History LoudnessWar / TheWorstOffenders

* It’s become a meme on Website/{{Twitter}} amongst Music/{{Beyonce}} fans on just how loud her vocals and the music is on her second album ''B’Day''.

* Music/{{Ayria}}'s ''Hearts for Bullets''. Her first two albums were mastered somewhat loud, but not brickwalled to $#!+ like this one.

** ''Beyond Magnetic'' isn't much better than ''Death Magnetic'' (it's [=DR4=] and still really clipped). Unlike ''Death Magnetic'', it has yet to be remastered (though hopefully, it will be soon).

* The Crüxshadows started to fall victim to the loudness war with ''Ethernaut'' in 2003. ''As the Dark Against My Halo'', is a total brickwalled mess, especially the lead single "Valkyrie", which has almost continuous clipping.

* Music/SleaterKinney's ''The Woods'' measures [=DR3=].

* Music/RickRubin is infamous for this sort of thing. Look at how many of the examples on this page were produced by him. Engineers who have worked with him have indicated that he insists on having the levels of the final products pushed to the point of clipping, and Ted Jensen (who mastered the original version of ''Death Magnetic'') noted that the mix came to him already clipped.

* Ferry Corsten has hit a new dynamic low with the fourth album under his own name, ''WKND''. All of the tracks have a [[http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/details.php?id=19210 dynamic range]] of −4 dbfs or less and have enormous amounts of clipping. Basically the ''Death Magnetic'' of electronic dance music.

* All of [[Music/{{Celldweller}} Scandroid]]'s material, at least in digital format, is near-solidly brickwalled and continuously clipped, on par with fellow darksynth artists Music/{{Perturbator}} and Music/CarpenterBrut. Klayton's main project, Celldweller, similarly exhibits ''Death Magnetic''-caliber overcompression, especially the three most recent albums.

* Clan of Xymox's ''In Love We Trust'' (or maybe "In Loudness We Trust") is a constantly clipped brick wall throughout, with "Judas" reaching ''Death Magnetic'' levels. Fortunately, the follow-up, ''Darkest Hour'', backed off on this trend, although it still has some clipping, which may be intentional.

* Music/{{Metallica}}'s 2008 album ''Death Magnetic'' is so distorted and clipped that even mastering engineer Ted Jensen[[note]]A man who has [[EveryoneHasStandards has brickwalled his fair share of albums in the past]][[/note]] has criticized it, adding that he couldn't do anything since the preliminary mixes came in already "brick-walled". Interestingly, the version made for ''VideoGame/GuitarHero 3'' was based on a "rough mix" that features far more range, and those tracks have been subsequently ripped and distributed via peer-to-peer services. To sum up: Metallica, the anti-Napster poster boys, now have an album that can only be truly appreciated via piracy, and a video game featuring a guitar with 5 buttons on the fret-board is the best way to enjoy an album... the irony boggles the mind.

** Hypnotize was definitely the worst of them; the guitar solo during "Lonely Day" has very noticeable clipping, even on poor speakers. Music/RickRubin (of ''Death Magnetic'' infamy) would seem to be a likely culprit until one notes that he produced ''all'' of their albums (starting to notice a pattern with Rubin productions here?). Maybe he just stopped caring around 2001 or so.

* Crashdïet's entire catalogue makes Death Magnetic sound competently mastered.

* Music/{{Atheist}}'s ''Jupiter''. While the band's 1980s and 1990s stuff are mastered at reasonable levels, ''Jupiter'' is JustForFun/{{egregious}}ly loud; while Jason Suecof, who produced it, is notorious for this in general, this is a special case. Word on the street was that he was going for a "raw" production, but his idea of a "raw" production involved horribly inconsistent instrument levels that varied from song to song, leading to such wonderful things as the rhythm guitar track almost completely drowning out the lead. To add insult to injury, the bass, one of the chief elements of Atheist's sound, was almost ''completely'' inaudible. Oh, and the whole thing was brickwalled to ''Death Magnetic'' levels. ''Jupiter'' as a whole was fairly divisive, but one thing that everyone agreed on was that the production was inexcusably awful.

* While Music/{{Immolation}} is already mentioned above as a "repeat offender" of the DeathMetal loudness wars, 2013's ''Kingdom of Conspiracy'' deserves its own entry. Practically the whole album is pegged at a ''Death Magnetic''-esque [=DR3=] (one track logs a hardly more acceptable [=DR4=]), pretty much everything in the mid or high frequencies is blatantly clipped, (especially the cymbals) and the guitars are so badly compressed as to render many of the riffs indistinguishable from one another, while being mixed so loud as to drown out the bass altogether. Oh yeah, and it ducks and unducks in a fashion similar to Vital Remains' ''Dechristianize''. If there was any doubt about producer Paul Orofino's[[note]]Orofino's worked on all the band's releases since 1999's ''Failures for Gods''; not coincidentally, that album started their reign of loudness, coming in at [=DR6=], while its predecessor ''Here in After'' (1996) came in at [=DR10=][[/note]] place at the bleeding, ear-splitting edge of the loudness wars before this, it's been put to rest now.

