When mastering Electronic Dance Music, can two limiters in the mastering chain create a more desirable sound than a single limiter? Viktor Nilsson Audio Technology, bachelor's level 2020 Luleå University of Technology Department of Arts, Communication and Education Viktor Nilsson Luleå University of Technology 2020 Abstract The loudness war has been a widely discussed topic for many years. Loudness normalization has begun to slow down the range of genres affected by this war, but Electronic Dance Music is one of the genres that is still affected. Because some genres are still in this war, there are still reasons to achieve a loud master while simultaneously trying to sound good. Claims have been made by different mastering engineers that using two limiters in a chain can create a more transparent loudness. To investigate the reliability of this claim, listening tests using different limiter configurations was performed. 12 trained listeners would give their subjective preference over one and two limiters in the master chain. The results showed no significant difference in subjective preference. However, the subjects were able to describe some attributes that made a distinction between the limiter configurations. 1 Viktor Nilsson Luleå University of Technology 2020 Table of Contents ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................................ 1 1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................ 3 1.1 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.1.1 Mastering .............................................................................................................................................. 3 1.1.2 Loudness ................................................................................................................................................ 3 1.1.3 The Loudness War.................................................................................................................................. 4 1.1.4 Concerns About the Loudness War ........................................................................................................ 5 1.1.5 Measuring Loudness and Standards ...................................................................................................... 5 1.1.6 Loudness Levels on Streaming Platforms ............................................................................................... 6 1.1.7 Achieving loudness ................................................................................................................................ 6 1.2 SCOPE OF RESEARCH ........................................................................................................................................... 7 1.2.1 Purpose .................................................................................................................................................. 7 2. METHOD .................................................................................................................................................. 8 2.1 AUDIO STIMULI .......................................................................................................................................... 8 2.1.1 Music ..................................................................................................................................................... 8 2.1.2 Audio Stimuli Preparation and Equipment ............................................................................................ 8 2.2 SUBJECTIVE DATA COLLECTION – LISTENING TESTS ............................................................................................ 9 2.2.1 Equipment .............................................................................................................................................. 9 2.2.2 Procedure ............................................................................................................................................... 9 2.2.3 Listening Test ....................................................................................................................................... 10 2.2.4 Subjects and Questionnaire ................................................................................................................. 10 2.2.5 Data Analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 10 2.3 QUESTIONNAIRE ....................................................................................................................................... 11 3. RESULTS & ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................................. 12 3.1 T-TESTS .................................................................................................................................................. 12 3.2 SUBJECTIVE PREFERENCE SCORE .................................................................................................................. 12 3.3 SUBJECTIVE ATTRIBUTES ............................................................................................................................ 13 4. DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................................... 14 4.1 RESULTS ................................................................................................................................................. 14 4.2 AUDIO STIMULI................................................................................................................................................ 14 4.3 EQUIPMENT............................................................................................................................................. 14 4.4 LISTENING TEST ............................................................................................................................................... 14 4.5 SUBJECTS ........................................................................................................................................................ 15 5 SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................. 16 5.1 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................................... 16 5.2 FUTURE RESEARCH ........................................................................................................................................... 16 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................... 17 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................................................... 19 APPENDIX A – LISTENING TEST INSTRUCTIONS ............................................................................................................. 19 APPENDIX B – QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................................................................................ 21 APPENDIX C – LISTENING TEST DATA ......................................................................................................................... 23 APPENDIX D – QUESTIONNAIRE DATA........................................................................................................................ 23 2 Viktor Nilsson Luleå University of Technology 2020 1. Introduction Even though loudness normalization has been more established in the recent years, the loudness war is still relevant in some musical genres. Electronic Dance Music is one of the genres that is most affected. Because of this, there is still value to making loud music sound better. This paper is going to investigate if there is a difference when using one or two limiters on the master chain. When mastering Electronic Dance Music, can two limiters in the mastering chain create a more desirable sound than a single limiter? Can chain limiting achieve a better perceived sound for the same amount of loudness than the single limiter? 1.1 Background 1.1.1 Mastering Mastering is the last step and finalization in audio production before the recording gets released in various formats on various platforms. This stage usually involves working with equalization, compression and limiting on a stereo mix. The goals when mastering is to make the record sound the best it can, while making sure the recording translates well to a variety of formats and playback systems. When mastering, small incremental improvements is made by using different kinds of tools to achieve the most polished sound. (Waddell, 2013; Katz, 2015) Limiting essentially is compression with an extremely high ratio which is used to increase the level of the track to its maximum (Waddell, 2013). The limiter functions like a ceiling which nothing should exceed. If the goal is to maintain the most dynamics and depth possible from the unmastered mix, then no limiting is used. When the goal is to achieve maximum loudness, limiting is