Loudness War Myths Explored: 2 – Do some genres NEED to be crushed ?



Sometimes you just need to go with the flow.

The plan was for the second of these Loudness War Myths videos to be about listening in noisy environments - but the controversy over a brand new metal release made this week makes it the ideal time to tackle another myth entirely.

Namely:

Some genres NEED that 'loudness war' sound

This one gets trotted out with depressing regularity, even by people who should know better.

Metal and EDM are the most common styles that are supposed to only sound "right" if their level has been pushed up as hard as possible against digital's brick-wall ceiling.

So, is it true ?

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Loudness War Myths Explored: 1 - Louder is better (and sells more copies)



Louder is better, right ?

And "loud" records sell more copies, right ?

Well... yes.

- And no.

The truth is, it's a bit more complicated than that, really !

This is the first in a series of videos where I demonstrate and investigate some popular loudness war myths, so you can decide for yourself whether they stand up or not.

In this video I make one of the biggest hits of last year, "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk, "Loudness War loud", which should make it sound better and sell more records, according to the myth - then I test the real-world effect using my new Perception Plugin.

Watch the video to hear it for yourself and make up your own mind!

In the next video, I'll be testing the idea that "loud" sound makes music sound better in our increasingly noisy modern environment. Check back for updates soon.

(To find out more about the loudness-versus-sales research, click here.)