With streaming platforms adopting volume normalization, it would seem logical to think the loudness war is becoming obsolete. Platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube now automatically adjust playback volume to provide a more consistent listening experience. This practice reduces the need for over-compression to achieve louder audio levels since every track is played back at a similar volume. Yet, despite these technological advancements, the loudness war remains very much alive, especially in major label releases.
The Persistence of Over-Compression
Many modern releases still suffer from over-compression, resulting in music with clipping, distortion, and limited dynamic range. Tracks with waveforms that resemble sausages—completely squashed dynamics—are all too common. The goal seems to be maximizing loudness, despite the trade-off being reduced clarity and sonic depth.
For example, Metallica's latest albums have been heavily criticized for their aggressive compression. The dynamic range, which is a key element of a track’s sonic energy, was limited to the point of absurdity. One recent Metallica album reportedly averaged 5 dB of dynamic range, with some parts pushing as low as 2-3 dB. To put this in perspective, Edison phonographs from the 1800s had more dynamic range capability than some modern major label releases. This extreme compression leads to fatiguing listening experiences, where there’s no contrast between loud and soft sections of a track, resulting in a flat and lifeless sound.
Mastering Engineers and Compression Pressures
It’s important to understand the position of mastering engineers in this situation. These professionals are often given mixes that are already extremely loud, and they face pressure from labels to push the loudness even further. Some mastering engineers have privately admitted they are not proud of the overly compressed tracks they work on, but they are bound by the directives of the labels. This reveals a disconnect between the people who care about music’s sonic quality and the business side of the industry, which prioritizes commercial concerns over audio fidelity.
Will Streaming Change the Game?
As streaming normalization becomes more standard, there’s hope that this will shift the industry’s focus back to dynamics and sonic richness. If all tracks are normalized to play at the same loudness level, there’s less incentive to crush a track’s dynamics in the pursuit of loudness.
Streaming platforms, such as Spotify, normalize tracks to about -14 LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale), a far cry from the -6 LUFS or lower often found in heavily compressed modern music. Theoretically, this should encourage more dynamic mastering since excessive compression no longer provides a competitive loudness advantage.
However, it's unclear whether major labels will fully embrace this shift. The industry has long held the belief that louder tracks sound better, particularly in environments like car speakers, and they may continue to push compression to appeal to certain listening scenarios. Until the financial motivation for over-compression disappears, it's likely that some labels will persist with this approach.
The Major Labels' Short-Sightedness
The loudness war is, at its core, about money. Major labels have historically viewed loudness as a proxy for quality, believing that it makes tracks more appealing to the masses. However, as volume normalization becomes the norm, this approach may ultimately backfire. Many legacy artists still dominate the revenue streams for major labels, but the future of new releases that rely on heavy compression remains uncertain. Will these over-compressed tracks hold up over time, or will they be seen as artifacts of a short-sighted business model?
As music listeners demand more authenticity and quality from their music, labels that continue to squash dynamics may find themselves losing relevance in the long run. Whether the loudness war will end completely remains to be seen, but the hope is that streaming platforms and listener preferences will steer the industry toward more dynamic and well-mastered music.
Conclusion
While advances in streaming technology and volume normalization offer hope that the loudness war will eventually fade, the reality is that it still persists, particularly in major label releases. The drive for perceived loudness has resulted in heavily compressed tracks that compromise sonic quality. Only time will tell if the industry will fully embrace more dynamic and nuanced production techniques, but for now, the battle rages on.
I’ve been allowing my tracks more breathing room. Eventually it will fall out of favour in the mainstream...I hope.
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