The Loudness War
Posted on January 31, 2010 with 0 comments
Just what is the "Loudness War" besides something that Gothic Blues will not participate in.
Well the following video is the best explanation I could find in a passive form...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ
The phrase loudness war (or loudness race) refers to the music industry's tendency to record, produce and broadcast music at progressively increasing levels of loudness each year to create a sound that stands out from others and the previous year.
This phenomenon can be observed in many areas of the music industry, particularly broadcasting and albums released on CD and DVD. In the case of CDs, the war stems from artists' and producers' desires to create CDs that sound as loud as possible or louder than CDs from competing artists or recording labels.
However, as the maximum amplitude of a CD is at a fixed level, the overall loudness can only be increased by reducing the dynamic range. This is done by pushing the lower level program material higher while the loudest peak sounds are either destroyed or severely diminished. Certain extreme uses of compression can cause distorting or clipping the waveform of the recording.
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____
Which will mean that for you to fully enjoy a Gothic Blues cd... your gonna have to take control of the volume knob. (Advice that might also work when it comes to ones life also.) As a matter of fact to enjoy our cds to their fullest... take control of the volume knob, turn off any bass boost and put on some good headphones... oh yeh, and turn off the lights.
Well the following video is the best explanation I could find in a passive form...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ
The phrase loudness war (or loudness race) refers to the music industry's tendency to record, produce and broadcast music at progressively increasing levels of loudness each year to create a sound that stands out from others and the previous year.
This phenomenon can be observed in many areas of the music industry, particularly broadcasting and albums released on CD and DVD. In the case of CDs, the war stems from artists' and producers' desires to create CDs that sound as loud as possible or louder than CDs from competing artists or recording labels.
However, as the maximum amplitude of a CD is at a fixed level, the overall loudness can only be increased by reducing the dynamic range. This is done by pushing the lower level program material higher while the loudest peak sounds are either destroyed or severely diminished. Certain extreme uses of compression can cause distorting or clipping the waveform of the recording.
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____
Which will mean that for you to fully enjoy a Gothic Blues cd... your gonna have to take control of the volume knob. (Advice that might also work when it comes to ones life also.) As a matter of fact to enjoy our cds to their fullest... take control of the volume knob, turn off any bass boost and put on some good headphones... oh yeh, and turn off the lights.