# MECA Judging music



## KP

Anyone have the MECA judging CD and extra tracks in a playlist for download? I'd like to take a disc and thumb drive to listen to some cars at Finals.


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## SkizeR

i have both. shoot me a pm. not sure about the extra tracks though


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## Alrojoca

Be aware that the last Meca cd, most of the tracks are recorded at very low volume, I had to set my gains at 88% hu volume in order to get the most from it. 

Did Anyone else have a similar experience?


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## Justin Zazzi

You should (?) be able to buy a disc at finals, and many of the competitors there are serious enough to have their own copies, if you cannot get one in time.


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## cmusic

Alrojoca said:


> Be aware that the last Meca cd, most of the tracks are recorded at very low volume, I had to set my gains at 88% hu volume in order to get the most from it.
> 
> Did Anyone else have a similar experience?


The tracks are recorded to have very little compression and very wide dynamic range. Music with little to no compression is quieter but much more real sounding. Dynamic range is the difference between the quietest sound in the recording as compared to the loudest sound in the recording. Compression limits the dynamic range by making the quiet sounds louder and more up in the same volume levels with the loud sounds. Compression makes things louder, and many people believe that louder means better. It doesn't make the recording better, it actually makes it worse. Live acoustical music does not have compression. Think of compression as squeezing the sound just make it louder. Compression squeezes the realness of the music out of the recording. 

Here are some youtube videos about compression and the "loudness war":


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## Alrojoca

cmusic said:


> The tracks are recorded to have very little compression and very wide dynamic range. Music with little to no compression is quieter but much more real sounding. Dynamic range is the difference between the quietest sound in the recording as compared to the loudest sound in the recording. Compression limits the dynamic range by making the quiet sounds louder and more up in the same volume levels with the loud sounds. Compression makes things louder, and many people believe that louder means better. It doesn't make the recording better, it actually makes it worse. Live acoustical music does not have compression. Think of compression as squeezing the sound just make it louder. Compression squeezes the realness of the music out of the recording.
> 
> Here are some youtube videos about compression and the "loudness war":


Thanks

I'm aware of the loudness wars and all that, I have many tracks from the 80's where before at maxed volume were just enough to have decent output, being rock/pop tracks, it was just a classic example of setting the gains at max HU volume only works for some tracks, but not these and it was not like it was classical music either, with low passages etc.

Maybe I listen to music too loud or maybe my output levels were too low matching levels between highs and mids where I can accept could be part of the issue, but I'm sure I'm not alone on this boat, levels can be adjusted between sources but I do not want to use that to compensate for it.

The 10% less volume HU gain setting of almost 89% got it for now to be able to listen to pretty much any track available


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## TOOSTUBBORN2FAIL

cmusic said:


> The tracks are recorded to have very little compression and very wide dynamic range. Music with little to no compression is quieter but much more real sounding. Dynamic range is the difference between the quietest sound in the recording as compared to the loudest sound in the recording. Compression limits the dynamic range by making the quiet sounds louder and more up in the same volume levels with the loud sounds. Compression makes things louder, and many people believe that louder means better. It doesn't make the recording better, it actually makes it worse. Live acoustical music does not have compression. Think of compression as squeezing the sound just make it louder. Compression squeezes the realness of the music out of the recording.
> 
> Here are some youtube videos about compression and the "loudness war":


I hate to nitpick, but it seems that dynamic range has not actually gotten worse or been affected by the loudness wars, but crest factor has.

Case in point, if you run the original, vinyl rip of Hotel California through the dynamic range meter you get a DR rating of 15. If you run the remastered cd version through it, you get a DR rating of 7. 

However, if you do a spectrum analysis on both versions, you'll find that the loudest drum strike in both versions is about 30db above the quietest guitar strum in the acoustic opening.

This can be repeated on multiple songs from different artists from different time periods. The DR database and the dr meter are measuring the difference between the peak of a given song and the rms of that song, not the actual dynamic range.


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## TOOSTUBBORN2FAIL

That's not to say that a song with a higher DR number won't sound better, but it's not always a guarantee.


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## Lycancatt

the newest meca disc tantric tuning? whose brilliant idea was that name anyways..is so quiet that when judging, many cars couldn't do the higher linearity score, even using the dynamic drum test..i would love it if someone put some of the tracks through a program to show how close to zero db they get? not that I want them to be close..but so many people tune for less noise and end up with little to no headroom by setting gains on amps out dsp outputs way low.


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## TOOSTUBBORN2FAIL

I actually planned to do just that, run them through audacity and see how far from Zero they are. I'll probably get to it tomorrow.


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## AccordUno

Here's my take on the CD, I think it has issues. I can only compare it to the last CD I used, Chesky CD. 

CMusic, I understand what you are saying about the recordings being lowered due to being upcompressed and all. Just the mastering is not all that great.. 

But hey, it is what it is, your car either does what it needs to do or don't..


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## TOOSTUBBORN2FAIL

So, I ran the songs I use from the Tantric Tuning Disc through audacity. Turns out, its not that quiet after all. The Dynamic Drum track gets to zero db. As does the Rebecca Pidgeon song. The quietest song I use, Ain't No Sunshine, peaks at 5.5 db below zero. Even Goodbye Porkpie Hat gets to 0.2db away from zero.

So, I'd argue that its not that the cd levels are too low, but that some cars just need some more headroom (either from resetting gains, or more power).


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## Lycancatt

thanks so much for doing this, I really didn't want to think it was all the cars I listened to all doing the same thing..and playing it on my home or dj gear its fine. I guess people were super concerned about system noise..


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## KP

Just seeing this, sorry. I have not noticed any issues with the 'loudness' of the CD. I did notice several systems with 'low voltage line level issues.'


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## Alrojoca

Just some tracks needed extra volume, even those tracks being flat overall without very low passages or extreme dynamics, I can get used to it. 

I have tracks that even with the gains set at 88% volume, I still have to pass the point of 55 (88%) and go up to 60-62 max, not for long and not like, I can't stand it either, I tend to avoid it, usually 50-55 is good for most tracks. 

Not going to say that the SQ quality is the best I have heard either


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## Lycancatt

that's why I have my "if I chose the judging music" discs, maybe I should make a thread about them and let people download and judge for themselves.


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## shutmdown

sorry to bump an old thread, but does anyone have the new Meca 2018 Tantric Tuning disc? Want to listen to the cd before I decide I want to enter a comp.


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## saltyone

Bumping an old thread again. I just ordered the 2019 judging disk, but need the playlist before Sunday (2 days from now). I don’t have a CD player anyway and will have to burn it to flash drive. There isn’t an option to “download” the tracks on MECA’s website. Should I just bum a copy on flash drive from another competitor for this upcoming event? This is my first competition...is borrowing the test tracks considered bad form? I’ll have my laptop Sunday, and I guess I could buy another disk there to rip prior to pulling up. I’d like to test it out prior to competition day if possible.


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## tonynca

If someone could dropbox these cds that'll be great.


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## saltyone

On the morning of my first competition, another competitor was nice enough to let me borrow his CD (the shop didn’t have one). I burned the CD at the highest resolution possible to a thumb drive. The guy that let me burn his CD wasn’t too happy at the end of the day. He’s a great dude...and scored a respectable 79.00. LOL...I scored 85.25. I got the impression that he’d do things differently if given the chance. 

Prior to the competition, I contacted MECA via messenger and email inquiring about downloading the test tracks...no luck. They just informed me that there would be CD’s available for purchase at the show. It’s as if they weren’t aware that a large percentage of vehicles are no longer using CD players. 

Just FYI...In case MECA is reading this, I ordered a CD, so they didn’t lose any revenue from the guy’s hospitality. MECA needs to put the tracks somewhere online for download...get with the 21st century. Hell, even Tool came around...why can’t MECA?


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