Loudness Wars

[mattvdh]

YouTube - Loudness War Educational Video

It's true that a lot of todays music lacks dynamics and just sounds like a wall of sound, but I do (on the other hand) enjoy some elements of what compression has to offer. It's punchy and loud, but I think less is more.

Bob Katz Master on Loudness/compression:
YouTube - Bob Katz - music mastering and loudness Part 1

(P.S my apologies if this topic or videos have been covered already)

[Waltz Mastering]

Bob K has always been down on the loudness thing.

I for one enjoy music that is not fatiguing to listen to, but people do have the freedom and choice to make the record they want.

C'est la vie

Bob mentions in the video that the average level of the compact disc has increased in the last 20 years almost 20 dB.

This is a gross over exaggeration any way you look at it. I'm not sure if he is talking about peak level, rms level, spl level or crest factor, but none of these has come close to a 20 dB increase as long as cd's have been out when comparing music of the same genre.

[AndyHutchinson]

There's been a recent post about this, and I should link to it but I don't remember the post off the top of my head, but it's about a book, Perfecting Sound Forever, that covers the history of the recording industry, with a lot of discussion of the loudness wars that is one of the most interesting and comprehensive studies of the phenomenon. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who loves music, especially in our line of work

[AndyHutchinson]

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?t=70500
I think this is the link to the post I mentioned above. If it doesn't work, just search for Perfecting Sound Forever