Will you survive the loudness war?
Loud War Countermeasures in the Age of Music Broadcasting
Spotify and Apple Music can enable / disable volume normalization based on user settings
Let’s go back to streaming music. Since the music industry does not have volume regulation like the broadcast industry, when playing a playlist as described above, there is a possibility that a comfortable listening experience cannot be provided due to a difference in the feeling of volume of music.
Therefore, streaming service companies such as Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube have established a mechanism to perform “volume normalization” (volume leveling) in order to unify the volume of content. It is a function that semi-forces the side of the platform to provide the same volume.
There is a reason for saying “semi-mandatory”. Spotify and Apple Music are application settings for playback that allow the user to decide whether or not to apply volume normalization.
For the Spotify iOS app, you can select Settings-> Play-> “Enable Audio Normalization”. Apple Music can be turned on and off by selecting “Music” -> “Adjust volume automatically” in the “Settings” application. YouTube, on the other hand, seems to be forced to apply volume normalization to all content.
Below are estimates of loudness normalization for the major platforms. Each company sends music according to this standard value. If the measured value is greater than this, the volume is suppressed and if it is less, it is amplified to this value. However, only Spotify officially publishes the loudness value in “Spotify for Artists”.
This default is not an officially announced value except in some cases. Also, it may change in the future. About AWA, the information I heard directly from “the person inside” before
Since J-POP generally has a higher sound pressure than this default, it means that the volume is lowered when shipped. It can be inferred that the high sound pressure regulation of AWA, a domestic platform, reflects such domestic circumstances.
As a music producer, I am concerned that if loudness normalization is applied to music with high SPL and the volume is forcibly lowered, the way the music is heard will be contrary to the artist’s intent. There is a possibility.
For music with volume normalization applied to music with high sound pressure, even when the volume of the playback device is turned up, the already small dynamic range becomes even smaller and the flat plate may feel thin.
