The Loudness War and How Radio Killed Music
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- čas přidán 13. 09. 2024
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01:22 The Loudest songs ever Released
02:12 Accoustics and How We Hear Music
02:43 Why is modern music so Loud?
03:32 The Effects of the Loudness War
04:50 Using the VU meter to measure Loudness
06:10 The Crest Factor
06:54 The BEST Digital Recording technique in your DAW
07:40 The LUFS meter
08:22 Pro Mixing and Mastering Levels - Spotify and DJ releases
10:03 Health risks of loud sounds
11:20 Conclusion - Moving away from Loudness
Meters used in this video:
VUMT - Klanghelm: klanghelm.com/...
Youlean Loudness Meter 2 (FREE): youlean.co/you...
FabFilter Pro-L 2: www.fabfilter....
What is Loudness?
Radio engineers have been in a never-ending pursuit of loudness, driven by the competition for number one on the airwaves. They use various equipment to make audio recordings as loud as possible, from compressors to limiters to equalizers. The goal is to make their music stand out among the sea of songs vying for airtime. However, this pursuit of loudness has led to a problem. Music has become so compressed and distorted that it loses its dynamics, resulting in a fatiguing listening experience. Despite this, the music industry continues to push for loudness, emulating the sound of radio. This pursuit is centred around technological advancement and competition, with engineers always striving to make their music the loudest and most attention-grabbing.
Measuring Loudness - VU Meters
Magnetic tape and digital media are limited in the range of signal levels they can handle before introducing distortion. In the analog world, radio engineers use a Volume Unit meter (VU) to measure the voltage of audio levels which are displayed in dBm. The zero that appears on the right side of the meter references 0dBm, the point where the audio signal measures 1 milliwatt. This is the point that audio starts to distort when using analog gear, and the distortion appears gradually above 0dBm, intensifying until clipping occurs. Going above 0dBm is a common practice in analog studios where distortion is created by overdriving the equipment and tape. This can add pleasing harmonic tones during recording and is emulated today with many saturation plugins.
The VU meter can’t display peak levels like modern digital meters. This means that while the meter reads 0dBm, the audio signal could be peaking much higher, resulting in clipping, distortion, and saturation. Despite these limitations, the VU meter is still very useful for measuring average levels and preventing signal overloading during mixing.
One commonly used criterion to describe the dynamic behavior of a recorded music piece is the ‘crest’ factor, for instance. The crest factor can be defined as the difference between the RMS level and the peak level throughout the song. It measures the amplitude of the emerging ‘peaks’ in the audio stream, intuitively. More compression generally results in a lower crest factor, making it a good marker of the amount of dynamic compression applied to the music. Good handling of the crest factor is considered by some professionals as the cornerstone of successful mastering. The music tends to be louder when the crest factor is lower, generally speaking.
Loudness in the Digital Age - RMS and LUFS Meters
An audio signal is perfect in digital recording until you reach 0dBfs, where unwanted clipping occurs that can ruin the audio signal completely. For this reason, a peak-indicating meter is still necessary to measure the maximum fluctuations of a waveform during recording and mixing to avoid clipping. Set the level on the armed track so the incoming audio peaks at -12dB, leaving lots of headroom for effects processing and balancing. Later, an RMS meter can be added to the master bus to monitor average levels during mixing and mastering. Remember: these meters are a visual guide and any mix decisions should be made with your ears first!
The tools we use evolve as the music we create continues to evolve. A new meter called the LUFS meter has gained popularity in recent years, especially in the realm of radio broadcasting. The music industry has adopted the LUFS meter for mastering, with some engineers have made the switch to it exclusively. Others have continued to use an RMS style meter. Either meter is acceptable because it’s not the tools we use that makes great music, it’s how we use them. While it’s tempting to focus solely on loudness, it’s important to remember that a balanced and enjoyable listening experience should be the ultimate goal. - Hudba
Excellent presentation, thank you.
This approach started with Phil Spector and the 'wall of sound' in the late 1950s, early 1960s.
It was an interesting diversion, not the norm like it is today.
Bill P.
Thanks Bill! I’m happy you enjoyed it! Yeah Phil Spector was going more for an effect than the universal loudness . I really appreciate what he was going for. That was some amazing production!
Thanks for this, as a noob/hobbyist musician the explicit values are a welcome guideline. Of course I have no idea yet where I'll end up settling on the "loudness scale" but my a priori intention is to mix and master resolutely oldschool: using reference tracks and the level meters to set a *maximum* volume level that won't grate if my work is heard between other peoples' songs, and will match the other tracks on an album... yup, I'm aiming to primarily create cohesive albums, and invite the listener to find a volume setting that works at track one and let the rest of the music unfold for effect, not be forever in their face. I see the obsession with the *sick drop* as symptomatic of a listening public starved of quiet bits.
I think music is more interesting when you have to sometimes pay attention to the piano, rather than just let the forte wash over you all the time. But I know I won't be successful in selling any of this, even if I become proficient at doing it well ;)
Thanks for supporting the channel and I hope you’re able to put some of the info to use!
Nice summary!
You're wrong about one thing though... It's not a "competition to be the loudest" ... it's fear of not being as loud as the ones you compare your music / masters to.
Imagine that...! FEAR that people will ignore the music just because they might have to turn up the volume (after having had to turn it DOWN from the silly loud ones).
I guess people don't believe in the message (songs) and think that "shouting and yelling" it will make us love 'em ;)
Thanks for watching! I remember music from before loudness got out of hand and never once complained about a song being quieter than another. We were listening to albums more and streaming didn’t exist, so it’s also a byproduct of the way we listen to music now.
Ultimately, I publish and release music at the level I feel conveys the energy and feeling I’m trying to convey… and let the chips fall where they may!
@@ElectronicMusicTips Aha, I'm not born yesterday either 😅 We would indeed put on an vinyl record or a CD and set the volume when the music started (and adjust whenever we felt like it).
It might have been CD players were you could put in more than 1 CD and then hit shuffle / random mode that might have triggered that fear in some. But radio played / plays a big part as well. How backward that logic is though.
But the "loudness war" has pretty much always existed as such. Record labels wanted to have the loudest vinyl and be loudest on the radio back in the day... i.e. Motown.
So I think I disagree with you that it's "a byproduct of the way we listen to music now", by which I assume you mean more playlist (random) focused playing on streaming platforms.
But I think that the fact that streaming services loudness normalise playback (for listeners) has actually helped to "scale down" some of the extremeness of the loudness war of the past decades. And that's a good thing... it gives us more freedom and some of that "compete" BS pressure is (at least partly) neutralised.
And I agree with you on the approach!
As a mastering engineer my goal is to find what I feel is the best / optimal loudness sweet spot for any given song that I work on. Because there is a sweetspot where everything feels right. In terms of energy and dynamic, frequency balance. Obviously a songs arrangement and mix always plays a big part in how easy (or not) it is to achieve that balance / sweetspot.
louder is not always better. -10 to 14 lfs i think is good.
Definitely! Especially for streaming.