[sramsay]

Ian Shepherd -- mentioned in the article as the founder of "Dynamic Range Day" -- is one of the great warriors in this battle. He's an extremely knowledgeable mastering engineer (among the darker arts in audio), and has really done a lot to help turn the tide on massively over-compressed audio.

But I came here, actually, to put in a plug for a plug(in). He worked with some folks to create a VST called "Loundness Penalty." You throw that on your master channel, and it will tell you what the various streaming services will do to your audio (for example, by how many dB Spotify, Apple Music, You Tube, and so forth will turn your audio up or down based on the integrated LUFS reading).

Even more impressive is a plugin he worked on called "Perception" that can avoid the inevitable psychoacoustic bias (to which we are all naturally subject) of thinking that because this track with this effect chain is louder than without it (or with another effect chain) it must be "better."

These are commercial products, available from an outfit called MeterPlugs (https://www.meterplugs.com/).

I should say that I've never met Ian, and have no connection to this company. I do work with audio in a professional context, however.

I should also say that I really think the tide is finally turning on all of this. I don't know that the "loudness wars" are absolutely in the rear-view mirror, but I think there's a lot more awareness of the issue. And I also think that fly-by-night mastering engineers who proceed to crush the hell out of your tracks with limiters and whatnot don't get as many repeat customers as they once did. And there's better metering in general for getting a track to have proper dynamics without having the listener feel the constant need to turn the volume up and down.

[winternett]

I run a recording label that publishes Drum&Bass music (RuffAndTuffRecordings.Com), (Drum & Bass music currently is known as one of the loudest engineered music genres put out on the block right now). I went the other way in terms of our releases... Our music is only as loud as it needs to be. If a listener wants it louder, they can simply turn up the volume.

Going to nights where these super-compressed tracks are often played at unimaginable volume levels, You must wear ear plugs, otherwise you're guaranteed to go deaf.

When music is compressed, dynamic range is lost, and the actual elements in each track like bass and ambient sounds are limited in how they can create a mood in a track. These loud tracks are impressive in terms of grabbing attention, but over time they create fatigue for listeners, and people tend to not want to listen to additional music after a few loud tracks.

There is a high price to pay for continuing down the path of loudness with music.

The main driver for ending the race in music should be doing whats right, music should have dynamic range as the main focal points of audio engineering. Until that gets sorted out, bring your ear plugs.

[sramsay]

I think your point about "listener fatigue" is important, because that's a big part of this. It's not just about the way a squashed track won't sound as good or as interesting (though it won't, of course).

And yeah, that's a famously "loud" genre. What drives me insane is going to, say, a mostly acoustic live show and having the person behind the desk mix it as if it's Drum & Bass. I never ever go to a show without earplugs, because you just never know.

[machello13]

> it will tell you what the various streaming services will do to your audio (for example, by how many dB Spotify, Apple Music, You Tube, and so forth will turn your audio up or down based on the integrated LUFS reading).

is there a summary anywhere of which services are better and worse in this department?

[sramsay]

Check out the manual for Loudness Penalty. It has a table that says what the different services do.

So, for example, Spotify enables normalization by default, they target -14 LUFS, use limiters, normalize both tracks and albums, and will turn up quiet tracks. Amazon, by contrast, does not use limiters, does not turn quiet tracks up, only normalizes at the track level, and so forth . . .