The loudness war refers to the increasing average volume of recorded music over the last 20-30 years or so (it's debatable exactly when the "war" started). The music industry has been steadily increasing the average volume of their releases; which include albums, radio broadcasts, singles, etc. A major reason why it happens is because the loudest track in a song rotation tends to draw the most attention from listeners, so there is a "survival of the fittest" effect in which record companies have incentive to produce louder music. This effect is bad for consumers because it lowers sound quality and encourages dangerous/unhealthy listening volumes.
So, why should you care about any of this? Well, first off there are health effects that you may or may not know about.
If you stand at a busy intersection, the sound of traffic can easily reach 80-90+ dB in volume, even inside a car. Now listen to your ipod/mp3 player. Can you clearly hear your music over the sound of traffic? If you can, then you are probably causing permanent, irreversible damage to your ears. If you listen to your music regularly at that volume, there is a high probability that you will need a hearing aid when you get older. But why don't all old people have hearing aids then? Because you are living in the first generation that suffers from this problem. Ipods/mp3 players are new, and the loudness war which encourages increasingly loud listening levels is new.
Second, if you care about music, you probably care at least a little bit about sound quality. A recorded album cannot get infinitely louder. CD quality recording offers about 90 dB of dynamic range, which basically means you can have a range of 90dB between the loudest sound and the quietest sound. 90 dB is more than enough for 99.99999% of music. Classical orchestras tend to have the widest dynamic ranges in music, but even the most dynamic pieces rarely exceed 40dBs of dynamic range.
However, a problem arises when you try to push all sounds (both quiet and loud) to higher volumes. You eventually hit the volume ceiling of the medium, which causes clipping (very bad distortion, not the "good" distortion that guitar amps/etc. use) unless you use a limiter/compressor. A limiter basically reduces the dynamic range of music (makes louder sounds quieter and/or quieter sounds louder).
Due to the loudness war, and the excessive overuse of limiters in the modern music industry, typical modern recordings often use only the highest 5dB of a CD's dynamic range (thats 5dBs of range on a medium that offers 90dB of range). That means a whisper can only be 5dB quieter than a drum snare; you can imagine how negatively this affects sound quality. Some artists still produce good recordings, but they are becoming increasingly rare, ESPECIALLY in the genres of rap, hiphop, and popular music.
Pretty sad when you think about it. So now, the next time you make fun of popular music (mainstream rap/pop/etc.) for being crappy, you'll have objective/scientific evidence that explains why it sucks
edit: Here is a good video explanation I just found
On September 03 2009 02:48 fanatacist wrote: One word: screamo.
Funny that you mention that. A lot of modern rap is actually recorded louder than 99% of screamo. Meaning if you set your music player at a certain volume, a mainstream rap CD would sound louder than many screamo CDs.
Some artists still produce good recordings, but they are becoming increasingly rare, ESPECIALLY in the genres of rap, hiphop, and popular music.
I do not agree with this. I do realize modern mixing is pumping alot of the stuff up, but knowing how to do it is really unique. There are a bazillion of talented guys with this trend that are awesome.
However you must also appreciate the fact that screamo is more often than not lacking in any sort of harmonic value in the vocals, is shrill and deafening, and is not much quieter than the typical hip hop track which actually focuses on the lower tones, with bass lines and such.
MP3s have progressed the distribution of music beyond any former boundaries available to both professional and amateur musicians. Life without MP3s would be a life without exposure, a life without options, a life without motivation to push forward and record that next song that might be a sleeper hit. Higher quality sound rates of MP3 manage to capture many of the original sounds unless you incorporate dog whistles and million watt sub woofers into your musical range, which would be both ridiculous and hilarious for anyone in your presence.
Some artists still produce good recordings, but they are becoming increasingly rare, ESPECIALLY in the genres of rap, hiphop, and popular music.
I do not agree with this. I do realize modern mixing is pumping alot of the stuff up, but knowing how to do it is really unique. There are a bazillion of talented guys with this trend that are awesome.
I'm not sure you understand what I mean by "good recording"
Any "loud" song can be recorded and produced at a lower volume, which improves sound quality in an objective way. The listener can then choose to make that song 100% the same volume as the original "loud" version, only they have to increase the volume on their music player slightly.
You might think that compression doesn't hurt rap, but keep in mind that it DOES affect voices and drum beats. people hear the word distortion and think about "good" distortion like electric guitars or talkboxes (tpain/etc.), but that's not necessarily true. these things I am talking about (limiting/clipping/etc.) do NOT produce "good" distortion. There is very very little good that comes out of those effects other than allowing louder volumes.
