Like it or not, we have to make our masters loud and, that being the case, we might as well do so in the way that causes least possible damage. But at the end of the day, we have to pay the bills, and it's a rare client who is happy to have his or her master half as loud as commercial releases in the same genre. We can point out until we're blue in the face that quieter mixes might actually sound better on the radio. We can complain about the loss of those dynamic contrasts we put so much effort into capturing in the first place. And for audio engineers, making mixes loud looms high on this list. There are some activities, like unblocking toilets or telling the children the cat has died, that everyone has to do, even though no‑one much likes doing them. The idea that loud digital masters can retain real dynamics seems like a contradiction in terms, but it's exactly what Slate Digital are claiming for their new mastering plug‑in.
