Everything Louder than Everything Else: Amplification and the Aesthetics of Volume

In this article, I explore the question of how loudness or volume appears as a feature of recorded music. To examine loudness means to seek to understand some of the distinct properties of amplified sound and the tools and techniques that have been used to produce – and reproduce – that sound. Also at issue here is a new vantage point to consider the subject of fidelity, one of the principal values that has driven the evolution of sound recording technologies and technical developments over time. How could recordings faithfully capture and transmit the sound of loudness? This dilemma is at the crux of my inquiry. To address it, I consider a select range of recordings by the artists Deep Purple, the MC5, Blue Cheer, and Randy Holden, where the aesthetics of volume can be heard taking shape.