The “loudness wars” refer to the phenomenon in the music industry where recordings are mastered and produced with increasingly high levels of loudness, often at the expense of dynamic range and audio quality.
Even back in the 60s, when jukeboxes were still around, The Beatles recognised that the louder records tended to grab more attention when played on jukeboxes alongside other popular records. Allegedly, they ordered a Fairchild compressor limiter for Abbey Road Studios to achieve a louder, more impactful sound without sacrificing the quality of their recordings.
However, the push of the loudness around the 2000s was different. It was indeed sacrificing the dynamics and quality, justified by the “the louder the better” mindset when the development of digital formats allowed engineers to master tracks at excessive volumes. A number of producers and mastering engineers believed that going over -14 LUFS would help to catch listeners’ attention when the song would be played on the radio among quieter tracks.
“Death Magnetic” (2008) by Metallica is often regarded as the “winner” of the loudness wars – the worst-sounding loudest album. The mastering of it heavily relied on compression and limiting, resulting in an excessively loud and compressed sound. This aggressive approach led to significant clipping and distortion, particularly in the louder sections of the music. Fans and criticised the album’s production quality, expressing disappointment with the lack of clarity and dynamics.
Learning about this phenomenon is useful for understanding the importance of dynamics in my productions. I would, indeed, rather try to preserve the quality of my song instead of pushing the gain up.
Bunning, James. “The Loudness Wars – USC Viterbi School of Engineering.” USC, 26 Oct. 2018, illumin.usc.edu/the-loudness-wars/. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
Clark, Christopher. “The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse.” NPR.org, 31 Dec. 2009, www.npr.org/2009/12/31/122114058/the-loudness-wars-why-music-sounds-worse. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
Wykes, AJ. “What’s the Loudness War?” SoundGuys, 17 June 2021, www.soundguys.com/the-loudness-war-51513/. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.