(From the Longing for Orpheus MySpace blog – Originally posted February 21, 2006)
Louder is better.
Rather, we percieve a louder sound to be a better sound. Specifically, MUSIC sounds better (more clear, precise, etc.) when its louder, even if the difference in loudness is small. That’s just the way humans are wired – research psychoacoustics if you’re curious. This principle ties into the greater purpose of this blog, but it’s an independently useful factoid:
* When you’re shopping for a new stereo, boombox, headphones, or anything else where you’re comparing sound quality, make sure you compare them at the same volume. It would be quite easy for a saleperson to sell you on a more expensive unit by turning it up ever so slightly; I suspect some of them just might know this.
* Don’t press that bass boost button! Most listening devices, even CD walkmans it seems, offer some form of EQ control (”bass boost” is just marketing-speak for an EQ that only effects the bass range). When you turn up the treble or bass on your stereo, you’re just increasing the volume of the high or low part of the overall sound – and, incidentally, adding a bit of distortion, though its probably not noticable. Since you’re turning up the volume, its probably going to sound better. So, as a general rule, try turning up your overall volume before tweaking your EQ – it may do a better job. Then, if you still prefer you’re EQed version, I give you permission to change it back 
On to the main subject – The Loudness Wars. No, I’m not making that up.
The recording industry is quite aware of the fact that louder sounds better. Now, the record labels couldn’t just ask the radio stations to play songs by their artists louder than everyone else’s – well, they could, and perhaps they did, but people get so fussy when they’re overtly manipulated. So, the big labels found another way to increase the apparent loudness of their artists’ songs – compression. A compressor is an audio processing device that narrows the dynamic range of whatever sound is put through it. That is to say, it makes the difference between the loudest and softest parts of a song smaller.
A website that I’ll link to at the end of this blog (and which you should read if you want a more thorough telling of this story) says that the average difference between the average loudness and the loudest sounds in a live performance is around 20 decibels (db). That site claims the average difference on a modern CD is only 10db. I’ve encountered claims elsewhere of even smaller ranges, such 4-6db. The very short version of what this means, is that you’re losing a lot of clarity in your music. This isn’t some remote threat to sound quality – this is the reality of every song you hear on the radio, and every CD you buy from a major label. It also causes hearing fatigue.
Again, I’m using long-winded rambling to promote independent artists – we don’t have to squash our dynamic range. There’s no pressure from record label executives. This means that independent music frequently isn’t as loud as big-label music. When you compare an indie CD and a commercial CD with player set at the same volume, the commercial release is going to sound louder, and that means it’s going to sound better. Beware of the audio illusion. Try turning up the volume of the independent release to match the loudness of the commercial release. Welcome to dynamic contrast.
The same thing goes for commercial CDs from the 80’s – they may sound worse at first, simply because they weren’t compressed to modern loudness standards.
Here, as I mentioned, is a more thorough explanation of the loudness wars:
http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/loudness.htm
There’s plenty of discussion about the loudness wars out there, but you may not have known about them before. Now that you do, spread the knowledge.
Also, if you get the pun reference in the title, um…I like you.