On September 03 2009 03:04 fanatacist wrote: MP3s have progressed the distribution of music beyond any former boundaries available to both professional and amateur musicians. Life without MP3s would be a life without exposure, a life without options, a life without motivation to push forward and record that next song that might be a sleeper hit. Higher quality sound rates of MP3 manage to capture many of the original sounds unless you incorporate dog whistles and million watt sub woofers into your musical range, which would be both ridiculous and hilarious for anyone in your presence.
So now that anybody who can pick up a guitar a play a few chords can now write 'music'. Yeah, thanks for that progressed distribution oh glorious MP3. And MP3's don't come close to matching an original recording. Try listening to classical music in MP3 form and then listen to the same track off of a CD, even at high bit rates it will never come close to matching the original audio... and both will never come close to the live experience.
On September 03 2009 03:04 fanatacist wrote: MP3s have progressed the distribution of music beyond any former boundaries available to both professional and amateur musicians. Life without MP3s would be a life without exposure, a life without options, a life without motivation to push forward and record that next song that might be a sleeper hit. Higher quality sound rates of MP3 manage to capture many of the original sounds unless you incorporate dog whistles and million watt sub woofers into your musical range, which would be both ridiculous and hilarious for anyone in your presence.
There is nothing hugely wrong with mp3s. anything encoded at 256kbps or higher (or with a good VBR encoder) is essentially the same as lossless audio unless you have a very high end audio system. There may be some sibilance and/or rolloff in high frequencies, but average listeners can't tell
The kind of compression that mp3s create is "bad," but its nothing compared to stuff that some mastering engineers do in studios.
On September 03 2009 03:04 fanatacist wrote: MP3s have progressed the distribution of music beyond any former boundaries available to both professional and amateur musicians. Life without MP3s would be a life without exposure, a life without options, a life without motivation to push forward and record that next song that might be a sleeper hit. Higher quality sound rates of MP3 manage to capture many of the original sounds unless you incorporate dog whistles and million watt sub woofers into your musical range, which would be both ridiculous and hilarious for anyone in your presence.
This is a huge exaggeration. Yes mp3s and digital distrubtion (amateur or otherwise) have allowed for greater market and audience reach for all levels of musicians, but you took it way too far.
i thought this thread was about that game where you and a friend yell "penis" or some other vulgarity louder and louder in a public place until one person gives up
Luckily for me I listen to mostly Black Metal and MDM / Tech Death. Unlucky for me, I listen to music quite loudly, but I enjoy it so I guess hearing aid here I come when I turn 70.
Anyways dB recording doesn't matter as much as how loud you listen to the music. If you record it at 120dB it won't matter if you play it on volume 1.
On September 03 2009 03:20 Hot_Bid wrote: i thought this thread was about that game where you and a friend yell "penis" or some other vulgarity louder and louder in a public place until one person gives up
That's what I've been doing in this thread. I thought that's what it was about?
On September 03 2009 03:20 Hot_Bid wrote: i thought this thread was about that game where you and a friend yell "penis" or some other vulgarity louder and louder in a public place until one person gives up
that reminds in 7th grade i did that with a few friends and we got in trouble
On September 03 2009 03:25 Aegraen wrote: Luckily for me I listen to mostly Black Metal and MDM / Tech Death. Unlucky for me, I listen to music quite loudly, but I enjoy it so I guess hearing aid here I come when I turn 70.
Anyways dB recording doesn't matter as much as how loud you listen to the music. If you record it at 120dB it won't matter if you play it on volume 1.
well that's my point... it does matter. you can't just pick a random volume and record at that volume. CDs have a set natural range. in order to make something louder, you have to compress the sound more and more (reduce sound quality more and more, to get louder sound).
"heavy" music doesn't have to be loud. Listen to rage against the machine's albums for reference. Their albums are among the most well recorded albums in history.
On September 03 2009 02:46 Wangsta wrote: Pretty sad when you think about it. So now, the next time you make fun of popular music (mainstream rap/pop/etc.) for being crappy, you'll have objective/scientific evidence that explains why it sucks
It's not limited to mainstream music though. In fact, my first introduction to the loudness war came from hearing Eddie Trunk bitch about how some of his favorite bands were taking part.
I think u can get better sound quality by recording at a higher volume, because u don´t need to amplify (and distort) the sound if u want to hear it very loud.
On September 03 2009 03:58 nicoaldo wrote: I think u can get better sound quality by recording at a higher volume, because u don´t need to amplify (and distort) the sound if u want to hear it very loud.
thats not really true (CDs, and most other modern mediums, are digital not analog)
EPT
Unlucky for me, I listen to music quite loudly, but I enjoy it so I guess hearing aid here I come when I turn 70. 
