Music Loudness Report for the week of 2 25 2022

Hello Everyone

For this weeks Music Loudness Report we went searching into a high ranking Music Library.  Music Library's if you don’t know house large catalogs of music that is typically used in TV and Film work.  The music is supplied by producers of all ranges and styles.  But typically is a strong representation of what is going on in the market place for current music of the day.  It has to be because the livelihood of these library companies depends on it.  If no one uses their music, they go out of business.  The whole industry is fueled by what's popular and what sells. 

 So this time around I looked at one of the latest albums from this particular library.  The style was sort of a Pop/House group of songs so the style in general usually leans towards a louder mix of music in general.  Well Loud it is, let me tell you.  If the Loudness Wars are over, they didn’t get the memo.  If you look at the picture of the wave files as recorded you can see they are pretty solid right across.  And the numbers back this up.

 Lets look at them.

Conclusion.  The Music Library business does not use Loudness Normalization as the streaming services do.  So when it comes to competing with their current catalog, the songs are loud.  Now, do they sound good?  Is the industry ready to change?  These are questions to answer.  But the big question, if you try to sell them something quieter but more dynamic will they buy it?  Or will you be there with your principles and nothing else.  So the research continues

All the best

Andrew Blake

The Digital Audio Manual