On NYE, “rivals” deadmau5 and Marshmello played back to back sets at Decadence. During the NYE show, Marshmello fans tweeted their distaste for deadmau5’s set, to which deadmau5 replied:
apologies to everyone to had to listen to actual techno. next time i will play lil yachty vocals over dope trap beets for you and your fam
— dead mow cinco (@deadmau5) January 2, 2017
Prior to this deadmau5 has repeatedly criticized Marshmello on Twitter, having this to say about Marshmello’s “HeLLo” remix:
when i want someone to repitch my work down to 140 and throw on a few massive presets and a limiter, ill let you know. (@deadmau5, tweet since deleted)
Drama!
Does EDM Need to Be Loud?
For the inaugural “A State of Loudness,” let’s compare the loudness and dynamics of deadmau5 vs. Marshmello, in an attempt to answer the question: “Does EDM need to be loud?”
I selected two of each artist’s most popular tracks: deadmau5’s “Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff (feat. Rob Swire)” and “Strobe” vs. Marshmello’s “Alone” and “Ritual (feat. Wrabel).” Note that all of the songs, save for “Strobe,” have a vocal track.
To measure the loudness (ITU BS.1770) and dynamics (PSR and PLR) of each song, I used Audio Hijack to route audio from Spotify through Dynameter and LCAST.
Let’s see the results!
Marshmello
First up, Marshmello’s “Alone”, which has racked up over 64 million views on YouTube:
LCAST and Dynameter measure Marshmello’s “Alone”
The song contains some macro dynamic variation. The start and middle of the song dip below -16 LUFS while the remainder of the song hovers around -9 LUFS. In the quiet sections, the PSR increases to about 9, offering some relief from the otherwise highly compressed song. The minimum PSR is 5, which is quite low - we usually recommend staying above PSR 8 to preserve dynamics.
LCAST and Dynameter measure Marshmello’s “Ritual (feat. Wrabel)”
Turning to Marshmello’s “Ritual (feat. Wrabel),” we can see an example of hyper-compression. The song reaches a minimum PSR of 3 and is consistently around PSR 5! The song peaks at -3.6 dBTP, leaving plenty of headroom unused in Spotify, which has the least amount of headroom of all the major streaming platforms.
deadmau5
Can deadmau5 turn the loudness tide for us? Let’s see how the Canadian DJ’s tracks stack up. First, here’s “Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff (feat. Rob Swire)”, released in 2008.
LCAST and Dynameter measure deadmau5’s “Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff (feat. Rob Swire)”
“Ghosts” is definitely an improvement over Marshmello’s tunes, yet still fairly crushed, with the PSR measuring 7 - 8 for most of the track. The intro and outro are quieter and more dynamic than the bulk of the song. The minimum PSR is 6, which is the highest that we’ve seen so far. So, we’re getting better (i.e., more dynamic) with this example… Will “Strobe”, released in 2009, continue the upward trend?
LCAST and Dynameter measure deadmau5’s “Strobe”
Ah, sweet dynamics! “Strobe” has a minimum PSR of 7, but only very briefly. For the most part, the PSR hovers between 8 and 10 indicating decent micro dynamics. At the macro level, the song has a fairly constant loudness throughout, hovering near -10 LUFS.
The Punchline
So, can you make a hit EDM song that has dynamics? Sure. Admittedly, the deadmau5 examples we looked at are from 2008 / 2009 while Marshmello’s songs were released in 2016. I don’t think that really matters though - “Ghosts” and “Strobe” still sound great in my book.
But I’m interested in what you think. Do you prefer your EDM to be dynamic or crushed? Do you have any examples of great sounding EDM that is dynamic? On the flip side, do you know of any EDM that sounds great despite being hyper-compressed? Have you taken deadmau5’s MasterClass? Leave a comment below!
More on the Topic
Here are a couple other great reads (from great sources) that are pro-dynamics in EDM:
- Why Your EDM Will Sound Better with More Dynamics (productionadvice.co.uk)
- Why You Should Be Mixing and Mastering Your E.D.M. Tracks with Higher Crest Factor(ianstewartmusic.us)
