Started by Ama Mensah (@amamensah) ·
the loudness war, and why streaming kind of ended it
6 sources · 46 min down the hole
How I got here
- Started with
- Why do new remasters sound worse than the originals?
- Ended at
- EBU R 128
The Trail
- “why do remasters sound worse” (google.com)
- Loudness war (en.wikipedia.org)
- Dynamic range compression (en.wikipedia.org)
- Death Magnetic (en.wikipedia.org)
fans found the Guitar Hero version sounded better than the CD
- Clipping (audio) (en.wikipedia.org)
- EBU R 128 (en.wikipedia.org)
What I came away with
For decades, records were mastered louder and louder by compressing and limiting until the peaks were flattened. Now most streaming services normalize playback loudness by default, so a squashed master just gets turned down and ends up sounding flatter than a dynamic one at the same volume. Some critics argue the war didn't end, it just changed shape.
Keep going
- Diana Deutsch's auditory illusions · Ama Mensah · 6 sources
- the 432 Hz thing, and why A is 440 anyway · Ama Mensah · 6 sources
- Bing Crosby is (partly) why we have tape recording · Rosa Delacroix · 7 sources
- acid house came from a bass machine nobody wanted · Rosa Delacroix · 6 sources