Music Getting Louder?

Music is artistic and expressive, therefore interpretive, correct?  Most of us hve a hard time (or easy, depending on the circles your run in) understanding the emotional connection one gets with their music choices.  Most musicians will feel that connection when composing the music; almost as if a part of them has been etched into the notes, or the lyrics.  Music lovers, like myself, feel that connection when the proper notes and/or scales are put into that sequence that makes your arm chill with goosebumps.  Think about it for a second; do you remember a time where you knew what the chorus/solo was going to sound like, and those goosebumps gives you that indication this song means something to you on a personal level.

In reading an article posted by The New Yorker, journalist Hua Hsu conveys to his readers that music, in general, has gotten significantly louder in order to create a first impression.  While there are many other variables that Hsu has used to prove the matter, I agree that first impressions are ever lasting.  But in the past twenty years, has music really gotten louder?




1. The Production Quality

My first reaction would be a flat out NO, but then I got to thinking about the progression of music quality, and instruments used for harnessing that sound from the instruments.  We have seen a huge step in the direction of digital production for both studio and live performances.  I agree that software such as ProTools, MOTU, and Garage Band has expanded the playing field of musicians who would not have necessarily has the proper outlets.  This has also given home users (and also stage techs) the ability to tweak sound, and push it to it's maximum potential.  Like Hsu stated in his article:

"The quiet parts of a Taylor Swift song buzz more boldly than the brashest moments of a heavy-metal album from the nineteen-eighties."

That I have to agree with.  The advancement of our recording and production abilities has definitely had an impact on the noise levels.  I advise you to pick an album (form the same genre mind you for equal comparison) from both the 1980's and now.  I can almost guarantee that you will hear a difference in production qualities.


2. Music Festivals and Multiple Stages

There is a huge rise in popularity for mass music festivals.  Many outdoor events [around Toronto and other cities] such as VELD, Riotfest, TURF, Mayhem, and many others generally resort to multiple stages for music to continually play.  The one downside I saw from this is overlapping of sounds.  While our technology has improved the range and direction of the music, sometimes the timing of performers can be off.

For example, when I was at Rockfest 2015, the Budweiser stage and the Jager stage were more or less facing each other, but had the main stage and main stage sound booth cutting off the sound.  As you moved towards each stage, you could clearly hear the music being performed, however, as you moved closer to the middle of the stages, the sound starts to blend in with one another.  One of the main reasons I find this happens is due to amplification.  Both stages were about 200-300 meters away from each other, but since each artist would like to have a loud performance (as some sort of assertion they are heavy/fast/whatever), so they amplify louder to compete with neighbouring stages.
So while it was nice to see multiple bands playing for different genre fans, it can be a bit of a sound booth pissing contest in hopes of being louder than the others, or performers from earlier in the day.  This is one reason I saw the overall loudness of live performances increase.


3. Continual Waves of Non-Loud Music

One statement of the article that resonated with me was, "Noise can be petulant or cleansing, annoying or energizing. It can force us to wonder what we mean when we call something 'music.'"

Going back to the top of this article, I maintain that music (whether loud or not) is based on an emotional connection to the artistry.  I am asked on a regular basis how I can understand the screaming and shredding in metal music.  I respond with a simple comparison:

"I can feel the tones and inflexion of their voice waver just as delicately as any jazz/blues/dance/hip-hop artist."  

Getting past the original UMPH of heavy metal can be a bit difficult for people, but eventually all translates into notes, scales, highs, lows, and everything else that each other genres creates.  They key part in each genre is how it makes you feel.

If you look at our latest Billboard standings, we still see quite a bit of 'non-loud' bands that still ht the charts quite frequently.  While we have our bread and butter genres like rock, dance, metal, hip-hip that generally create loud[er] music, we still see emerging artists like Mumford & Sons, Old Crow Medicine Show, Hozier, and Ed Sheeran who can still silence a 20,000+ audience with the strum of an acoustic guitar.

So in conclusion, while the article touches base quite a bit on a band called HEALTH, I feel the article did a good job of dissecting the reasons behind "loud" music, and why numbers are continually growing.  I feel more variables needed to be explored such as some I touched base on in this article.  I will admit that our technology allows us to push limits of quality, tone, and other areas of improvement.  But once you reach past a certain decibel level (90-95dB+), it can be a bit loud for anyone.