The Loudness War or: One Reason I Can’t Stand Most New Music

posted by Rob on November 23, 2008 at 3:00 am | Comments (13)

I grew up listening to vinyl records and cassette tapes. My parents had a large library of albums and I eventually had a pretty good collection, too. Many of our records and tapes were old and in poor condition from being played and handled so much, but we still enjoyed listening to them. Rumble, crackle, skips, hiss, and tapes getting eaten were just a normal part of the music listening experience.

Or so I thought.

Compact Disc players were released in the U.S. in early 1983. My family bought a CD player four years later in 1987. I remember some of the first CDs we owned were Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road by The Beatles, Endless Summer by The Beach Boys, Private Dancer by Tina Turner, White Christmas by Bing Crosby, and a Harry Nilsson greatest hits album.

My parents owned a nice stereo system and we were impressed with how good our CDs sounded. We were able to hear every instrument more clearly than ever before. The drums were more powerful, the bass was deeper, the vocals were richer, the guitars were crisper, and the stereo separation was more distinct. The crackle, pops, and hiss that had previously masked the music were gone. Finally, the perfect audio format! How was this possible?

I began buying my own CDs as a teenager in 1992. I started off with a few “Weird Al” Yankovic albums, followed by Nirvana, The Beatles, Belly, and The Cranberries. By now, I was used to the clean, powerful sound of CDs and hated dealing with cassette tapes. A few years later, my CD collection had grown to include albums by Matthew Sweet, the Meat Puppets, Primus, Samantha Fox, and The Breeders. I bought dozens of CDs in 1993 and 1994 and they all sounded great.

In 1995, I started to notice that the new CDs I was buying didn’t sound quite as clear as my older ones. I figured it was a new trend in music production. Maybe the Phil Spector “wall of sound” was making a comeback. I didn’t like it, but it wasn’t enough to bother me.

In early 1998, I bought Tanya Donelly’s solo album Lovesongs for Underdogs after finding out about it on the internet. I listened to it a few times in my headphones and I liked the songs, but again, I noticed the sound quality wasn’t as clear as my older CDs. The bass and guitars often lacked definition. The drums had too much reverb. Why were the engineers behind the mixing desk doing this? I thought they used professional, high quality monitors. Couldn’t they hear the mush they were creating? Why was this production trend continuing and why was nobody else noticing? Was it just me?

As alternative rock music died out in the late 1990s and rap and hip hop became mainstream, I bought fewer new CDs. The only artists I continued to support were “Weird Al” Yankovic, Juliana Hatfield, Tanya Donelly, Paul McCartney, and The Cranberries, but I was more and more disappointed with the sound quality of each new release. Weird Al’s albums prior to 1999 sound fantastic on CD, especially the ones from the 1980s, but all of his albums since 1999 sound bad. Why?

I remember buying Running with Scissors when it was released in 1999. As I listened to “The Saga Begins” for the first time, I was surprised to hear that Al’s vocal was constantly distorting. It definitely wasn’t supposed to. I ejected the CD and checked the bottom for dust and scratches, but there were none. I played the song again and heard the same distorted, crackly vocal. I couldn’t believe it. Why was this happening and why did Al release the album like that? Didn’t anyone in the recording studio hear the distortion?

I ejected the CD again and played an older one, just to see if my stereo system was malfunctioning. It wasn’t. The older CD sounded fine.

I noticed the same thing with the other new CDs I bought, too. It didn’t make sense.

Eventually, I figured out that for some reason, the music on new CDs was being heavily compressed…so much that it was destroying the sound quality. This wasn’t just being done to rock CDs, but to pop and jazz CDs, too. CDs used to sound amazing, but now they were sounding almost as bad as my old tapes and records!

In 2006, I searched the internet to see what was going on with all of these new, horrible sounding CDs and found articles about the loudness war. I was right: new music was being over-compressed to make it sound louder. Supposedly, record executives want their label’s CDs to sound louder than everyone else’s. The result is that the executives at every record label are constantly trying to outdo each other’s loudness. It’s an audio arms race and if it continues, all music will sound like distorted, nondescript garbage.

