“You either had L1 and L2 and you were able to get a loud mix, or you didn’t, and you were an amateur”: Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Doja Cat and Billie Eilish mastering engineers reflect on the loudness wars, and ponder whether they really are over

Howie Weinberg.

Back in the noughties, such was the impact of the so-called ‘loudness was’ that they weren’t just something that music technology nerds talked about - consumers were noticing their impact, too.

Perhaps the biggest battle was fought over Metallica’s 2008 album Death Magnetic, which had been pushed so hard that fans complained of audible clipping when they listened to it.