The Loudness War (aka why music cd's sound like crap these days)

[Angry_Games]

This is a discussion going on at my 2k hockey forum, but I thought I'd get a discussion going here

 

Ever popped in a new CD of your favorite artist one day, only to have to turn it off a few songs into it? Have you ever wondered, "Why can't I keep listening to this?" Then you are just one of the many casualties in the "Loudness War." What is it, and what can we do to stop this? I suggest you read up on these articles and take a look at a YouTube video.

 

http://moozeek.de/mirrors/articles/over_the_limit.htm

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

 

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/aug07/5429

 

http://www.austin360.com/music/content/mus...09/28cover.html

 

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/wee...und-forever.htm

 

 

Just to summarize for those who don't know, big record companies believe that if their songs are the loudest, they will grab the most attention on radio stations, which will in turn generate more sales. When one company does that, it convinces others to compete, and they start cranking up the volume as well. As a result, it destroys dynamic range and robs listeners of the color and life that older vinyl records had. It also creates listening fatigue. Imagine trying to read an entire paragraph in all capital letters. After the first sentence, you can't read anymore. Now imagine that happening every time you tried to listen to your favorite albums.

 

The only way companies will stop doing this and start recognizing that this really doesn't help record sales is for consumers to complain. However, the average consumer won't recognize this, and the lifestyle we live in with competing noises such as loud traffic doesn't help us perceive this terrible injustice. Slowly, but surely, all of your favorite artists will be ruined by this stupid craze, if they haven't been already.

 

Sad, isn't it?

 

Yahoo Tech Blog: http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/33549

[CPDMF]

That explains about 50% of it, the other half to me seems to be the actual quality of music required to cut an album these days.

[CopyNinjaKakash]

Yeah ive heard about this before.. I rarely buy cds anymore anyway ::shrugs:: but its a shame if this is really happening.

[red930]

I only download <---read buy, songs i like and not even an album anymore......

[Voltes-5]

Number of CD's I've bought for the last 12 months or so, 4. Couple of Micheal Buble albums which my wife loves and I also like and a best hits by Allman Brothers Band and best hits of "the Who". What I noticed with sound quality of the CD's that I last bought a while back is that it was too sharp for my ears. I thought my hearing was going bad. It seemed like the sound is too edgy and well... sharp.

[Guest Blooz1]

I found many of the arguments in this column especially apt;

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/wee...und-forever.htm

 

People are forgetting (or never really learned HOW) to listen!

 

Many,many times I've noticed people in public places with iPod earbuds in place, totally oblivious to the world around them (a dangerous situation in and of itself!), yet they look like they're in pain rather than enjoying their sonic experience!

 

Cliff brings up a good point about the quality of much of today's music. If people actually listened to some forms of music (such as lots of hip-hop), they'd find it sorely lacking in true content! To me, "sampling" other people's efforts and tacking new stuff on top of it doesn't make you an "artist"!

 

Oh, this is an interesting subject! We've got a lot of people who ought to chime in to this one!

[red930]

Number of CD's I've bought for the last 12 months or so, 4. Couple of Micheal Buble albums which my wife loves and I also like and a best hits by Allman Brothers Band and best hits of "the Who". What I noticed with sound quality of the CD's that I last bought a while back is that it was too sharp for my ears. I thought my hearing was going bad. It seemed like the sound is too edgy and well... sharp.

 

Well, on classic albums and anything close to Buble's sound I'd think they'd have a pretty decent audio engineer and good studio to work with the recordings.

 

Anything considered "popular music" certainly has horrible recordings, many I've heard seem to reduce the dynamic range for no particular reason. I mean, I understand why they do it for the radio, but why bother on a CD?

 

Rock is so iffy. Alternative is about as crappy as pop, death metal (and the like) tends to be sub-par as well. There are exceptions though, System of a Down won an award for a CD a few years ago, Maynard James Keenan's projects also usually have pretty good recordings.

 

My one real big pet peeve in CD's though are the tracks that (for whatever reason) have a hiss in the background, or a staticky sound. You can tell it was purposely put there because the rest of the CD sounds clean.

 

I hate it.

[momoceio]

Yep, I have a few CDs that when I listen to them I think something is wrong with my speakers but it's just the shat recording quality. I've thought about trying a hd cd to see if they sound any better...

[Voltes-5]

I used to have monthly subscription on Stereophile magazine. http://www.stereophile.com/columns/They have a review for cd's and other music. All of the recommended cd's that I have bought when reviewe and recommended are excellent sound quality wise. I get really tired of listening to the crap that they play on the radio now a days. When I get tired of listening to the 80's and early 90's rock collection I have, I try to relax my senses a bit with the movie soundtrack of "The Commitments", an excellent album. Sometimes I'd pop in Ravel's "Bolero". Too bad my turntable is buste, I cant listen to my vynil collection. I miss that warm analog sound.

[red930]

I actually miss some good blues....like B.B. King but as mentioned on on vinyl....so much better

[Guest Blooz1]

You got dat right, KrankyOldLady!

 

I've got a ton of blues albums (duh - it's my main thing!), many not replacable on CD, and they just don't sound the same when converted to digital format.

 

John Mayall + Eric Clapton - the "Beano" album, Eric doin' "Hideaway" on an old Les Paul! There's tones in there that make yer hair stand on end!

[Angry_Games]

i never thought I'd say this, but I truly miss the vinyl...(for the same reason I keep going back to tube amplifiers over solid-state...there's no comparison between analog and digital for warmth and depth)