Cathedral "Soul Sacrifice"
Top: 1991 release
Bottom: 2009 remastered release
Anyone who listens to an iPod or an mp3 player will notice this: how loud some songs are compared to others. If you're like me, you tend to keep your mp3 player at a set volume. I don't really like turning it up or down, but I do like to keep it reasonably loud (I'm a metal fan, after all!). That said, when I put it on shuffle, that's when the differences in individual song volume really get noticed.
I recently bought a couple of CDs, one being Forest of Equilibrium by Cathedral. This was originally released back in 1991, and it was remastered not too long ago in 2009. Since the original '91 version sounded kind of muted and dull (it sounded like the microphones were in another room), I bought the remastered version. Of course, the '09 version sounds louder and a bit clearer, which is what I expected. But I really noticed it when I put both versions on my mp3 player and compared them in terms of recording volume. The newer remastered version was noticeably louder than the original release, which led me to remember something called the Loudness War:
"The loudness war or loudness race is a pejorative term for the apparent competition to master and release recordings with increasing loudness." "Loudness war" wikipedia.org
To keep the descriptive idea here short, some releases are recorded with the volume turned-up in some way or another (usually with compressors). It's when you rip it from CD to mp3 and listen to it on headphones that you notice the difference: "If their record jumps out of your iPod compared with the song that preceded it, then they've [i.e. the record producers] accomplished their goal." "The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse" npr.org
The picture at the top is one I took of the waveform in decibels, comparing the 1991 release with the 2009 remastered release. As you can see, the bottom wave is "expanded". If pushed too far, however, the music's dynamic range is diminished. Quiet and loud parts aren't as noticeable if the song is compressed too much - thus, making it louder overall: "If you compare two short passages of a song (or of two similar songs), where one passage is louder than the other, then the louder passage will at first sound 'punchier.'" "What is the advantage of music with more dynamic range?" pleasurizemusic.com
Anyone who listens to modern Jrock or Jpop will notice just how loud some of the fairly newer ones are compared to other songs on an mp3 player. Here's the dB waveform for "Don't say 'lazy'" the ED for K-ON!
K-ON! ED "Don't say 'lazy'"
Notice how it's almost a solid bar, with some peaks barely noticeable in the wave. On my mp3 player, this is one of the louder songs on it (compare it with the above dB waveform for the 1991 release for "Soul Sacrifice" - a metal song! Even the 2009 db waveform isn't as massive as "Don't say 'lazy'".)
Another wall of sound is "What's up, People?!" the OP for the second season of Death Note. Notice how this waveform, too, is almost a solid block in the middle.
Death Note Season 2 OP "What's Up, People?!"
I could go on and on, but these are fairly representative of modern Jrock/Jpop recordings: they're just so loud! When I first listened to february & heavenly (a 2012 release) by Tomoko Kawase, I noticed right away how much louder that release was compared to other songs on my mp3 player. Even Tomiko Van's album FAREWELL, released back in 2006, is quite loud in terms of volume. When I listen to the title track, "Farewell", and jump to "Behind the Crooked Cross" by Slayer, the former track's volume is actually a tad louder than Slayer, haha. Of course, metal wasn't immune to the loudness wars.
Metallica's CD Death Magnetic is pretty loud, as are other metal albums - and not to everyone's liking: "...without quiet, there can be no loud. And the whole point about metal is that it should be played – and listened to – loud. (Well, one of the points, anyway!) But a recording that has no dynamic contrast left in it doesn’t sound loud (ie. punchy, hard-hitting, aggressive) when it’s been crushed to death – it just sounds “wimpy loud” instead." "Death Metal fans hate the Loudness Wars" productionadvice.co.uk
Nevertheless, not everyone joined the war. Earache records, the record label that released Cathedral's Forest of Equilibrium, have released albums that aren't walls-of-sound-louder-than-anything-else. The 2009 remastered version, while loud, isn't as loud as other stuff on my mp3 player (and certainly isn't louder than K-ON! Just compare those dB waveforms). I've bought other remastered CDs from them, and they're not overly loud, too, e.g. the 2007 re-release of Utopia Banished by Napalm Death isn't much louder than the original 1992 release.
So, the next time you shuffle your iPod or mp3 player, put on some headphones and don't touch the volume. You might notice how older recordings are quieter than newer releases, especially newer Jrock/Jpop.
