The Loudness War

[amoergosum]

One guy sent back the classic 'over mastered' mix. Told me that he'd turned it up 8db. Then a few hours later sent it again up another 3db! I could hear the attack of the drums had changed - I zoomed in and there were plenty of squared off waves in the mix. One guy got it absolutely right and we've used him ever since.

Thank you!

[Andy Vermiglio]

When I was in my 20's, I played a gig where one of the musicians turned to me and said, "It's not very good, but it sure is loud!" I wonder if he's one of those mastering engineers now.

The loudness war is nuts. I really appreciated Gavin's post. I hope in the "artistic wars" we win in the end.

[amoergosum]

The next example shows a comparison between the 1990 and the 2001 remaster of "Stir It Up" (by Bob Marley). They didn't kill the dynamics with the 2001 remaster fortunately but you can see the difference.
There's a discussion on stevehoffman.tv. Barry Diament, who remastered the Bob Marley catalog in 1990, is a forum member and posted some replies in the following threads:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showt ... p?t=122824
http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showt ... p?t=126298

Barry Diament:

Makes sense, since I never use compression.

[cjbdrm]

This is old news....they've been talking about this on audio forums for several years. And if you've done any engineering/mixing/mastering yourself, it becomes painfully obvious...but thank goodness for artists with integrity like Gavin and PT...maybe they can reverse the trend...

The loudness wars "effect" has bled over to TV as well....have you ever been watching your favorite show and then ITS TIME FOR COMMERCIAL!!!! AND ITS LOUD!! VERY LOUD!!! AND YOU'RE LIKE WTF!!! as you dive for the remote to turn it down...

[amoergosum]

I found a great new example of the Loudness War:
It's a comparison between the
1988 Vinyl <> 1993 CD <> 2009 CD

Put on some good headphones and switch to 720p after pressing play:


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-v5pFrh_pU[/youtube]

[amoergosum]

Haha....you gotta love it >>>
Check out the wikipedia page of the upcoming Red Hot Chili Peppers album:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'm_with_You_(album)

Next to "Vladimir Meller – mastering" it says:
NO! HELP US ALL!

[amoergosum]

>>>

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUcgg2vMX_s[/youtube]


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZdbXbVDNq8[/youtube]

[amoergosum]

Haha....you gotta love it >>>
Check out the wikipedia page of the upcoming Red Hot Chili Peppers album:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'm_with_You_(album)

Next to "Vladimir Meller – mastering" it says:
NO! HELP US ALL!

Well...the author was right. The new RHCP album has been brickwalled to death...

"Goodbye Hooray" >>>

[Jim Richman]

Cassette tapes sound better than new CD versions.

[amoergosum]

Here's what just happened to Nevermind.... pathetic. This has to stop. >>>


"Smells Like Teen Spirit":

1991:



2011 (remastered):