Together with MeterPlugs, mastering Engineer Ian Shepherd has created a new plug-in called Perception. This plug-in allows you to find the right balance of loudness and dynamics for your master.

Ian Shepherd has long been fighting against the so called loudness war. We all know that a louder piece of music tends to sound better than softer music. If you play someone two identical masters, but one of them is slightly louder, they perceive the louder one as sounding brighter and bassier or ‘better’, in most people’s opinion. Over the last decades this phenomenon has enflamed the need to create louder and louder masters up until the tipping point where even ‘hard’ rock fans were returning the new cd of their favorite band, simply because it was mastered too loud and sounded bad. You all know which band I’m talking about. So loud sounds better but at what point does the good loud become terrible loud. Enter Ian Shepherd’s Perception.

Perception is available for Mac OS X and Windows in VST, AU and AAX versions in 32 and 64-bit. The plug-in is currently on sale with a 30% discount for US $99. For more information you can visit the MeterPlugs website.

Watch Ian Shepherd explain how Perception works and what it can mean for your mastering process.