Loudness War: Difference between revisions
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This is the main reason why people say vinyl records are "higher quality" (besides personal taste reasons such as the crackle and hum of records). The inherent quality of CDs is far better than records, but since "records are for audiophiles", there is far less incentive for audio engineers to trade-off quality for loudness on records. Additionally, vinyls have a smaller dynamic range, and any attempt to pull loudness war stunts on them will usually just throw off the needle or make them unplayable.<ref>The album pictured above, 1997's remaster of ''[[The Stooges|Raw Power]]'', would be impossible to put on an LP</ref> The [[Irony]] in all this is that digital formats like the CD finally made it possible to make audio as ''quiet'' as you wanted without any analog hiss obscuring it, but with a lot of equipment out there accommodating the audio levels of the War, exploiting this quality will often make things simply too quiet to hear.
For further information, [https://web.archive.org/web/20060612221324/http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/weekly_article/imperfect-sound-forever.htm Imperfect Sound Forever] is required reading. [http://www.austin360.com/music/content/music/stories/xl/2006/09/28cover.html More] [http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jan/10/digitalmusic information] [https://web.archive.org/web/20071014231310/http://spectrum.ieee.org/print/5429 is] [https://web.archive.org/web/20080708214538/http://www.mindspring.com/~mrichter/dynamics/dynamics.htm available] [http://mastering-media.blogspot.com/ online], including [http://www.justiceforaudio.org/2008/09/metallica-albums-re-mastered-for-2008-exciting-sound/ these] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ two] videos that do a great job of providing abbreviated explanations. There's also a [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?s=bd35efbff5babeb883c6961def275418&showtopic=27691 20-page forum thread] dedicated to poorly mastered albums for examples. [http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep11/articles/loudness.htm See also this], to show things are more complicated than they seem. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080420145034/http://www.loudness-war.info/ This] website allows you to use offline software to measure the dynamic range of a CD, express it as a number and add it to its ever-growing database.
There are algorithms that can be used to repair clipped audio to a certain extent; none of them are perfect, but they will generally produce end results that sound better than the commercially released versions with clipping. More info on one of them is available [http://fools-gold.org/forum/showthread.php?p=1574535#post1574535 here].
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** This is often cited as an example of an [[Artistic License|artistic]] use of the phenomenon, as Iggy Pop has been cited as saying he wanted to "recreate the feel of an old, worn-out vinyl". Given the overwhelming amount of crackling, distorted midrange on the disc, it's easy to say this goal was at least somewhat accomplished.
** There is hope, however: Sony released the "Master Edition" in April 2010 with the original [[David Bowie]] mix reinstated and slightly beefed-up to fix some of the valid criticisms of his original mix (inaudible bass and the like). It just might be the first step towards reversing the trend in general.
** Even better was the 2012 Kevin Gray remaster of Iggy's mix, which was released as a vinyl edition for Record Store Day (along with another remaster of Bowie's mix). This completely cut out the clipping and other problems that plagued Iggy's mix while keeping the improvements over Bowie's original mix (beefed up guitars, better midrange and bass presence, etc.). This has been getting lots of praise even on the notoriously hard-to-please [http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/archive/index.php/t-202880-p-14.html Steve Hoffman forums]{{Dead link}}. The general consensus seems to be that the album has finally gotten the mix it deserves.
* Strapping Young Lad [[Invoked Trope|invokes]] this for the sole purpose of of creating a [[Up to Eleven|gigantic and unrelenting wall of sound]]. It's unpleasant, [[Stylistic Suck|but that's]] [[True Art Is Angsty|the point.]]
** The same applies to many acts on Ed Banger Records, like [[Justice (band)|Justice]], SebastiAn and to an extent [[Uffie]], who use [http://i43.tinypic.com/xprhvn.png absurd amounts of compression] to create a signature sound.
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** This actually started before ''Californication''. I just listened to ''One Hot Minute'' for the first time in awhile and it could have been called ''[[Incredibly Lame Pun|One Hot Master]]'' - it's really compressed as well, although not as badly as the commercially released mix of ''Californication'' was. Looking at the waveform bears this out; it's almost a solid brick wall except for a couple of acoustic tracks. Is anyone surprised that this was a Rick Rubin production?
* [[Manic Street Preachers]] releases (albums and compilations) since ''Know Your Enemy''. The worst offender is the second CD of ''The Holy Bible (10th Anniversary Edition)'' which is remastered so badly that it practically has no dynamics, and you can hear the noises caused by clipping. Also, quieter sections (such as the quotes before songs) seem to be mastered much quieter than rest of the songs themselves, which means that if you are listening to this for the first time and don't realise it, prepare to be shocked. Forever Delayed, Lipstick Traces and the remaster of Everything Must Go also have this, but it's not as bad. For the latter it almost suits the album, for instance on A Design For Life.
* Hypocrisy's album ''Virus'' has a total album gain of -14.09 dB, and one of the songs looks like [https://web.archive.org/web/20130929110049/http://www.devir.de/temp/hypocrisy.png this]. Fucking hell.
* [[Metallica]]'s newest album ''Death Magnetic'' is so distorted and clipped that even mastering engineer Ted Jensen has criticized it, adding that he couldn't do anything since the preliminary mixes came in already "brick-walled". Interestingly, the version made for ''[[Guitar Hero]] 3'' was based on a "rough mix" that features far more range, and those tracks have been subsequently ripped and distributed via peer-to-peer services. To sum up: Metallica, the anti-Napster poster boys, now have an album that can only be truly appreciated via piracy, and a video game featuring a guitar with 5 buttons on the fret-board is the best way to enjoy an album... the irony boggles the mind.
