[Harp-L] Article about TOO LOUD MUSIC......

[IcemanLE@xxxxxxx]

LOSS OF EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT WITH  MUSIC


One thing that has not been mentioned is that in the last 10 years there  
has been a seismic shift in the sonics of music. Parallelling the decline of 
the  music industry has been an increase in the loudness of records. By 
loudness I am  talking about the increase in rms (average) volume of a disc in 
comparison to  peak volume. The difference between the two is the dynamic 
range. The smaller  the difference, the louder a disk will sound when compared 
with a disk with more  dynamic range. The music industry thinks this will 
make a record stand out when  on a playlist or in a CD changer.

Up to about 1996, dynamic range was almost always 12 dB or more.  Between 
'92-'99, isolated releases began reducing their dynamic range in an  attempt 
to sound louder. Starting in 1999, this isolated trend became  generalized. 
Today, we see major releases with a dynamic range of 2 dB  (Metallica). 
Virtually no major release today has more than 6 dB of range. And  just like 
listening to a monotone speaker is dull because no emotion or sense of  
dynamism can be transmitted without fluctuations in volume, so too music has  
become increasingly boring and unengaging. I am not talking about the type of  
music or the quality of the music itself, but the type and quality of the 
sound.  Musical qualities are things like lyrical content, chord structures, 
beats etc.  Sound qualities are things like volume, dynamic range, distortion, 
etc. So I am  not saying that the music is worse or somehow less creative 
than it was 10 years  ago, only that the sound quality is worse.

It's not that people are listening to less mainstream music, it's that  
they are listening to less music period. And those that do listen to music,  do 
not listen to it with the same degree of attention or emotional 
involvement.  Music has lost it's passionate followers, and become sonic wallpaper to  
most. And I think part of this is because the music released today contains  
little to no dynamic range, and has digitally induced distortion and 
clipping  from the process of dynamic compression.


To my knowledge, the music industry has not acknowledged the lessening of  
people's emotional engagement with music, nor have they sought to find an 
answer  to it. And without being able to captivate and emotionally involve 
their  listeners, their customers won't buy their products. - Fritz  Gerlich

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