Mixvibes Dj Community old forum

Loudness War

The phrase loudness war (or loudness race) refers to the music industry's tendency to record, produce and broadcast music at progressively increasing levels of loudness each year to create a sound that stands out from others and the previous year.
The trend of increasing loudness as shown by waveform images of the same song mastered on CD four times since 1983.

This phenomenon can be observed in many areas of the music industry, particularly broadcasting and albums released on CD and DVD. In the case of CDs, the war stems from artists' and producers' desires to create CDs that sound as loud as possible or louder than CDs from competing artists or recording labels.

However, as the maximum amplitude of a CD is at a fixed level, the overall loudness can only be increased by reducing the dynamic range. This is done by pushing the lower-level program material higher, while the loudest peak sounds are either destroyed or severely diminished. Certain extreme uses of compression can introduce distortion or clipping to the waveform of the recording.

it's quite a shame in many respects. more compressed might sound more "tight" and intense, but it leaves little room for wide frequency ranges and reduces the 'space of a track'.

My reference for studio work is... well MOWTOWN Marvin Gaye - I heard it through the grapevine for example !

loudness war ... are we becoming deaf ?
I laugh everytime i meet a deaf guy with headphones in the subway or in the street.

I can hear the music as if I was using the headphones myself ...