The Music Loudness War Explained For Film Buffs
Directors are making all the scenes in their movies uniformly bright and lacking in contrast, to make them stand out more. And what's worse, they're "updating" older films in the same style. Sound far fetched? Well, that's exactly what's happened in the music industry over the last 25 years with the rise of the loudness war. Let me explain.
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OK, so picture this. There's a new trend in filmmaking. Previously, cinematographers strived to have a good balance of shots - the day time scenes would be brighter and the night time scenes darker. Just as you would expect them to be.
Well one director has noticed that the people viewing his films on their phones or laptops tend to watch in areas where there's a lot of ambient light, such as on the train with the light streaming in the windows. So he directs the cinematographer and editors on his latest film to make all of the shots uniformly bright - indoor night time shots now look just as bright as outdoor daylight shots - and then reduce the contrast so there's less difference between the light and dark areas of the picture. Even though this effect looks crap when watching films on a large TV in the living room, it's perfect for viewing on the move, so home cinema buffs and other people who care about quality will just have to put up with it.
Now the idea is very successful, and soon other directors notice that their films look a bit dull by comparison, so they start doing it too. Pretty soon this spirals into a full blown brightness war. Then to make matters worse, studios remastering older films decide to give them the brightness treatment too, so that they can stand up to the newer films. Then the original versions with their wider dynamic range are soon removed from streaming services so the only ones that you can see are the new brighter remasters.
Does this scenario sound far-fetched? Well, it's been happening in the music industry for more than 25 years, and it's called the loudness war. The effect is exactly the same - the dynamic range, or the difference between the quieter and louder sections of a song, is reduced to the point where the entire track is basically just one loud wall of sound. You can't get rid of the damage by turning down your volume control - it's baked in. This brickwalling effect is applied to newer music, of course, but the record companies also remaster older recordings so that they can compete on loudness, and then remove the original dynamic versions from streaming services. Just look at the differences that can exist between an original and remastered song - see all the information that has been lost?
Now your best defence against the loudness war, at least for classic albums, is buying old CDs from the '80s and '90s which haven't undergone the loudness treatment. Nope, CDs aren't obsolete yet if you care about audio quality! You'll be surprised at the differences that you hear. And make sure to send this video to your friends who haven't heard about this disappointing trend in recorded music.
PHOTO CREDITS:
"Rottnest Island" by Pedro Szekely - https://www.flickr.com/photos/pedrosz...
"soccer sunset" by Christopher Nalefski - https://www.flickr.com/photos/cnalefs...
"Smartphones at Fashion Week" by Melissa BARRA - https://flickr.com/photos/132674602@N...
"D Stock Interior" by R~P~M - https://flickr.com/photos/rpmarks/362...
"A walk in the park" by nz_willowherb - https://flickr.com/photos/willowherb/...
"Man in a top hat JC Williamson Ltd, July 1936" by State Library of New South Wales - https://flickr.com/photos/statelibrar...
"bass guitar" by jadepalmer - https://flickr.com/photos/jadeashleyp...
"SVS Prime Satellite Speaker at the little audio company" by david falkner - https://flickr.com/photos/4lkna/33547...
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