Have you noticed music is louder now than it used to be? Put on a track from the 80's or earlier and compare it to a song you hear now. As a general trend, there is an increase in volume from an almost transparent effect called "compression". Compression allows mastering engineers to make songs sound fuller while maintaining the same maximum audio level.

This trend has been growing over the years, and Metallica's latest album Death Magnetic is what many audio engineers hope is the last push in this ever louder direction.

To illustrate, take Enter Sandman from 1991. Here is a picture of it's wave form from CoolEdit. Notice it has lots of ups and downs (louds and softs), this is dynamics. I've also never heard anyone say "I wish Enter Sandman had less dynamics".



Now take End of the Line off Metallica's Death Magnetic (2008). This album is so loud that all the nuances of instruments and dynamics are gone.



All the dynamics have been squished out of this song in an effort for ear blistering volume. I was so annoyed by it I had to make this inspirational poster:



(No, I'm not saying Metallica sucks).

JonV