The Loudness of Music

There is an entire field of research that deals with how humans percieve sound, this is called 'psychoacoustics'. There are two ways to measure sound, firstly one can investigate the peak level of the song, or average the sound level over a period of time. Generally, our ears respond to the average levels of sound, but we do not take notice of peak levels when judging the loudness. For example, when you compare the peak levels of classical music with commercial rock they both share the same peak level, however, the loudness of rock music is percieved as louder because the average sound level is higher.

An accepted rule in the music industry is that 'the louder the sound, the more attention it will capture'. This works well for singles, but this 'all the time' approach may fatigue the listener and cause them to loose interest, however a variety of dynamics keep the audience listening.

The loudness war
The loudness war is the music industry's way to record, produce and broadcast music at increasing levels of loudness, this is to attempt to create sound that capture attention. The trend of increasing loudness is illustrated by the formation of the waves from "Something" by the beatles.

How 'loud music' is made louder
The loudness revolution can be blamed on the evolution of technology, such as high quality digital compressors. This has changed the way that we think about compression and loudness. A compressor is an automatic volume control, which reduce the sounds (downward compression) or increase the sounds (upward compression).

How the Loudness Wars are ruining music

Why Louder isn't Better
It is a fact that prolonged exposure to loud sounds can cause damage to one's hearing, the most common condition is 'Tinnitus'. This is an inner ear condition which damages the tiny hairs that pick up the sound vibrations, known as stereocilia. When thee tiny hairs are broken they cause the sufferer to hear constant ringing sounds.