Why Does All Music Sound the Same; An Explanation

Mainstream music is essentially fast food ie McDonalds for the ears.  I wouldn't worry about it too much unless you are an audiophile who imbibes mostly on mainstream/pop music.   If it's a catchy enough tune, isn't that enough?

mapman said:

" Compressed dynamics and excessive loudness are two different but often related things. "

That makes sense to me. It is my understanding that it is pushing the loudness that compresses the dynamic range.

And:

" I wouldn’t worry about it too much unless you are an audiophile who imbibes mostly on mainstream/pop music."

I guess it all depends on what you call other people’s music. ;-)

I do not consider Tedeschi Trucks as mainstream or pop. Likewise with Gary Clark, Jr and Alabama Shakes.

The dynamic range in their CDs and downloads all look pretty bad from a DR standpoint. That’s my point. What we are ascribing to throw-away music is being seen in more serious ’artistic’ efforts. And it is a shame because all of their work could/should be appreciated at an audiophile level.

And:

" If it’s a catchy enough tune, isn’t that enough?"

Agreed. I’m into a new band called The Struts. Guitar heavy good-time glam-pop that sounds good on my car stereo. Not too worried about its DR or loudness (which is not as bad as I was expecting.)

Uh, dynamic range is a ratio. Loudness is not a ratio. Loudness I.e., level is what the remastering engineer can boost since the peaks of dynamic range will be lower when he compresses it. You wouldn’t want to blow up someone’s precious iPod, would you? You cannot get more dynamic range by turning up the volume however. In that sense they’re not related. They’re not related mathematically. For a given CD the DR is constant. Loudness obviously is not a constant.

+1 Geoff.
The high amount of compression is called brickwalling. The lows are pushed up and and the highs are limited by not allowing any peaks, they are all at the same level.
The result is no range in the bass, no range in the highs. All instruments lose their separation including vocals and all are at the same level, which means the same volume when played.