Florence + the Machine - Queen of Peace (Dynamic Edit)

This is what I like to call a ‘dynamic edit’ of “Queen of Peace” by Florence + The Machine! *How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful* faced a decent amount of dynamic range compression (not to confused with data compression, which concerns MP3s and such) in its final release. My edits here are meant to try and present the album as it sounded before such compression!

For those not in the know, the Loudness War is a phenomenon beginning in the mid-90s onward, in which music was mastered louder and louder, with the underlying reasoning being that louder music sounds better, and thus, sells better. As with any medium, however, there is a peak loudness a signal can reach, so dynamic range compression (which makes the louder parts of the signal quieter while keeping the quiet parts the same loudness) and sometimes even clipping (attempting to make a signal louder than maximum loudness) were used to make music as loud as possible.

The issue with this is that overuse of dynamic range compression and clipping can make music fatiguing to listen to, and sometimes even audibly distorted. Clipping or poor compressors specifically can introduce audible artifacts such hiss or crackle into the mix. I personally did not hear any of these audible artifacts in *How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful*, to be clear.

In contast to most other albums, *How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful* was released with two separate digital masterings, each with a different level of dynamic range compression on their release. The most accessible of these two masterings is the one present on CD and Spotify. The less accessible is about 3.1 decibels quieter and more dynamic, present on Qobuz with “High-Res” audio. To be perfectly clear, the fact that the audio is “high-res” (in this case, presented with a 24-bits of depth, and sampled at an unnecessary 96kHz) does not inherently make the master more dynamic; the reason this master in particular is more dynamic is because it is simply mastered with less dynamic range compression.

Well, regardless, I attempted to make the “high-res” release of *How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful*, even more dynamic with a program I have called “Perfect Declipper” (creating something I dub a “dynamic edit”). The editing process makes the album more dynamic and can also eliminate artifacts of crackle and hiss. In this case, I was able to turn the dynamic range of the album from 9 into 11! I also included tracks from the deluxe edition and the two additional bonus tracks (“Pure Feeling” and “Conductor”) from the Target exclusive edition.

It’s important to note that the dynamics are not being restored with the “Perfect Declipper” program that I use, but rather, they are being approximated. While one may not be able to “declip” an album as one would be unable to “unbake a cake”, I find the results here to be a convincible attempt at doing so. Only in the most extreme examples have I heard the program produce odd artifacts that would appear unintended in the album’s mix. I think it’s also important to note that dynamic range compression is not an inherently bad thing. It can tighten up performances, add grit, and help remove dynamic outliers that would take you out of the mix.