Dynamics: what’s in a name?

When we talk about dynamics in music, we’re really talking about several different things. To the enthusiastic music listener, ‘dynamics’ could mean the emotional impact of a piece of music, borne partly from the balance between gentler and denser passages of a track. To those of us more versed in musical terminology and who have an interest in making music, dynamics frequently refers to the specific volume range of a piece of music. We know that output limiters used at the mastering stage are capable of squashing dynamics so hard that there is no ‘real term’ volume difference between quieter and louder sections. Mysteriously, it seems this approach can sometimes still produce a musically interesting result, suggesting our brains have a way of perceiving changing dynamics even when they’re not there. Seemingly, we associate a fuller arrangement (a chorus, for instance) as being louder than a more spacious one (such as a verse section).

Dynamics is a word also applied to individual sounds. Percussive sounds, for instance, start loudly before decaying but we know that with dynamics processing tools such as compression, we can change the dynamic shape, either to enhance the impact of the initial hit, or to empower the decay portion with ‘extra’ volume, to make the sound seem longer.

So whether applied to the overall shape of a piece’s emotional highs and lows, the dynamic range between its quietest and loudest moments or, on a microscopic level, the ways in which sounds behave from the moment they’re heard to the moment they die away, ‘dynamics’ are a significant consideration for all composers, producers and mix engineers of music.

Myths and advice about the ‘right’ ways in which to process dynamics for certain situations are everywhere you look. The internet is awash with tutorials proclaiming techniques guaranteed to produce the ‘best results’, while presets for plug-ins are also named to entice you into believing that better mixes lie just a button click away. As you’re about to give into temptation and load one of these, it’s worth reminding yourself that, during the heyday of recording, when capturing sounds was a brave new world without rules or ‘best practice’, engineers didn’t have such advice to rely upon. Instead, they used their ears and made recommendations to hardware companies about the kinds of products they needed to make recordings sound better. Automatic dynamics control units – or compressors, to give them another term – started life that way, as did gates, limiters and a whole host of other dynamics processors. As ever, producers have used these for their intended purpose, as well as finding compelling ways to derive unexpected results from them ever since.

So, as you’re reading through the following pages of advice and digesting settings and suggestions, remember that for every idea here, there are thousands of untapped discoveries waiting to be made. Explore the capabilities of your dynamics processors with your ears wide open and we’re sure you’ll make some amazing ones.