Loudness War article on mainstream music site

[john_p_t]

Hi all,long time no post, so apologies for the slight spam. Thought this might be of interest to some. It's an article about the "Loudness War", no new news in it for audio types, really, but interesting that it's on a non-technical music reviews site, aimed at a lay audience.

 

http://thequietus.com/articles/06872-loudness-wars-dynamic-range-compression-mastering

[the stranger]

(I'll read it later when I get a chance.)

[TieDyedDevil]

That's a well-written article, but there's really nothing new.

 

I guess the point is that - as a producer / engineer / artist - you're going to eventually hit the wall (so to speak) in you attempts to make your product "sound" louder than everyone else's. At least until someone invents technology that lets music players crank up the playback volume on their own... (Kidding, and cringing at the same time...)

 

I think there's something to be said for leaving "white space" (a.k.a. dynamics) in recorded music. It's one more element by which an artist can (and, until the advent of the volume wars, many more did than do today) express themselves.

 

Brick-walled music sacrifices one dimension by which the artist may surprise and delight the listener.

 

One of my most memorable live concerts was by godspeed you! black emperor. With nine players on stage they covered the gamut of dynamic range from playing so quietly that I could hear another audience member's shoe sole scrape on the floor of the 600-seat auditorium, to so loud that I could barely breathe. Point is: gy!be knew how to use dynamics to their advantage. The performance was *riveting*. How many shows have you attended recently where the band didn't feel compelled to drown out an audience that couldn't be bothered to shut their collective mouths for five seconds?

 

At any rate, a lot of this volume war stuff is becoming increasing irrelevant. It's a dying gasp of an industry that still clings to the notion that the path to success is to control every aspect of writing, composition, production, and distribution according to insane formulas that have lost their impact after decades of abuse. (Hint: the volume wars are by no way a recent phenomenon - having been initiated not by the recording industry, but rather by radio stations - way back in the `60s.)

 

To quote Jon Stewart: "If everything is amplified, we hear nothing."