I think it has something to do with being played on the radio now days rather then Juke Boxes.

Things sound better when they’re louder, and people like louder music. The bass and highs are more clearly heard compared to just the mids. So if I wanted to produce electronic music, I’d make it as loud as possible without comprimising the dynamics too much, so it sounds better compared to other people’s work (or rather, doesn’t sound worse, since everyone does this). It wouldn’t work for me to just tell people to buy louder headphones. Then, of course, even for people with louder headphones, my music would STILL be quieter compared to everyone else’s.

this might have been going on for some time

forte (IT) = loud (EN)
piano (IT) = soft (EN)

a fortepiano

a pianoforte

the fortepiano (as its name would suggest) needed less effort to make more noise, (a slight pressure gave high velocity to the hammers) but composers and listeners often said it sounded harsh and uncultured. So its design was adapted into the modern style instrument played today.

Many people claim that the loudness war has screwed up music. I don’t know if you hear metal at all, but Metallica’s album “death magnetic” is an example of extreme compression drive by the need to make it sound louder. You don’t hear any real dynamics which kinda sucks. The problem is that when a song has cranked-up volume, you instantly categorize it as better to as song having lower volume, even if this is just a first impression that can be corrected by turning up the knob.

it is getting better – but only because the big money is fast leaking away from the music industry due to download culture, so for more and more people (including producers and engineers) its become a hobby or a freelance occupation with uncertain work patterns rather than a paying day job – so increasingly anyone left is doing it for the love rather than to aggressively market songs.

At the radio station I have been working with recently I was discussing it with the two freelance engineers doing the main link TX and control room work (both former staff from BBC and ILR who have been laid off) and they don’t like it either.

The younger chap (around my age) pointed out that a lot of digital “pro audio” kit is often all the wrong level when co-existing with analogue equipment, he agreed further confusion is caused by VU meters and younger people being taught wrongly even at college and uni which if not compensated for is a recipe for various amounts of unwanted distortion. Ironically a much bigger problem in conventional radio is the daytime presenters on shows with more talking, who do not always watch their levels, and older folk used to analogue tape recorders with VU meters where you could get away with redlining slightly (and it was done to get the sound away from hiss/noise..)

We made sure both both the FM audio and the online stream are set to reasonable levels (its usually around -23 LKFS which is the EBU recommendation, maybe -19 LKFS max). There is a slight amount of processing (for the benefit of people listening on small speakers) but not stupid amounts and all there are EBU “eurometers” (on screen meter) at the console and on TX monitoring (as well as two Sifam PPMs the older chap retrieved from a knackered Alice Soundtech desk) and are presenters are trained to use them (or they will hit the compressor and limiter downstream of studio 1). and I can check all the meters via a VNC link (I’ve got it on the double screen just now).

The streaming level is kept around -10dbFS peak and its a 192K stream (which happens to be the same level and bitrate Party Vibe for live broadcasts when possible) 😉

if anyone complains these streams are “too quiet” they should get some better loudspeakers or cans – I am not in the business of caning peoples ears’ with bad sound!