** Ironically, their live albums are often surprising aversions by modern standards; Ted Jensen[[note]]Yes, the same Ted Jensen that mastered ''Death Magnetic''[[/note]] did a good job keeping the dynamics mostly intact. The Blu-Ray version of ''Live at Budokan'' comes out to roughly [=DR8=] for ''Red Night'' and [=DR9=] for ''Black Night'' and the [=CDs=] are apparently similar. The second studio album ''Metal Resistance'' sadly also plays the trope straight, however.

* ''VideoGame/CrimzonClover'''s UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} OST is entirely brickwalled and clipped to near ''Death Magnetic'' levels.

* Even Internet personalities aren't safe from the loudness war, as evidenced by the Angry Video Game Nerd's theme song. In newer episodes, the song is compressed and clipped to a ridiculous degree that might even make Death Magnetic do a double take.

* All of Music/{{AURORA}}'s albums are compressed to some extent, but ''The Gods We Can Touch'' is by far the worst of the lot, being brickwalled to high heaven. Doesn't help that it was published by the same label as CHVRCHES' aforementioned ''Screen Violence''.

* Amuro Namie's 2015 album "__genic" has an average [=DR4=], with some tracks even reaching an extreme of [=DR2=], and an RMS of −3.0.
* Nelly Furtado’s ''Loose'' was especially hit hard by this, but especially on “Say It Right”. The drums are so loud, they continually clip and drown out the vocals!

* Music/{{Taylor Swift}}'s music also suffers this, and [[https://i.redd.it/mmx5768simt11.png these]] [[https://i.redd.it/gred4v3u5fi31.jpg two fanmade]] waveform posters for her two previously released albums prove it. Her first fully pop album, 1989 was also often criticized for it's loudness, ranking up to a [=DR6=].

* ''[[http://www.mindspring.com/~mrichter/dynamics/dynamics.htm Heart in Motion]]'' by Amy Grant and ''Stripped'' by Christina Aguilera are the most commonly cited examples. Brandy's ''Full Moon'' has also been [[http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?s=bd35efbff5babeb883c6961def275418&showtopic=27691 singled out]].

* The original release of Music/TheRollingStonesBand' ''Music/ABiggerBang'', plus the entire 2009 remaster catalog. It's unknown if there's a difference between the 2005 and 2009 version of ''Bang''. Sadly, all archival releases (like the "From The Vault" live series) are done by the same team. Stick to the Bob Ludwig-mastered 1994 Virgin [=CDs=] for the '70s and '80s stuff.

** The Option screen for ''VideoGame/SonicSpinball [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62N_RRb2xw8 is often criticized for it's extreme loudness.]]

* Jake Kaufman's otherwise excellent OST to ''VideoGame/DoubleDragonNeon'' is completely wrecked by overcompression. Especially the famous title theme, which is reduced to a solid brick wall of clipping.
** Almost all of his soundtracks suffer from brickwalling to an extent. It may not ruin, say, the Shantae or Boot Hill Heroes [=OSTs=], but it definitely makes them more tiring to listen to. For an accomplished and talented composer and producer, Kaufman seems to have a poor understanding of dynamics.

* Music/{{Queen}}'s ''Absolute Greatest'' has the dynamics sucked right out of it. You know how the first verse of "We Are the Champions" is really quiet, but then progresses and the loud chorus comes blasting out? Prepare to be severely disappointed.

* Music/{{Rush}}'s album ''Music/VaporTrails'' suffers from [[http://i.imgur.com/n5gITi9.jpg constant peak distortion]]. You can barely hear any of Neil Peart's amazing drumming because it's a huge mess of white noise[[note]]It's a damn shame too, as this was Rush's comeback album after Peart's personal tragedies[[/note]]. After the positive response the band got from releasing improved remixes of two songs from the album on ''Retrospective 3'', they later announced an entire re-mixing of the album in general, which was issued in 2013. Sadly, ''Vapor Trails'' is not the only relatively recent Rush release to fall into this trope, although it remains their worst example. ''Music/SnakesAndArrows'', ''Music/ClockworkAngels'', and their recent live releases are also clipped to some degree. ''Vapor Trails Remixed'', thankfully, mostly avoids loudness war shenanigans, coming in at a comparatively respectable (by modern standards) [=DR7=], and is not clipped at all. ''Snakes and Arrows'' was also remastered in 2016 and saw an even more dramatic improvement, from [=DR6=] on the original to [=DR12=] in the remaster. Unfortunately, an error in mastering saw brief gaps inserted in between what were SiameseTwinSongs on the original album, but a person should be able to edit these out from the digital version with audio editing software. Unfortunately, for the vinyl edition, there is nothing anyone can do.

