🔊 This Goes to 11: Loudness Wars, Compression Crimes & 4 Songs That Still Hit Hard 🎸
⚔️ LOUDER ≠ BETTER: A Rant on the Loudness Wars
Ever play a new album and feel exhausted after 10 minutes? You’re not alone—and you’re not imagining things.
What Are the Loudness Wars?
- Origin: Started in the 1950s with jukebox records that were mixed louder to stand out in noisy bars
- Escalated in the ’80s and ’90s when CDs enabled even more dynamic range—but producers used it to compress audio instead
- Result: Constant, flat sonic assault that wears out the ears
❝ Imagine a room full of toddlers on espresso. That’s what hyper-compressed music sounds like. ❞
🎧 Compression, Explained:
- Makes quiet parts louder, loud parts quieter
- Can smooth a mix when used well
- But overdo it, and you get:
- Listener fatigue
- Clipping
- Lack of emotion
- Zero musical nuance
Mark calls out Metallica’s Death Magnetic as a sonic drywall disaster—and reminds us the Guitar Hero version sounded better because it wasn’t compressed to death.
Even Adele got dragged into a real guinea pig study where compressed versions of her music literally damaged rodent hearing.
Yikes. 😬
🧪 Streaming to the Rescue?
Good news: Services like Spotify and Apple Music normalize volume, meaning there’s no point in over-compressing tracks anymore.
❝ The algorithm doesn’t reward louder—it rewards better. ❞
Engineers like Bob Ludwig and Ian Shepherd are leading the charge for dynamic range restoration.
🎧 This Week’s 4 Songs That Don’t Suck
Despite the rant, Mark brings his signature optimism with four diverse tracks that use dynamics, not just decibels, to make their point.
1. 🐟 If I Were a Fish – Ullah
Dark, moody, and subtly syncopated. Mark compares it to Joan Osborne with a splash of Tori Amos. The bridge hits with big vocals and fuller instrumentation. Fantastic arc.
🎧 For fans of: Joan Osborne, Tori Amos, PJ Harvey
“Vocals sit perfectly on the mix. A slow burn worth every second.”
2. 🦶 Achilles And – Runner
Intro hints at Third Eye Blind, but the falsetto vocals bring something totally fresh. A big departure from Runner’s earlier banjo-based work—and Mark is here for it.
🎧 For fans of: Pinegrove, The Shins, early Death Cab
“Just plain good indie rock. Nothing more, nothing less.”
3. 🌠 Dreams – Jade Bird
A raspy female vocal = Mark kryptonite. Genre-defying blend of alt, rock, indie, and pop with subtle instrumentation and clever arrangement. Jade Bird crushes it.
🎧 For fans of: Stevie Nicks, Brandi Carlile, Sharon Van Etten
“This is what happens when genre lines get blended, not blurred.”
4. 🧨 Hand Grenade – Bleach
Started as a Nirvana tribute band, but sounds more like Muse lite meets fuzzy grunge. Vocals lean on the Cobain influence, but this track stands on its own with killer guitar solo energy.
🎧 For fans of: Muse, Nirvana, Silversun Pickups
“Don’t let the tribute band backstory fool you—Bleach delivers.”
🧠 Final Thoughts: Let the Music Breathe
Mark closes with a powerful reminder:
❝ Dynamics are the soul of music. Flatline the waveforms, and you flatline the feeling. ❞
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🎨 …and I quote…
❝ The loudness war gave us fatigue instead of feeling. Let’s bring the dynamics back. ❞
— Mark Bradbourne 🎙️
