Audio Recording

The loudness war is not yet over. “Loudness war” is defined by an increasing average RMS power (or simply “volume”) of released recordings per decade. This comes from the fact that recording labels starting in the 90’s came to appreciate the importance of loudness in their released recordings because of the following reasons:

a.) Being loud catches attention. If certain music is loud enough, it can stand out from the rest of the music tracks being played.

b.) Loudness correlates quality and professionalism. It is because only commercial mastering studios (at that time) would be able to maximize the volume of the track as loud as possible.

Those things are good, but engaging in a war of loudness is not beneficial in the long run. Too much loudness can ruin the dynamics of the recording. At worse, distortions can appear at loud volumes and it is not pleasant to listen. You might notice that it would be very tiring to listen to a very loud CD because of the absence of dynamics. So how much average volume is enough? Below are some examples of how the loudness war evolves with some actual examination of commercially released tracks:

Track Title: “Livin’ on a Prayer”
Date released: 1986
Performed by: Bon Jovi

As what you can see, the track averages around -19dB and there is still a lot of headroom space remaining. So this means that if you turn the volume up, it won’t get distorted and dynamics are well preserved. In general, it gives plenty of room to adjust and provides a nice listening experience. OK, let’s examine a sample track coming from the early 90’s:

Track Title: “Come as you are”
Date released: 1992
Performed by: Nirvana

You might notice that the average volume is now louder compared in the 80’s. It averages around -16dB. Also the headroom is getting smaller so as the difference between loud and soft; nevertheless it still very nice to listen even if you turn the volume up. Next let’s examine how the loudness war progresses towards the end of the 90’s:

Track Title: “Pretty Fly”
Date released: 1998
Performed by: Offspring

Now it started to become very loud in the late 90’s. A sample song from Offspring averages around -11dB; and there are minor differences between loud and soft (this means it is heavily compressed and the dynamic range is becoming smaller). Its fun to listen though; then in the middle of year 2000, one my personal favorites:

Track Title: “Cold”
Date released: 2004
Performed by: Crossfade

It’s now very loud; almost no difference between loud and soft in the entire song. But this song is still very nice to listen despite being influenced in the loudness wars. Its average volume is around -10.5dB.

Finally towards the end of 2010, one of the winning artists in the war of loudness is Metallica. From their album “Death Magnetic” (released September 2008) is one of the loudest albums I’ve ever heard. Below is a sample audio wave of their song “Broken, Beat & Scarred”

The average RMS power of this song is around -7.5dB and this time I find the volume to be too loud for my own standard. It was now very tiring to listen compared to old Metallica albums. This war should end now and I think I would settle at -13dB to -11dB average volume; I can see it as a standard.