The Loudness War: Background, Speculation, and Recommendations

Vickers E. The Loudness War: Background, Speculation, and Recommendations. In: AES Convention 129. Audio Engineering Society; 2010. Paper 8175. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=15598

@inproceedings{Vickers2010_15598,
  author = {Vickers, Earl},
  title = {{The Loudness War: Background, Speculation, and Recommendations}},
  booktitle = {AES Convention 129},
  note = {Paper 8175},
  year = {2010},
  month = nov,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=15598}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - The Loudness War: Background, Speculation, and Recommendations
AU  - Vickers, Earl
T2  - AES Convention 129
M1  - Paper 8175
PY  - 2010
DA  - 2010/11/06
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=15598
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - There is growing concern that the quality of commercially distributed music is deteriorating as a result of mixing and mastering practices used in the so-called "loudness war." Due to the belief that "louder is better," dynamics compression is used to squeeze more and more loudness into the recordings. This paper reviews the history of the loudness war and explores some of its possible consequences, including aesthetic concerns and listening fatigue. Next, the loudness war is analyzed in terms of game theory. Evidence is presented to question the assumption that loudness is significantly correlated to listener preference and sales rankings. The paper concludes with practical recommendations for de-escalating the loudness war.
ER  -