Do you like Raw Dog?

[Plasmastrike]

The only benefit of SC being loud is that it had the potential to make you deaf enough not have to listen to it again.

lol

[ReaPsTA]

Considering the fact that they've stated to be against the loudness war, BC&SL is still very loud album and Raw Dog is extremely compressed. The average dB of dynamics is the same on BC&SL and SC - around 6 dB. What happened between them deciding to make a more dynamic record and them releasing it as a loud record? In my books DT is still very much a victim of loudness war.

You aren't being quite fair. Even during the soft sections of TMOLS, there's maybe 2db of dynamic range. . BCSL isn't the greatest response to the loudness war (see below), but the album lacks any truly purposeless compression. During the soft sections of BCSL, the music actually breathes. And during the heavy sections, the gain meter isn't constantly racing toward 0db. Compare Wither to Forsaken in Audacity. It's not as big a difference as I'd like, but it's still a difference.

But:

BC&SL kinda fails at stepping away from the loudness war because, though they DID scale things back, they didn't really scale things back enough to make a difference.  So they lost all the benefits of having a really loud, heavy hitting album like SC without reaping much of the benefits that the truly "dynamic" albums have.

This is still true.

For what it's worth, I actually like how Raw Dog sounds. The whole song is balls to the walls heavy, so it makes sense for it to be super loud and compressed. It's not constantly racing for 0db, and I can turn it up without hurting my ears.

[Groundhog]

Considering the fact that they've stated to be against the loudness war, BC&SL is still very loud album and Raw Dog is extremely compressed. The average dB of dynamics is the same on BC&SL and SC - around 6 dB. What happened between them deciding to make a more dynamic record and them releasing it as a loud record? In my books DT is still very much a victim of loudness war.

You aren't being quite fair. Even during the soft sections of TMOLS, there's maybe 2db of dynamic range. . BCSL isn't the greatest response to the loudness war (see below), but the album lacks any truly purposeless compression. During the soft sections of BCSL, the music actually breathes. And during the heavy sections, the gain meter isn't constantly racing toward 0db. Compare Wither to Forsaken in Audacity. It's not as big a difference as I'd like, but it's still a difference.

But:

BC&SL kinda fails at stepping away from the loudness war because, though they DID scale things back, they didn't really scale things back enough to make a difference.  So they lost all the benefits of having a really loud, heavy hitting album like SC without reaping much of the benefits that the truly "dynamic" albums have.

This is still true.

For what it's worth, I actually like how Raw Dog sounds. The whole song is balls to the walls heavy, so it makes sense for it to be super loud and compressed. It's not constantly racing for 0db, and I can turn it up without hurting my ears.

Ok, maybe I'm being too harsh on it. It is slightly better, but as Perpetual Change said, it fails as making a stance against loudness war. They have to scale things down a lot from BC&SL to not compete in loudness war.

I have to say that I fail to see what the benefits of a really loud album are and how it makes sense for Raw Dog. There are no benefits to my knowledge.

[rumborak]

I have to say that I fail to see what the benefits of a really loud album are and how it makes sense for Raw Dog. There are no benefits to my knowledge.

I take it you've never driven a car while listening to an album?

rumborak

[Groundhog]

Actually I have. Never really had problems with volume levels while driving. Not even with CD's made in the 80's. Also loudness feature on car player helps if the cd happens to be too quiet.

[ariich]

Loudish mastering is definitely good for listening in a car, especially if the journey involves travelling quite fast. But obviously there are limits beyond which it sounds terrible anywhere.

[setrataeso]

I feel like this song is growing on me. Its still near the bottom, but Im noticing more interesting things throughout.
Again, Dream Theater prove themselves to be masters of riffs. Raw Dog is no exception. Though I find the first few minutes of chugging are some of DTs most clunky and awkward moments, the riffs in there are pretty good. Basically from the halfway point of JPs guitar solo the song gets really good. Had they cut down the sludge metal chugs I would enjoy this song way more.