Music

Are The Loudness Wars Coming to an End?

Jeezus, I hope so.  This is from CE Pro:

The roots of the loudness wars can be traced back to the 1980s when music engineers in Nashville, Tenn. tried to make recordings as punchy as possible for radio airplay.

The negative effects of the loudness wars, which can be described as methods to make music sound “louder” on electronics that are limited in their ability to playback dynamic content, have reached a zenith level in today’s consumer audio market.

This recent emphasis on loudness ties into how consumers buy music. Digital downloads are the preferred music delivery method. And with the combination of low-resolution digital audio files and heavily compressed music (the tool/techniques used to limit the dynamic range of music), the visceral impact of music has been lost.

To counteract the effects of heavily compressed music, Ian Shepherd, a U.K.-based mastering engineer, Blu-ray and DVD author and owner of Mastering Media, Ltd, launched Dynamic Range Day (DRD), a grassroots movement to end excessive compression. DRD 2012 experienced its highest levels of interest since it debuted several years ago.

Outside of the professional audio community, more people are learning about compressed recordings, but Shepherd says little has been done to address the problem.

This is a good article.  You should read the rest of it.  (Thanks to Steve for the tip!)

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 38045 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

2 thoughts on “Are The Loudness Wars Coming to an End?

  • This is an excellent article about dynamic range and the lack thereof on many recordings. The whole concept of compressing the audio and getting a louder output really defeats the purpose of attaining the highest possible quality for playing the music back. I am thankful I have all my vinyl in addition to CDs because despite the extra work involved in playing an album (cleaning the record, and cuing the needle etc), vinyl still is great listening.I find it odd that when compact disk mastering was starting to get going, the engineers had a very wide dynamic range to play with that exceeded vinyl records if they chose to exploit it. Somehow, along the way some seem to have lost the plot when they sacrificed this wider dynamic range for louder audio. That's just wrong.

    Reply
  • I've always been baffled by the argument that limiting the dynamic range was for the benefit of radio airplay. Fact is, most radio stations compress the heck out of their audio feed before it is transmitted anyway, so compressing at the mastering stage for the benefit of radio is kinda redundant on top of ruining the sound for the people buying the music.

    Reply

Let us know what you think!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.