I’ve provided some examples to illustrate how the over-compression and hard limiting present in modern music actually destroys its sound quality:

“Oh, the Guilt” by Nirvana (1993 vs. 2004)

When I listen to “Oh, the Guilt” from the 1993 Nirvana CD single The Jesus Lizard and Nirvana, it sounds perfect. The instruments are powerful and punchy and the tone is balanced. When I listen to the remastered version of “Oh, the Guilt” from the 2004 Nirvana boxed set With the Lights Out, it sounds mushy. The guitars aren’t as clear, the drums aren’t as strong, and the song isn’t as dynamic. What was supposed to be a superior digital remaster in 2004 ended up sounding worse than the old version from 1993. Look at the waveforms:

Nirvana “Oh, the Guilt” waveforms – click to enlarge

The black waveform is the remastered version from With the Lights Out (2004). The green and red waveform is the original version from Nirvana’s CD single (1993). As you can see, the version from With the Lights Out is missing 5.5 dB of dynamic range present in the original. All of the peaks have been flattened and the song has been ruined, just for the sake of making it seem louder.

“Curmudgeon” by Nirvana (1992 vs. 2004)

Another example is Nirvana’s song “Curmudgeon.” The original version from the “Lithium” CD single (1992) sounds superior to the remastered version from With the Lights Out (2004). Look at the waveforms:

Nirvana “Curmudgeon” waveforms – click to enlarge

The black waveform is the remastered version from With the Lights Out (2004). The green and red waveform is the original version from the “Lithium” single (1992). Again, the remastered version has been heavily compressed and is missing 7.8 dB of dynamic range compared to the original.

I’ve created a high-quality MP3 file comparing the two versions, so you can hear the difference for yourself:

Listen:

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Download:
44 second MP3 file – 1.8 MB (right-click to save)

In the 1992 version, the guitars, snare drum, bass drum, and cymbals sound crisp, clear, and powerful, as they should. In the 2004 remastered version, the guitars and cymbals have become a wash of background noise and the snare drum is barely audible. Listen to my comparison MP3 file a few times and you’ll hear what I mean. Pay attention to the snare drum, in particular. Where does it go?

I’ve also created a video comparing the two waveforms and VU meter readings:

YouTube – Curmudgeon by Nirvana (1992 vs. 2004)

By watching the VU meter in the bottom right corner, you can actually see that the original version (1992) has more energy and dynamics than the remastered version (2004), which is flat and lifeless.

What was once a powerful hard rock song is now a mushy, nondescript mess.

“Reward” by The Meat Puppets (1987 vs. 1999)

My last example is “Reward” by The Meat Puppets. It’s the first song on their first album, Meat Puppets. Look at the waveforms:

Meat Puppets “Reward” waveforms – click to enlarge

The black waveform is from the remastered Meat Puppets CD released in 1999. The green and red waveform is from the original Meat Puppets CD released in 1987. The songs on this album weren’t as heavily compressed as the Nirvana songs on With the Lights Out, but there is still a 4.3 dB reduction in dynamic range, which is noticeable. Again, the re-released CD was supposed to be a superior digital remaster. What happened?

The whole reason record executives want their label’s music to be compressed is to make it sound louder and more powerful, but compressing the music to this extent actually has the opposite effect! It makes the music sound less powerful because the attacks of the instruments and vocals have been severely limited and, in many cases, clipped and distorted.

From what I understand, vinyl records and cassette tapes can realistically handle up to around 60 dB of dynamic range. When mastered properly, they sound good. By comparison, audio CDs can realistically handle up to around 90 dB of dynamic range. That’s a 50 percent improvement and when mastered properly, they sound amazing. Yet, record executives continue to release improperly mastered CDs with less dynamic range than old records and tapes. What good is releasing the world’s loudest pop or rock CD if it sounds like distorted garbage?

Fortunately in 2007, engineer/producer Charles Dye, musician John Ralston, and recording studio owner Allen Wagner have created www.turnmeup.org, a non-profit music industry organization working to give artists the choice to release more dynamic recordings.

Albums that meet Turn Me Up!’s dynamic range standards bear a label that states:

“To preserve the excitement, emotion, and dynamics of the original performances, this record is intentionally quieter than some. For full enjoyment, simply Turn Me Up!”

As a musician, music lover, and audio enthusiast, I fully support this movement and really hope it catches on soon. I might be more inclined to buy new CDs if the music on them actually sounded musical. If it means having to raise the volume on my stereo, then so be it. Since when was that ever a problem anyway?

For more examples of the loudness war, watch these excellent videos:

YouTube – The Loudness War

YouTube – Massive Attack waveform comparison

YouTube – Death Magnetic by Metallica, compressed CD vs. uncompressed Guitar Hero III waveform comparison

YouTube – Iron Maiden 1980-2006 waveform comparison

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