From the Trenches of the Loudness Wars, A Broad Survey of Research

BY PETER KIRN

This goes to ele—augh, no, aside from over-compressing, we need to stop overusing that joke. Photo (CC-BY) Orin Zebest.

You’ve heard the gripes, and heard and seen the somewhat unscientific demos. Now it’s time to examine the over-compression of music with – science! Earl Vickers of STMicroelectronics examines the Loudness Wars in an academic paper, as noted to us by reader photohounds.

The Loudness War: Background,
Speculation and Recommendations [PDF Link, sfxmachine.com]

The paper comes from last November, but it’s as relevant as ever. It’s not just the usual take, either. Its history begins with Phil Spector and vinyl, considering the impact of broadcast TV and not just the music industry. It notes the evolution of compression technologies, particularly multiband technologies.

Most importantly, though – and I’ve spoken regularly to mastering engineers about this – the paper turns to the issue of listening fatigue. Here’s one whithering criticism of the industry on that: some engineers even believe that thoughtless over-compression could be to blame for the decline of the entire industry.

Mastering engineer Bob Ludwig stated, “People talk about downloads hurting record sales. I and some other people would submit that another thing that is hurting record sales these days is the fact that they are so compressed that the ear just gets tired of it. When you’re through listening to a whole album of this highly compressed music, your ear is fatigued. You may have enjoyed the music but you don’t really feel like going back and listening to it again.”

2008 Metallica, unsurprisingly, more apocalyptically-loud than a 1909 Edison cylinder … for what it’s worth.

You’ve seen much of this before, but rarely in such well-annotated, comprehensive form.

Best of all? The conclusion applies lessons from Game Theory to work on making the loudness wars come to a conclusion.

Here’s another thought, too: with artists increasingly self-releasing or releasing through more specialized labels, greater access to music online, direct-to-consumer distribution, and online replacements for conventional terrestrial radio, many of the factors that produced some of the oddest hyper-compression at the top of the charts are fading into the background.

BlackCoffee Goes 60 Hours On The Decks For A World Record

Just incase you didnt hear......

DJ BlackCoffee, real name 'Nkosinathi Maphumulo'(34), spun records for 60 hours in a row in an attempt to break the world record at a charity event in Johannesburg, South Africa.
His hit release, “Turn Me On feat. Bucie" reached number 1 on traxsource.com downloads from January-February of 2009 and stayed on the number 1 spot for three weeks. The single also stayed on top of the charts for about 4 weeks on UK's leading and most popular urban radio station Choice Fm, and other notable house stations in the UK.

DJ BlackCoffee's "Turn Me On" and "Superman," dance tracks have earned him international recognition and have made him the biggest dance music export out of Africa to date.

The dance music DJ, who lost his left hand in an accident aged 13, hopes video footage of the event will win him a place in the Guinness Book of Records.

He said: "I stayed strong. The music kept me going. I'm going to be a better DJ as I was doing it for a greater reason. At some stage I held back tears."

Nkosinathi, who uses the stage name Black Coffee, started his record attempt in a shopping mall at midnight last Thursday. Under the rules of the record attempt he was allowed a 20 minute comfort break every four hours. But his manager told South Africa's Sowetan newspaper he finished in style by playing the final 15 hours without stopping at all.

Nkosinathi organised the unusual event to raise awareness for his charity, The Black Coffee Foundation, which raises money for people affected by disability. After finishing his marathon session yesterday he admitted: "I am exhausted. I am going to sleep."

Guinness World Record officials are expected to rule this month on whether the feat qualifies as an official world record.

We Play House Recordings Mix

Download: We Play House Recordings Mix
(right click + save as)
Filesize: 88.8 MB
Length: 01:01:43

A mix courtesy of We Play House Recordings boss Red D. A one-take mix with vinyl and some CDs, it includes released and unreleased material from the label as well as a few other gems from WPH sister label Lany Music, Traum, Djax-Up and more.

Tracklist

Sebastien San - Pulsation
Luv Jam - Black Moon (San Soda’s Blame Red D For The Vocal Chords Remix)
Deymare - Talkin About That (San Soda & Gratts Boo To Boe Recordings Refusal Remix)
San Soda & Just Nathan - Wasmachine
Miss Djax - Acid Music
Humandrone - Rude Low
Freddy Fresh - Barogue
Raoul Lambert & Nacho Marco - Cinnamon Dreams
San Soda - Middelmatig in 1993
San Soda - Birdies That Fly
Klangmodule - Konsonanz (FCL Remix)
Nathan Fake - Dinamo
Maxim Lany - This Nostalgic Feeling

Roy Matthews (Vinyl Factory) Interview

After I had a lot of good feedback on my how vinyl is made post, I thought I'd hit you with a little knowledge. I found this interview by Chris Tubbs with Roy Mattews on vinyl plants....

Roy Matthews is a legend in the field of vinyl record production, an engineer who’s spirited passion for vinyl is literally mapped into the tireless, steaming presses that produce the finest records in the UK at Vinyl Factory, the ex EMI pressing plant just outside London.

Roy’s been working in his field for 45 years; it’s probably fair to say that what the man doesn’t know about vinyl production isn’t worth knowing. Here we talk about what makes a great pressing, Roy dispenses some great advice to young label upstarts and I get a tour of the factory. Enjoy!

Roy Matthews (Vinyl Factory) Interview from Christopher Tubbs on Vimeo.