2026 Grammy Record of the Year loudness analysis

[EERecordist]

An engineer (not me) did a loudness analysis of this year's Grammy best record nominees. I think some ASR members have done similar analysis. It is not my area of expertise on how to do it.

Bottom line is that almost all of the recordings are loud and compressed.

Record of the Year is not classical, jazz, or another genre with a lot acoustic instruments

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2026 Grammy Mastering Analysis: A Closer Look at the LUFS, Loudness, and Dynamics of the Record of the Year Nominees - WaveInformer

In this article, I’m undertaking a 2026 Grammy mastering analysis of the songs nominated for Record of the Year at the upcoming Grammy Awards. Mastering has

waveinformer.com

BTW one of his tools was from Izope. Izope is from Native Instruments of Germany. They have financial problems.

Native Instruments enters preliminary insolvency

It's unclear at this time what the news will mean for existing users of Massive, Kontakt, Maschine and any of the brand's other industry leading products.

musictech.com

 

[Audioagnostic]

I don't care about loudness that much, as does the author of the article, but I enjoyed this quote:"It’s safe to say that if the loudness war is over, that loudness has won."

 

[respice finem]

So, "loudness war" is still a thing. Not really surprising for me, millions of people listen casually and/or outdoors, in their cars etc.

 

[markstein]

What a fu*ked up industry (excuse my language).

Quote from the analysis posted above:
"Clearly mastering engineers aren’t hesitant to exceed full scale, likely turning off True Peak modes on their limiters, or using limiters without that specific function. APT., with values of +2.18 and +1.53 exceeded full scale by the most."

So, intersample clipping remains a topic, and loudness war still is not over...

 

[mcochris]

Several of the tracks exceed 0 dB true peak, with one reaching roughly +2 dBTP. While loudness-war targets explain high LUFS, I’m less clear on the technical rationale for allowing that level of true-peak overshoot, given the potential for DAC reconstruction clipping and codec distortion.

Does Amir measure or comment on DAC behavior with intersample peaks / true-peak overs, or is testing generally limited to 0 dBFS-bounded signals?

 

[markstein]

Does Amir measure or comment on DAC behavior with intersample peaks / true-peak overs, or is testing generally limited to 0 dBFS-bounded signals?

No, unfortunately not.

It was often requested and often refused...

 

[mcochris]

 

[Juhazi]

Grammy Record of the Year Award has nothing to do with quality of any kind. Some other categories might give a try on that... but who cares!

https://www.grammy.com/news/2026-grammys-nominations-full-winners-nominees-list

 

[dasdoing]

Several of the tracks exceed 0 dB true peak, with one reaching roughly +2 dBTP. While loudness-war targets explain high LUFS, I’m less clear on the technical rationale for allowing that level of true-peak overshoot, given the potential for DAC reconstruction clipping and codec distortion.

Does Amir measure or comment on DAC behavior with intersample peaks / true-peak overs, or is testing generally limited to 0 dBFS-bounded signals?

They go by ear. You won't hear a single sample distorting....but you would hear the limiter reacting to it.

 

[markstein]

They go by ear. You won't hear a single sample distorting....but you would hear the limiter reacting to it.

That depends on the individual DAC the listener is using.

 

[sergeauckland]

They go by ear. You won't hear a single sample distorting....but you would hear the limiter reacting to it.

This has been known for very many years in FM broadcasting where clipping, not just limiting, is extensively used. If clipping is controlled, i.e. not used incorrectly, it can allow 1-2dB extra loudness without it becoming noticeable to a listener. As loudness in FM processing had reached the point where it was thought no more could be achieved, allowing clipping as well as brick-wall limiting added a 'useful' extra loudness.

The loudness war came out of FM broadcasting, as surveys showed that CD buyers were complaining that the CDs they bought didn't sound like they heard it on the radio, that record companies decided to go the same way.

Incidentally, FM processing came out of AM processing, which was necessary for good technical reasons, but FM broadcasters realised they could extend the received coverage, which is noise-limited, by processing for loudness.

S.

 

[HalSF]

The Wave Informer analysis post linked in the OP says this in its conclusion:

“I personally feel as if ‘loud’ is simply part of the aesthetic at this point. Producers, musicians, and audiences have become accustomed to the sound of records with lots of limiting, clipping, saturation, etc. and the more aggressively pushed of these records certainly wouldn’t sound the same without these tools having been applied.”

It’s definitely the aesthetic for these hyper-commercial pop artists (with the Billie Eilish track being a modest outlier). The genre’s a lost cause from the audiophile perspective. But since this kind of pop music is only a tiny percentage of the new music I listen to, a sweeping pronouncement like “loudness has won the loudness war” is somewhat overwrought based on the much less brutally crushed music I’m generally hearing. No reason to be an absolute doomer if you keep the wider view in perspective.

