Sound quality suffers

Big-name CD manufacturers are distorting sounds to make them seem louder. Sound quality suffers.  The video uses Paul McCartney’s 1989 song “Figure of Eight” as an example, comparing its original recording with what a modern engineer might do with it.

Christopher Clark graphed the peak levels of and RMS levels of three hit songs a year over the past three decades. See it (PDF):  A Visual History of Loudness

*On NPR’s All Things Considered, you can hear “The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse“