What is Volume?

Another seemingly simple question. However, as with most things I cover on GrooveMints, you can dive deep into the details if you really want to. Volume, in real terms, is simple — it's how loud any sound or collection of sounds is. Quieter sounds are harder to hear, while louder sounds can literally be felt by your body. But there are many facets to volume that depend on context.

Musical Volume

For musicians, volume usually means dynamics, and it's very relative to what they're playing and who they're playing with. One thing that may not be obvious to laypeople is that experienced musicians don't just play their instruments well — they also know how to play with others, actively adjusting their performance to fit the song and ensemble. It's basically a form of live audio mixing using musicians instead of sliders on a mixing desk. Often, this is the role of a conductor in ensemble settings, making sure no instrument or section overpowers the others and presenting the composition in the best light.

Of course, to a musician, volume isn't as tangible as a decibel readout on an audio meter. Volume is felt—it's an emotional, storytelling tool. Composers and audio engineers can tap into this to evoke specific feelings, grooves, or atmospheres.

The Loudness Wars

The loudness wars are one of the most infamous parts of music history from an audio engineering perspective. There are many aspects I can't cover in depth here, but for the uninitiated, the loudness wars started around the '90s. As technology improved and digital formats like CDs gained popularity, recording labels and studios pushed to make songs sound louder. With digital audio effects making this easier, songs throughout the '90s and 2000s got progressively louder.

As songs competed for radio playtime, a louder track instinctively sounded better to consumers, even if musically that wasn't true. Record labels saw this as a reason to keep pushing volume, and dynamics in modern music started to disappear. There were moments of backlash, but ultimately it didn't stop the loudness wars. It's safe to say the loudness wars are over—and loudness won. This is why if you play a record from the '80s (with its original mix), it will sound much quieter than any modern track.

When streaming services entered the scene, they tried to improve things by setting loudness standards so tracks would be leveled. However, this hasn't done much for dynamics, as loudness has become the norm.

Personally, I wish there were better, enforced standards for audio loudness. But I get why loudness won—it just sounds better to most ears than something with extreme dynamics. It's a lesson I'm still learning. I often wonder why my songs don't sound the same as mainstream music, and part of it is because I don't compress my music as harshly to achieve that modern pop sound.