 

[scrubb]

I listened to parts of most of the tracks listed from Mac > Modi3 > Magni Heretic > Truthear Crinicle Red Zero and they're loud and also mostly bad. Billie Eilish sounded the best with the lowest level of peaks and no overshoot. But Rosé / Bruno Mars was horrible, especial in the highs towards the end of the song when it's undoubtedly in +2.18 range. I was hearing a lot of high frequency crackling/sizzle. This is part of why I'm generally not a fan of this sort of pop music - it sounds terrible. Mastering engineers who surpass 0dBfs should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[EERecordist]

This has been known for very many years in FM broadcasting where clipping, not just limiting, is extensively used. If clipping is controlled, i.e. not used incorrectly, it can allow 1-2dB extra loudness without it becoming noticeable to a listener. As loudness in FM processing had reached the point where it was thought no more could be achieved, allowing clipping as well as brick-wall limiting added a 'useful' extra loudness.

The loudness war came out of FM broadcasting, as surveys showed that CD buyers were complaining that the CDs they bought didn't sound like they heard it on the radio, that record companies decided to go the same way.

Incidentally, FM processing came out of AM processing, which was necessary for good technical reasons, but FM broadcasters realised they could extend the received coverage, which is noise-limited, by processing for loudness.

S.

Thanks. ASR has a lot of deep expertise. A long time ago, our college radio station used the Orban Optimod. Here is some history from Mr. Orban.

History By Robert Orban

We had a very good transmitter too. The college eventually curtailed (our independent student programming) claiming it interfered with scientific research instruments. Years later the transmitter moved and now the station today is bland NPR.

Just like ASR does an excellent job at music discovery, college radio and community radio does as well.

 

[sergeauckland]

Thanks. ASR has a lot of deep expertise. A long time ago, our college radio station used the Orban Optimod. Here is some history from Mr. Orban.

History By Robert Orban

We had a very good transmitter too. The college eventually curtailed (our independent student programming) claiming it interfered with scientific research instruments. Years later the transmitter moved and now the station today is bland NPR.

Just like ASR does an excellent job at music discovery, college radio and community radio does as well.

FM Transmitters have come a long way from Tetrode to Solid State to digitally modulated. The Harris Digit drive was one of the earliest all digital modulators which when driven by an Optimod was about SOTA for FM at the time. Our local FM Community FM station that I do the engineering for still has an Optimod 2200 from the late 1990s in daily use.

S.

 

[dasdoing]

That depends on the individual DAC the listener is using.

a single intersample-over will last microseconds. you can't hear it.
it is problematic once you convert to lossy...that's why it became a topic.

 

[markstein]

a single intersample-over will last microseconds. you can't hear it.
it is problematic once you convert to lossy...that's why it became a topic.

At this point, I would like to refer to the various discussions, including those in this forum, on the audibility of intersample clipping.

 

[mcochris]

I don't have any LUFS or dBTP info on these, but perhaps of more interest to ASR readers is in Grammy Field 10, Category 81 & 82

Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical:

• All Things Light (Cam)
• Arcadia (Alison Krauss & Union Station)
• For Melancholy Brunettes (Japanese Breakfast)
• That Wasn't A Dream (Pino Palladino, Blake Mills)

Best Engineered Album, Classical:

• Cerrone: Don't Look Down (Sandbox Percussion)
• Eastman: Symphony No. 2; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2 (Franz Welser-Möst & The Cleveland Orchestra)
• Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth Of The Mtsensk District (Andris Nelsons, Kristine Opolais, Günther Groissböck, Peter Hoare, Brenden Gunnell & Boston Symphony Orchestra)
• Standard Stoppages (Third Coast Percussion)
• Yule (Trio Mediæval)

https://www.grammy.com/2026-nominee-list

 

[TK_IIVI]

An engineer (not me) did a loudness analysis of this year's Grammy best record nominees. I think some ASR members have done similar analysis. It is not my area of expertise on how to do it.

Bottom line is that almost all of the recordings are loud and compressed.

To me it's pretty astonishing. Granted, the numbers only tell us so much, and there are things to consider, but it's amazing how low the loudness range is and how loud things are.

Looking at Wildflower for example it's pretty clear that the track is much "softer" early on and then gets louder. Considering that Integrated is the average across the entire track then if time is spent below XLUFS you also need to spend time above it to reach the average of X. In other words, spend some time at -16LUFS means having to spend some time at -8LUFS to average out at -12LUFS. +/-4. The lower you get the louder you get if the average is to stay the same.

I just listened to the track for the first time (I don't listen to Eilish) and I was a bit surprised at how utterly unremarkable the sound quality was. Incredibly flat drums for example. Uninspiring vocal quality. Granted, my ears are tired after a long heavy work week, but still.

One thing noticed years ago was how quickly I got ear fatigue when listening to modern "popular" music. Basically no chance of lasting an entire album beginning to end actually listening to it. Compare that to virtually any good album from even the 80's and it was night and day. Just something about the compressed nature that makes it fatiguing as hell.

Anyway, thanks for sharing, it was an interesting read.