"Loudness War"

[NoxNoctum]

This is something I found out about recently. Listening to these clips (and the loads of other examples around) it's pretty crazy how big a difference in quality there is between a very compressed song and a not compressed song.

It's funny because I had sometimes found that listening to older albums was less tiring. I didn't really consciously realize what was going on, but watching this video definitely made sense to me.

Anyways, hopefully the record companies stop doing this. (back in my black metal listening days I guess it wouldn't have mattered much since the production on BM is almost always atrocious by default )

The Loudness War - YouTube

 

[nd2spd]

It's funny you post this today, because I just finished updating a music workshop item for Killing Floor, doing just this to it (cutting back peaks to allow me to amplify) in order to compete with the perceived loudness of the dynamically bland existing Killing Floor soundtrack.

 

[=GG= Mr Moe]

WOW, yes. I notice this all the time with listening to older cd's from 15-20 plus years ago compared to new stuff or re-released music.

Annoying to say the least.

 

[Zennousha]

And that's why I will always love vinyl.

 

[[-project.rattus-]]

Wait, there are still people out here who don't know this?
As an avid listener to metal and hard rock, that's something I noticed about 5- years ago...

 

[Murphy]

I think that effect is desired! Seeing that music is often ridiculously overproduced mushy soup of a dozen tracks that is essentially little more than continuous noise anymore.. providing a blank background for a singer whose voice is filtered so horribly she sounds like she's singing underwater, through a rusty microphone..

What ticks me off even more though, is this turning-the-volume-up-and-down-with-the-beat trend in music today.

I guess this one is to blame for spreading this practice?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO8PA7ZnHf0

I can't stand it.

 

[[-project.rattus-]]

I think that the main reason for that trend is that nowadays, it's mostly small devices with little speakers or headphones used to play music. The "loudness" adds an illusion volume and depth to the music when listened on such devices.

 

[Murphy]

Excellent point! The less variance and detail there is, the less gets lost when you play it on tiny speakers, streamed and compressed to hell and back.

 

[Tomcat_ha]

actually metal can suffer one of the most of the loudness wars. Because it already does not have that much dynamic range to begin with. (just try to play soft with distortion)

 

[WhiteKnight77]

Something else I have noticed about music today is the lack of stereo seperation. Listen to an Alice in Chains song that was released on CD then go back and listen to a Jethro Tull song and you will notice the difference. I posted about this on another forum and someone stated that you are supposed to hear the instruments in both ears. Not.