** The vinyl and cassette versions do not have the distortion the CD has, so it is fair to say it was done intentionally. The 'unmastered' version of the album (which has several different tracks to the final version) has about the same fidelity as a vinyl rip, but it comes from a prerelease CD of an early version of the album. Because of this, we can see that more was done later, or this isn't Meller's mix. Rubin was quoted as saying that he regularly has four people master an album and he chooses which one he likes best. Meller's mix always wins, apparently.
*** Contrary to the information above, the vinyl of ''Californication'' appears to be clipped, too, and appears to use the exact same mix as the CD. This is averted with RHCP's later albums -- ''Music/StadiumArcadium'' did use a demonstrably different master on the vinyl and it sounds leagues better than the CD version. Luckily, the unmastered version of ''Californication'', as mentioned, is not clipped and is not terribly difficult to find on the internet.
*** Indeed, the vinyl ''Stadium Arcadium'' was mastered by audiophile favorite Steve Hoffman.

* Dann Huff is notorious for his overblown production in country music. He loves to turn all the guitars UpToEleven in spots where they don't need to be (often played by Huff himself), and then sometimes throw a blaring string section on top of that.

** All of Oasis' work qualifies, really. Even ''Definitely Maybe'' was pretty damn loud (especially by 1994 standards), although it isn't as badly clipped as anything they released after it. ''Be Here Now'', meanwhile, takes the loud production of ''Morning Glory'' and pretty much cranks it UpToEleven with the addition of its orchestral arrangements and gigantic amount of dense sound layers. And given loudness directly influences how wide the vinyl grooves are, [[https://twitter.com/BoneheadsPage/status/1246550926078418945 this forced the album to be a double one]].

* Music/TheDarkness' ''Permission to Land''; not that this is surprising, or [[ArtisticLicense entirely inappropriate]]. That said, their LighterAndSofter follow-up ''One Way Ticket to Hell... and Back'' has no reason to be even [[UpToEleven more extreme]] in regards to this.

** ''The Fragile'' took ''Downward Spiral'''s loudness UpToEleven, going from ''Throwing Copper'' to ''Morning Glory'' levels within the span of a single album. Guess those dastardly mid-'90s standards wouldn't let Trent realize his "true vision".

* The 2017 remaster of ''Music/ColourByNumbers'' by Music/CultureClub is one of the most horrific examples, as the mastering is so artificially boosted in volume that some quieter instruments are nearly ''[[UpToEleven completely inaudible]]''. "Mister Man", for example, has a quirky percussion instrument in the left channel during the verses; in the remaster, it's almost entirely ''missing''. Needless to say, it's a disastrous butchering of a fantastic album, and should never be listened to by anyone.

* Music/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas are '''REALLY''' bad with this, but the icing on the shit-cake has to be 2019's ''Hypertoughness'', which measures at a '''[=DR2=]'''. [[http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/view/171274 See for yourself]].

* Music/DepecheMode's album ''Music/PlayingTheAngel'' actually maxes out in places, used more egregiously at the very start of "A Pain That I'm Used To", which is the first song on the album. The heavy indulgence in this trope remains a common point of criticism surrounding the album, and the lack of it on the LP version led to it becoming the most coveted vinyl release in the band's discography.

* Music/{{Genesis|Band}}' entire catalogue was remastered in 2007 and 2008. [[DigitalDestruction It was not an improvement.]]

* Music/{{ACDC}}'s 2003 remasters (done by George Marino) are very loud and compressed, but they don't clip, and compression artifacts are harder to distinguish than most brickwalled [=CDs=] - plus, the EQ is very good. However, his master of 2008's ''Black Ice'' is atrocious - it seems that the band or label asked for it to be ''louder'' than the remaster series, and the only thing Marino could do was exaggerate the bass. Each time the kick drum hits, the other instruments get moved about in the stereo field or seem to disappear altogether. It's worst in the opening track, "Rock 'n' Roll Train" (especially the four hits right before the final chorus), but it's present on nearly every track and was not there on any of the remasters. Marino did not master the 2009 ''Backtracks'' box set, and died before ''Rock Or Bust'' was recorded; both are also poorly mastered.

* The original release of Music/TheRollingStones' ''Music/ABiggerBang'', plus the entire 2009 remaster catalog. It's unknown if there's a difference between the 2005 and 2009 version of ''Bang''. Sadly, all archival releases (like the "From The Vault" live series) are done by the same team. Stick to the Bob Ludwig-mastered 1994 Virgin [=CDs=] for the '70s and '80s stuff.

* Music/{{Genesis}}' entire catalogue was remastered in 2007 and 2008. [[DigitalDestruction It was not an improvement.]]

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* ''VideoGame/Haven2020'''s OST by Danger (of ''VideoGame/{{Furi}}'' fame) is massively clipped on nearly every track, e.g. the BattleThemeMusic pieces "Ready When You Are" and "Now Or Never" are more or less solid brick walls. Especially egregious with the soundtrack being mainly atmospheric electro-synthwave. Unlike the ''Furi'' OST, it does not have a vinyl edition.