Paul McCartney - Only Mama Knows (Dynamic Edit)

This is what I like to call a ‘dynamic edit’ of “Only Mama Knows” by Paul McCartney! *Memory Almost Full* faced quite a lot of dynamic range compression (not to be confused with data compression, which concerns MP3s and such) in its mastering, which at times made the music audibly crackle, and can make the album difficult to listen to over longer periods of time. In this, I attempt to undo that mastering compression and its resulting crackle, making the album more dynamic, and hopefully more listenable as a result!

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, should sell 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. Additionally, clipping, poor compressors, or overuse of compressors can result in artifacts such as hiss or crackle being audible atop the signal. There were quite a few songs where I noticed the crackle, from McCartney’s big “PRAYYYY” on “Gratitude”, the piano stabs on “That Was Me” and surprisingly, even on McCartney’s delicate “not around” on “Feet in the Clouds”. Perhaps the worst instances of the crackle are on the guitar solo of “House of Wax” and when the horns enter “Nod Your Head”.


I attempted to fix up the compression and resulting crackle on *Memory Almost Full* with a program called “Perfect Declipper”, which can not only affect clipping, but mastering compression as well. It can undo much of the distortion caused by heavy compression, such as the crackle on the sections of “Gratitude”, “That Was Me”, “Feet in the Clouds”, “House of Wax”, and “Nod Your Head” I noted! The program also makes the music more dynamic, and I was able to bring the dynamic range of the album from 5 to 11, which hopefully makes it more listenable as a result!

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 also want 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. Additionally, mastering engineers are often underneath the implicit and explicit pressures of artists and record labels to master albums loudly, so the results of mastering may not necessarily reflect a mastering engineer’s intentions for how they wanted an album to sound.

I produce many more dynamic edits on this channel as well as further descriptions in posts over on Reddit! You can look at this for a full list of the albums I’ve done: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1975IIQohEqbV-iZOSCWD0Cupbk0kGn3l5MgzB_ZCwQ8

If you like my work, consider donating to me on Ko-fi! I prioritize suggestions for $15, but any amount donated is appreciated! https://ko-fi.com/dynamiceditor