People might be interested in seeing

http://jcgl.orpheusweb.co.uk/temp/vickers.gif

This shows a graph of the results of some research published by Vickers who
has reported on 'Loudness Wars' at a recent AES convention.[1]

The blobs on the graph represent the best selling CDs over a recent period
of time. The vertical scale scores them by how well they sold. The
horizontal scale assesses them by a measure of peak-to-mean ratio in dB we
can call 'DR'. [2]

In brief, if 'loudness and compression' boosted sales then you'd expect CDs
with a low DR to score higher and high DR to score lower. i.e. You'd see a
clear sloped relationship between the blobs with the ones at the lefh-hand
end being higher than at the right-hand end.

The red line is the trend line though the data. No sign of much slope.
Vickers reports the correlation is poor. i.e. no clear sign of any
relationship between compression and sales.

Vickers also reports on the rise in hearing damage and wonders if this is
associated with relentless loudness and peak-mean compression.

Given that the people who routinely compress music on CD *don't* seem to
have made public any assessable evidence I've yet been able to find to
support their behaviour, the above seems worth considering.

Points to ponder. :-)

Slainte,

Jim

[1] Alas, the print of this seems only available from the AES at present.
Can't find a copy of the pdf of his presentation openly on the web. But you
can find more from his page at

http://www.sfxmachine.com/docs/loudnesswar/

[2] Based on the 'meter' method given by pleasurizemusic.com

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