Nice piece, reminding me of the many articles I’ve read with a similar point of view, and often with a photo of Ocean Way and JJ Puig. The loudness wars have been with us for some two decades, and as much as I agree with the overall premise regarding excessive compression (easily avoided with vinyl editions), there is one factor missing from this and many other similar pieces.

I have four component music systems at home (living room, family room, office and bedroom), all with modest-size balanced speakers, equalizers and small subwoofers. I can mitigate much of what mastering engineers have done. But, this is not how most people listen to music most of the time. They are in their cars (ours have very good sound systems), on earphones/headphones and with Bluetooth speakers.

The loudness wars that make music sometimes unlistenable on quality home music systems have been a blessing to listeners who won’t spend substantial money for quality mobile players and earphones but instead use their mobile device and earphones that either came with it or cost less than $20. The environment of a car is not much better in terms of road noise. So the qualities of more compression and thus loudness tend to overcome the shortcomings of how most people are enjoying their music now.

That’s the thing about technology and about change. We remember how it used to be, and some of us find ways to keep that, but for 90 percent or more of consumers, it doesn’t matter, they’ve never experienced how it used to be anyway and they can’t or won’t pay for players and earphones/headphones that are capable of audio excellence. Many drive cars with average music systems and significant ambient noise. They are the marketplace, not us.

Eclectic Pragmatist — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism