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It seems there's a counter-trend for any widely adopted opinion these days - even if it's not the least bit controversial. I guess that's generation X-files for you...
The linked article misses the one very objective point there is to the loudness war.
It doesn't matter whether you like the sound of distortion or not, whether it is the devil's work or god-sent. The point is that, if anyone in the long chain pf production feels you _have_ to make it loud to "compete" (and someone always does), you're being robbed of choice with regards to sound. You can have the same distorted sound on the disc 6 dB quieter, but you can't have the undistorted sound when the disc _needs_ to be 6 dB louder.
10 years ago, a loud album had parts with a crest factor of 10 dB, 5 years ago it was 8 dB. These days, a loud album will be down to 6. There is a definite end to that trend, and that is that all music will be mostly square waves. So much for all that "viva la difference", "let them be loud if they want to be", "it's art, different strokes for different folks". The trend is forcing everyone to sound the same eventually.
That argument may sound very theoretic, maybe even comical. But imagine how you would have laughed if someone had told you about 6 dB crest factor back in the early nineties...
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