As the rest of us lament brick-wall limiting and other techniques for flattening dynamic range and making music louder (see Music Thing’s recent discussion), WWAYM is sponsoring a no-holds-barred, Monster Truck Ralley of audio engineering. The contest: make it as loud as you possibly can.


The competition, sent to us by reader Adrian Anders, “must be as loud as possible but with taste.” (Does ‘taste’ disqualify redoing all the vocals with Hatebeak the death metal parrot?) The award is a license to WWAYM’s own mastering tool, which they’ll use to recreate thing winning entries more easily. I say do it for the bragging rights instead.


Unfortunately, the stipulation that “only legal tools” may be used probably means “no pirated software.” Damn. I was hoping for some sort of street-illegal maximizer/limiter.