User:Limetom/loudnesswarrewrite
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This is my proposed rewrite for the Loudness War article.
The phrase loudness war (or loudness race) is the practice of recording music at progressively higher levels to create recordings that sounds louder than those of competitors. This process began before the introduction of the CD, but due to technical limitations, only gained prominence after the CD replaced the vinyl record in the late 1980s.
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[edit] Rationale
[edit] Process
The overall Loudness of a CD can not be increased. However, by reducing the Dynamic range of the audio through the process of audio compression, the human ear can be fooled into thinking that the volume is truly louder.[1]
[edit] History
[edit] Effects on Quality
When the dynamic range of the audio is reduced through audio compression, the maximum Amplitude of the sound waves is limited. At high levels of compression, the crests and the troughs can be cut off because they exceed the dynamic range of the audio. When this happens, they simply stay at the maximum (or minimum) wave height until they would normally come down (or go back up). This is know as clipping.
Compressing the audio can also reduce or negate musical dynamics since the change in volume in the song is limited.
[edit] Criticisms
[edit] Reducing Perceived Loudness
Consumers now have ways to reduce the percieved loudness of audio. Users of Apple's iTunes can use the Sound Check feature which calculates the perceived loudness of audio tracks as they are imported into the music library, and adjusts accordingly on playback. Users of Windows Media Player can use the Volume Leveling feature to the same effect.
Other options involve using some variation on the Replay Gain standard, including mp3gain for .mp3 files and vorbisgain for .ogg files.
[edit] References
- ^ "Loudness" at HyperPhysics
