In the last 10-15 years, record companies have been fighting a volume war, each trying to make their CDs sound louder and more exciting than anybody elses. I’ve long known about the horrible effect of over-compressing music as I’ve been playing with compressors for about over a decade, but the average person doesn’t have the tools available.

Why does music from the 60s/70s/80s sound so much better than new stuff? Listen to this video to understand:

Example: My copy of XTC’s ‘Drums and Wires’ from 1979 is the original mastering, and sounds very dynamic. The remastered albums from the 80s (’English Settlement’, ‘Skylarking’, etc) sound reasonably good, up until 1989’s ‘Oranges and Lemons’, which was compressed to hell from day one. It does, however, sound initially loud and impressive… but it is tiring to listen to it because the volume is just stuck at maximum all the way through. Things got better on the followup, 1992’s ‘Nonsuch’ - and then Virgin dropped XTC and they took control of their mastering. Still a little overcompressed, but the nature of the music keeps it listenable.

It’s really depressing to think that no major label album will sound this good again. Turn it up!

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