The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse
Though it’s a few years old, this NPR article is one of the best mainstream examples that is bringing attention to the Loudness Wars. The PDF Infographic on the left is a great visual that outlines how Peak and RMS levels in popular music have been steadily creeping higher and higher over the years.
I had the pleasure recently of attending a mastering session at M-WORKS with the talented Jonathan Wyner. We, along with the artist, decided to retain as much of the original dynamics as possible instead of playing into the loudness battle. The end result is an incredibly punchy record with excellent depth that can be listened to at loud volumes without being fatiguing.
A great example of this is Bob Ludwig’s work on Guns ‘N Roses Chinese Democracy. Ludwig discusses how the band chose a master he printed that contained NO compression that was used for loudness. He also discusses a similar approach when mastering Tool’s 2006 release, 10,000 Days.
Some of my favorite records over the past few years that have had great commercial success, while also maintain a fairly wide dynamic range:
