The Loudness War

Editorial

The loudness war is the term given to "the music industry's tendency to record, produce, and broadcast music at progressively increasing levels of loudness to attempt to create a sound that stands out from others".

The following articles explain it better than I could:

Over the Limit

Imperfect Sound Forever

Because of the nature of digital recording, the CDs can only be made louder to a certain point. After that the music producer must rely on "dynamic range compression", which makes the quiet parts of a recording as loud as the loudest part. This video demonstrates the technique:

Loudness War Demonstration

The overuse of this technique started in the 90s, with big-name albums such as Oasis' "(What's the Story) Morning Glory" and Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Californication", although it has persisted through to today, with the recent Metallica album causing a stir (this time for the production, not the music itself).

A CD that has been overcompressed has no dynamics, and dynamics are what make music so great, so while it sounds alright when you first press play, it soon becomes a neverending wave of noise. It can also give you headaches and, in some people, nausea.

One of the problems is that at first it's hard to notice when something's been overcompressed this way. Most modern music already is, and unless you know how to spot it, you can easily miss it. It's only once you know that you begin to realise how much music is produced this way, and how irritating it is to hear. Unwary listeners often dismiss the physical effects as being unrelated, not realising the music they're listening to is giving them a migraine.