How Loud is your song?

What is Loudness?

Loudness is the attribute of a sound that determines the magnitude of the auditory sensation produced and that primarily depends on the amplitude of the sound wave involved. 

How it is measured?

The loudness of sound is measured in decibels (dB). This is actually a measure of intensity, which relates to how much energy the pressure wave has. Decibels are a relative measurement. 

Since the decibel uses a human threshold as a constant, any sound pressure that is lower than the threshold of the hearing will register as a negative decibel. The actual pressure level in pascals would still be a positive value. For audio, 0 dB means that your ears just start to hear something in complete silence.

How loudness has changed over the years?

Loudness has increased by almost 50% from The Jazz Era to The Modern Era. The following trend is observed because of the shift in instruments used and introduction of technology in the production of music such as electric guitars in the place of acoustic ones, electronically producing music using computers, etc.

Average Song Duration

Average length of a song

According to news reports, the average length of a song is now significantly shorter. The average length of a song on the Billboard Hot 100 has decreased by 20 seconds in the past five years.  Songs now average 3 minutes and 30 seconds — and are steadily shrinking.

6% of hit songs also averaged 2 minutes and 30 seconds or shorter last year, and sub-3 minute songs are becoming increasingly common.

According to Quartz, low streaming music payouts recently might have caused songs duration to decrease.

Learning dance when beats gets going! 

From the graph you can see that, The relationship for a good song to be danceable is not going overboard with your beats or under lying your beats so people can't dance. Most popular electronic songs have a nice pace of beats throughout their song to engage the audience.