For us recording geeks: The Loudness War. (No NOT the band)

[Diamondjimi]

The loudness war or loudness race is a pejorative name for the apparent competition to digitally master and release recordings with higher real and perceived levels of loudness.

The phenomenon was first reported with respect to mastering practices for 7" singles.[1] The maximum peak level of analog recordings such as these is limited by the specifications of electronic equipment along the chain from source to listener, including vinyl record and cassette players.

With the advent of the Compact Disc (CD), music is encoded to a digital format with a clearly defined maximum peak amplitude level. Once the maximum amplitude of a CD is reached, the perception of loudness can be increased still further through signal processing techniques such as dynamic range compression and equalization. Engineers can apply an increasingly high ratio of compression to a recording until it more frequently peaks at the maximum amplitude. Extreme uses of dynamic range compression can introduce clipping and other audible distortion to the waveform of the recording. Modern albums that use such extreme dynamic range compression therefore sacrifice quality of musical reproduction to loudness. The competitive escalation of volume processing has led music fans and members of the musical press to refer to the affected albums as victims of the "loudness war".

Read more- Click HERE

[Diamondjimi]

This is probably the most important issue in modern day recording...

[chefcraig]

This is probably the most important issue in modern day recording...

This is the reason that RUSH' Vapor Trails album was unlistenable, and you'd think that engineers would have learned from that disaster. Sadly, this isn't the case. Just look at that ghastly sounding Metallica album from a couple of years ago. You pretty much know the mastering process has failed when people are downloading your album tracks from a video game soundtrack because the songs sound better than your album does.

Today, the casual listener tends to dismiss the issue, and you really can not blame them. The fact is, the manner in which people have purchased, collected and listened to music over even the past 10-15 years has changed so incrementally that they fail to realize just how shitty music currently sounds. Consumers have sacrificed quality over expediance, fidelity for convenience. Rather than listening to music via rich sound systems, more often than not people hear stuff through either crummy computer speakers or crappy little earbuds. The sound is compromised further by the nature of the medium, which is mostly tinny sounding MP3 technology. Over that 10-15 years mentioned earlier, an entire generation has grown up accustomed to lame, inferior sounding music. This, coupled with talent-free "artists" (or even seasoned performers) creating lackluster music in the first place has lead to the quagmire the music industry faces today: Declining sales due a general lack of interest in the quality of the product.

[Diamondjimi]

Agreed Chef. I was reading an article a couple of years ago when the movement by the worlds top producers was beginning. They formed a coalition amongst themselves and began seminars in hopes of getting this message out to try and reverse this horrible trend.
In a nutshell they explained that the trend was solely focused for the marketing of mp3's ( an inferior audio format, any way you slice it), by trying to redline the frequencies that are reduced or outright negated during the conversion from Wav. to Mp3. A good case in point ,for example, is
the "remastered" version of John Lennon's Imagine. There is absolutely zero dynamic in the new version. The soft piano is now uber compressed and driven to the front of the mix with the vocals rendering it completely flat and lifeless. Disgusting...
John Lennon would be appalled with it.
Speaking for myself, I walk the fine line of boosting signal while keeping the subtle dynamics of the music in my recordings that I master. It's something that has to be kept in check. Of course a song that was meant to be loud and slamming should come across that way, but not at the expense of audio distortion and clipping.
For songs of mine that I've layered acoustic guitars underneath the electric's, my efforts would be futile if I approached the mastering the same as a shit kickin, balls out rocker tune.

[chefcraig]

Speaking for myself, I walk the fine line of boosting signal while keeping the subtle dynamics of the music in my recordings that I master. It's something that has to be kept in check. Of course a song that was meant to be loud and slamming should come across that way, but not at the expense of audio distortion and clipping.
For songs of mine that I've layered acoustic guitars underneath the electric's, my efforts would be futile if I approached the mastering the same as a shit kickin, balls out rocker tune.

Precisely. The example I give to folks when explaining how this works is relatively simple: Think of the song "Stairway To Heaven". It starts out very quietly, with just a guitar and an organ creating a flute-like sound. This gradually builds up, with first the voice then other instruments added in, until the drums kick in about 3/4s through. After some cresendos, the tune takes off with a rocking solo followed by a loud vocal, then settles down and ends (once again) quietly. The song is very dynamic, the soft passages complimenting the raucous one. Now what would happen if the entire song was performed at the level of the section featuring the guitar solo? All of that dynamic build-up would be lost, and this is exactly what is happening with today's mastering process. Everything is compressed to peak levels, so the ear never gets any relief. This is just the opposite of what music is at it's core, a natural and yes, organic experience.

[Diamondjimi]

Exactly. Without the ability to naturally translate dynamics thus bastardizing the original mix, we're left with the sonic equivalent of a Sammy Hagar drone...

[Hardrock69]

By the way, Stairway To Heaven began with acoustic guitar and a Mellotron.

The answer to the Loudness Wars is simple. If people want to hear something louder, there is this primitive invention that has been around for a hundred years or more called a VOLUME KNOB.

Speaking of Loudness, the band, I just discovered today that they are playing a club in Gnashville in May.

[neuralfraud]

EXCELLENT topic. Here's my contribution. Iron Maiden - Fighting the Loudness War

Much of the blame can also be put on the recorders. Bands do a lot of their own recording these days, they'll get things how they like and then send off to mastering, sometimes the product is already heavily compressed, they add more, perhaps to even it out, or for whatever reason and the result sounds like shit.

[Etienne]