The Loudness War

[amoergosum]

...great demonstration:

A comparison of various CD versions of the ABBA song "Soldiers" first released on the LP "The Visitors" in 1981. The CD versions are -
1982 European Polydor CD
2001 Astley CD
2005 "Complete Studio Recordings" CSR CD

>>>

[switch to 720p after pressing play]

[circh bustom]

After watching Jimmy Fallon last week, my wife and I wanted to listen to Floyd's DSOM the other day start to finish. Having worked in a CD shop for many years I have a couple of different CD versions. I have the Gold MFSL from the early '90s, which has been my standard. I also have the SACD Hybrid that came out around 2005. I automatically reached for the MFSL but after Breathe decided to A/B it. The Hybrid was set to standard CD playback, not SACD. Wow. I have a pretty good mass-market stereo unit, Denon AVR 2311 CI, played thru some really good sounding Bose 301's I bought in '95. I could not believe how much I had to turn down the newer disc. It had a bit more crispness to it, which is good and bad, and maybe the seperation was a bit more intense, but my goodness, I had to lower it from -22db to about -30db. To be fair, when put into SACD mode and played in surround, the bumped up loudness becomes a non-issue in my opinion. But, I dont always want to sit in one spot for 43 minutes while listening.

[StudioTan]

Sadly, it's typically the drums that end up getting obliterated more than the other elements in the mix, due to their transient signature.

[amoergosum]

FANTASTIC new presentation >>>

Step into my Time Machine. This 20 minute video takes you from the quiet beginnings of the Compact Disc in 1980 through to Loudness Peace by the year 2020. It includes demonstrations of the loudest master I have ever had to make and paints a picture of what the art of audio mastering will be like once the loudness war has been settled.

http://www.digido.com/loudness-war-explained.html

[Jim Richman]

Cassettes from the 80's sound better than the CD remasters of today. They have a larger dynamic range as well.

[Christopher]

After watching Jimmy Fallon last week,

I missed that when it was on.

Here it is for others that did too.



I think it's cool that the Foos honor their influnces often.

[amoergosum]

FANTASTIC new presentation >>>

Step into my Time Machine. This 20 minute video takes you from the quiet beginnings of the Compact Disc in 1980 through to Loudness Peace by the year 2020. It includes demonstrations of the loudest master I have ever had to make and paints a picture of what the art of audio mastering will be like once the loudness war has been settled.

http://www.digido.com/loudness-war-explained.html

YouTube >>>

[DSOP]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-cas ... 75536.html

[circh bustom]

The answer to the compression question was great. Thanks for posting.

[Christopher]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-castle/bob-ludwig_b_1175536.html

Great article. Thanks.

"At some point, the music is so loud and unnaturally compressed that the aural assault on the ear, while very impressively loud, has sucked the life out of the music and makes the listener subconsciously not want to hear the music again."

Powerful statement, there.