalisation, gain and compression to be applied to compilations, which is why they should generally be avoided.

This website can help you track down the better/best mastered version of a recording or track:

https://dr.loudness-war.info/
 
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