Quote:
Originally Posted by ApK
Because to the average music consumer listening on average consumer gear, louder is perceived as 'better.' That was the reason, IIRC.
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There's another reason, and that started in the 60's already, with vinyl.
A jukebox contained many singles. The jukebox would play on a set volume, and artists/producers wanted their specific single to stand out. To achieve this, the vinyl was, as it's called, 'cut hotter'. Don't ask me what this process entails; I have no knowledge of analog music production.
With CD's, this was not possible: a CD was mastered, and it was done. At the time, there was no way to edit digital music to 'cut a hot CD', but as digital processing evolved, this became possible.
A CD can be made A LOT louder than vinyl before distortion sets in.
I have some music that I only have for completionists sake; to keep everything from that artist complete. A CD that would play at 95-100 dB on a reference system with a dynamic range of 5 is no fun to listen to. There are no dynamics left, and setting the CD to a lower volume doesn't fix that.
Dynamic range that is lost can't be gotten back; compare it with blown out whites or blocked up parts in a picture. (OK, a RAW-file can help somewhat, but the results will never become optimal again.)