** However, said Ted Jensen has brickwalled a few more albums than just this one. Which just goes to show how badly ''Death Magnetic'' was screwed up if [[Everyone Has Standards|even he complains]] about it being too brickwalled.
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** These also contain extended quiet passages, so that the brick-walled bits hit you EVEN HARDER.
*** Every single Mars Volta album contains some degree of clipping, although ''Octahedron'' is significantly less clipped than the rest. Then again it's supposed to be their "acoustic" album (although, true to form, it's not entirely acoustic). However, ''Nocutourniquet'' is bad enough that even the mastering engineer has [https://twitter.com/#!/hebakadryy/status/185105490387275777 disowned it], indicating that she was forced to master it that way by either the label or someone in the band. At least some of the vinyl editions, contrary to popular belief (including the previous form of this very entry), are also clipped.
* Pop music is not immune to this either. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20080708214538/http://www.mindspring.com/~mrichter/dynamics/dynamics.htm Heart in Motion]'' by Amy Grant and ''Stripped'' by Christina Aguilera are the most commonly cited examples. Brandy's Full Moon has also been [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?s=bd35efbff5babeb883c6961def275418&showtopic=27691 singled out].
* [[Paul McCartney]]'s ''Memory Almost Full'', to the point where McCartney was motivated to act on it. See Aversions.
* [[Depeche Mode]]'s album ''Playing the Angel''. [http://img411.imageshack.us/my.php?image=depecheprecious0032kk.jpg This is just one track.] [http://brianstagg.co.uk/p_t_a_clipressed/ And side by side with previous releases].
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** Ditto Japanese zeuhl band Koenji Hyakkei, which apart from the compression are pretty much the closest thing to Magma apart from Magma's side projects. But that still hasn't saved their albums, or at least the U.S. versions of their albums (there are previously released Japanese versions that are incredibly hard to find that may avert this trope), from being noticeably clipped.
* Pixie Lott. For example, listen to "Boys And Girls", which painfully blares in your ears from beginning to end. Also [[Lampshaded]] with the album titled ''Turn It Up Louder''.
* Blackguard's major-label debut, ''Profugus Mortis'', was pretty badly compressed (to nobody's surprise in particular). But the follow-up, ''Firefight'', has ''extremely'' conspicuous compression ''and'' clipping. [http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16081358/Blackguard-Farewell.png The parts that clip are in red.]{{Dead link}}
* Animals As Leaders' [[Self-Titled Album]]. The drums are mixed ''loud'', and they'll clip even during the passages with clean guitars. Turn on the distortion, and you get a ''sea'' of red. Looking at heavier songs like "CAFO" in Audacity is quite jarring.
** Bad mastering must be a trend in djent (then again, a lot of djent is self-produced), because [[Periphery]]'s [[Self-Titled Album|self-titled debut long-play record]] has the same (and extremely audible) clipping issues. The part where the whole band comes in at once in "Ow My Feelings" (or, rather, [[Incredibly Lame Pun|"Ow My Ears"]],) looks like [http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16081358/Ow%20My%20Feelings.png this]{{Dead link}} in Audacity. It gets worse- "Buttersnips" managed to do [http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16081358/Buttersnips.png this]{{Dead link}} ''without any bass guitar''. The flat parts are clipping. [[What the Hell, Hero?|What the hell, Bulb?]]
* ''Rise Of The Tyrant'' by Arch Enemy. [http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16081358/In%20This%20Shallow%20Grave.png This]{{Dead link}} is the waveform (clipping in red)- ''a song should never, EVER look like that'' unless it's noise. Maybe.
** Surprisingly, their 2003 album ''Anthems of Rebellion'' averted this trope somewhat, a daring move for the time (let alone now).
* [[ZZ Top]]'s ''Mescalero''.
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* Noisia's ''Split the Atom'', or shall we say "Split The Eardrum", has its dynamics almost completely obliterated, averaging about -3 DBFS.
* Killing Joke's latest single, ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=497TdtnoQu8 Endgame]''.
* The 20th anniversary remaster of [[Nirvana]]'s ''Nevermind'' is the ultimate disgrace to fans. Kurt Cobain is rolling in his grave... [https://web.archive.org/web/20130928152913/http://cdn.head-fi.org/d/d2/d29d05cb_Nirvana-HDTracks.jpeg Witness the audio carnage here].
* The [[Black Eyed Peas]]' ''Elephunk'' ranked #1 in Cute Studio's [http://www.cutestudio.net/data/products/audio/CD_clipping/shame/index.php CD Hall of Clipping Shame].
* The Chemical Brothers have been brickwalling since 1997's ''[http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/details.php?id=6644 Dig Your Own Hole]'', which was extremely compressed even by today's standards.
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* [[Mindless Self Indulgence]] used compression rather perversely: their album ''Tight'' is not quite ''that'' brickwalled, which gave them the opportunity to mix the song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BThpuBbRX3Y "Diabolical"] so that it crescendos during the last bar, suddenly deafening you.
* Ildjarn made extreme compression an essential element of his style, except in his ambient works
* Venetian Snares & Speedranch's 2001 release ''Making Orange Things'' destroys the competition when it comes to brickwalling. One of the tracks, ''Unborn Baby'' has a ReplayGain of -15.98 dB and is currently the least dynamic album ever released according to [https://web.archive.org/web/20131028035437/http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/index.php?sort=dr&order=asc the unofficial dynamic range database]. In fairness, this is very much an intended effect as the album is made up of very distorted synths and harsh noises.
== Amusing casualties ==
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