La Isla Bonita 1986 vs. 2009 (loudness war phenomenon)

A fraction of La Isla Bonita 1986/2009 from Madonna to demonstrate loudness war phenomenon.

Watch in HD for best audio quality (upload had lossless FLAC audio for best possible YouTube quality).

UPDATE: Here's a zip-file containing bmp-images of waveforms from both versions (full tracks as presented by Audition's edit-view):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4031020/LaIslaBonita86vs09img.zip

Even more full waveform image examples (Like a Prayer, Material Girl & Papa Don't Preach):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4031020/MoreMadonnaLoudnessWarExamples.zip

The reality of modern music industry. While technology has evolved, it sure as hell didn't do any good to music sound quality. We have lost the Fi from Hi-Fi.

Artists are probably not the ones to blame. I'm sure it's the producers behind the scene who make these (stupid) decisions. Some rare exceptions do apply, such as Chinese Democracy (2008) from Guns N' Roses.

I only did copy-paste editing, so you get to hear original volume levels. The 2009 version is from the Celebration compilation album.

TT Dynamic Range Meter results (calculated from complete tracks):

1986 version: DR13
2009 version: DR7

(higher value is better)

The higher quality listening chain you have (especially with headphones), the easier it is to hear the reduction in sound quality. And listening with high volumes is more revealing than listening with low volumes (i.e. 2009 version listened in high volume sounds horrible and fatiguing, whereas the 1986 version still remains quite pleasant).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• madonna
• la
• isla
• bonita
• 1986
• 2009
• comparison
• loudness
• war
• effect
• phenomenon
• tt
• dynamic
• range

[arumdevil]

Ok I've listened to this very carefully on a decent sound system and also on professional headphones, as well as inspected the waveforms you linked to. The waveforms confirm what my listening test told me: this is actually a pretty good attempt at remastering. The overall volume has increased (which in itself is not bad as it effectively lowers the noise floor) and the quality and separation is still pretty good. The bass is slightly less punchy, but otherwise it sounds fine to me....

[Kuokka77]

@arumdevil Why "remaster" something that didn't really need remastering at all? For the sole sake of getting the music louder (it seems to be the case here)? I can get the '86 version loud enough and i don't need remastering for that. It's called a volume knob. For me the '09 version sounds flat and more fatiguing.

[arumdevil]

I don't think you're quite getting what I'm saying. All I meant by my last response is that this seems a very tame remaster in terms of how it's negatively affected the result. It has effected it to some degree, but far far less than some other examples. At the end of the day though, I agree with you, there really was no need to do it in the first place. However my original point that there's not a big enough sample here still stands. I don't know the original so I can't compare it properly.

[Kuokka77]

@arumdevil Even this small section managed to demonstrate one ill effect from "volume boosting" - less punch ;) So not entirely pointless.

[dubified89]

You can let the skinny lines touch but not the thick ones. When you let the thick ones touch you're letting a significant part of the dynamic be compromised and are brickwalling it. That's the point where louder becomes worse.

[drijfkip1]

The remastered version seems to sound better just because it's louder.

I tried adjusting the volume by hand between the two versions, and than you really notice the punch in the original.

[dreamero11]

Louder is NOT Better! ...Can't Label execs and producers use a volume knob!?? There seems to be alot of ignorance of gigantic mystical proportions, and the radio fallacy which is so untrue...Dynamic sounds best on radio, not hyper-compressed...End the Loudness Wars!

[chevyGamul]

I hear a richer sound in the old version, but the comparison will work better if you adjust the volumes so that they're equal.

(just using cheap $5 JVC earbuds & PC)

[arumdevil]

however that's on a very small section, but if I were to hear the whole versions I might draw different conclusions.

[arumdevil]

@Kuokka77 I understand the point about copyright. I wasn't suggesting the whole track should be there, but at least a bigger section that shows some dynamic range. And I'm not saying that you're wrong either, just that it's hard to compare with such a small sample.