Hi Dan:
"Toothpaste" came to be as a descriptor of a super-compressed waveform readout at a "zoomed out"
view of the song. It looks like toothbrush bristles, all lining up in a thick pattern at digital
zero. Toothbrush probably sounded too kind, like the sound would be "clean," so toothpaste became
the common term. I forgot where I first read it, but it made total sense to me so I started using it
right away.
As for the Orban paper, this is an update of the version I read a year or two ago. Same basic
points, and the Bob Katz stuff is good additional material.
http://www.orban.com/support/orban/techtopics/Appdx_Radio_Ready_The_Truth_1.3.pdf
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war
(BEWARE - WHACKY-PACKIA - verify all information before believing it as facts)
and
http://www.prorec.com/Articles/tabid/109/EntryId/247/Over-the-Limit.aspx
this is somewhat interesting:
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=126164&messages=10
I wish the online communities would compile a "hall of shame" of the most toothpasted
garbage-sounding releases, as a warning for others not to bother wasting their money. To my ears,
the biggest sound-crime was what was done with many jazz reissues a few years ago; the trend more
recently has been not messing with the dynamics so much.
Opinions expressed in these articles/postings are not necessarily mine.
One other thing -- my experience has been that you CAN do some "loudening" in a remaster/transfer,
but it's best done in the analog realm. The digital-toothpaste "tools" (aptly named) just square off
the tops of waves, making an annoying buzzing sound (ie square waves, which is what's created).
Analog compressors, when used properly, do not do this, they simply do automated gain-riding to
soften loud passages based on a trigger and release mechanism; some work better than others. My
experience is, much better to do what you're going to do to dynamic range in the analog realm, bring
it in at 24 bits, then normalize to a maximum (I prefer digital -1dBfs to digital zero but others
will disagree), then dither-down to your CD resolution.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Nelson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 6:25 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] tooth paste mastering... im at a loss to understand this phrase
> im at a loss to understand the phrase tooth paste mastering
> Is Bob Ornans paper on line "(see Bob Orban's white paper on
>> why toothpaste-mastered material then processed by an Orban
>> unit results in unlistenable garbage)."
> thanks
> dnelson
> --- On Sat, 1/2/10, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> From: Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>
>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] The Loudness Wars - NPR story
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Date: Saturday, January 2, 2010, 10:51 AM
>> Hi Steve:
>>
>> THANKS for posting this link. I totally agree with Bob
>> Ludwig that listener fatigue from this toothpasted garbage
>> is a factor in declining music sales. This "make it louder"
>> is a plague. You'd think that the higher-ups at the record
>> companies would realize by now that their tin-eared
>> underlings who lean on mastering engineers are WRONG and
>> this stuff sounds TERRIBLE both in earbuds and especially
>> over highly-process FM radio (see Bob Orban's white paper on
>> why toothpaste-mastered material then processed by an Orban
>> unit results in unlistenable garbage).
>>
>> The discussion of MP3 lossy encoding is interesting, too.
>> The U-MN guy is just wrong about lossy being
>> "indistinguishable," even at bitrates like 320kbps. I would
>> submit that ANYONE with good hearing and decent playback
>> equipment will be able to reliably tell the difference
>> between un-lossy source and MP3 lossy encoding.
>>
>> All in all, these technologies (digital toothpasting and a
>> profusion of lossy formats) have been a plague on recorded
>> music. Fidelity does matter with almost all forms of music.
>> It's an insult to the artists to consume their work in a
>> junk format when a full-fidelity format is readily
>> available.
>>
>> Of course many other factors have led to the implosion of
>> the music business, but I strongly believe that the
>> degradation of typical fidelity available to the consumer
>> has helped the process along.
>>
>> -- Tom Fine
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Ramm" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 12:37 PM
>> Subject: [ARSCLIST] The Loudness Wars - NPR story
>>
>>
>> > Thought others would enjoy hearing/reading.
>> >
>> > _http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122114058&sc=nl&cc=mn-
>> > 20100102_
>> > (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122114058&sc=nl&cc=mn-20100102)
>> >
>> > Steve Ramm
>> >
>>
>
>
>
>
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