In recent years, music producers of all kinds and ages have come across a the concerning issue of loudness levels. Mix and mastering engineers are all accusing each other of making their music too loud, whilst other say theirs is too quiet. Music consumers may be clueless about the ongoing debate of 20 years, however if you look at the loudness levels of CD’s, you’ll notice they’re about 20dB quieter in comparison to music that is released these days. Has the loudness level benchmark been abandoned in recent years?

So it’s interesting to make this observation that loudness levels have increased dramatically nowadays, but where is this going to lead us? Into a generation of exploding ear drums? Or is the human ear evolving over time in order to cope with the increasing loudness?

Despite there was no written agreement 20 years ago regarding loudness levels, there was still a cohesiveness when it came to mixing and mastering levels. These days is seems producers, particularly EDM artists are compressing, and compressing again to a point where they can override their competitors. However is this what the EDM market is craving; louder mixes? Here is an interesting video on the topic of the ‘Loudness War’ amongst producers.

So you see in the video that the loudness levels should be a choice of the consumer, not the producer. Producers have been raising the overall loudness levels of their music during the mixing stage, which in turn reduces the effect transients within the audio that were more evident prior to raising the overall level of the audio. So when the consumer is to raise the volume control, yes the music is louder, but you lose the dynamics of the piece. I guess the argument amongst EDM artists and producers, is do you need that dynamic range to exist in the club scene for example. Or do you just want it LOUD?

I agree with the conclusion of the video, I think that loudness levels for publishing should be standardised throughout the globe. There should be a unified formula for all music producers. This could be achieved by integrating a unified loudness level rule within the audio industry that would prevent producers from releasing music above a certain loudness level. So maybe a rule would not stop people from breaking the rules, however perhaps a legal rule like an official ‘Loudness Level Act’ could provide some official boundaries for the Loudness Wars that exist today.

However at the end of the day, what is the true solution? Nothing is going to stop producers from making their mixes LOUDER than others, it’s personal taste. Some people like music loud, other’s like is quieter. We really cannot control what people do, however it is interesting to be aware of what is happening out there in the industry.

REFERENCES

Matt Mayfield Music (2016, March 28). Music streaming services: Bring peace to the Loudness war Retrieved from https://youtu.be/yB7W5Gin9v0

Robjohns, H. (2016, December ). Issue navigator. Retrieved December 7, 2016, from http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/end-loudness-war