I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine about headphones and how the listening experience has changed along with the timeline of vinyl, CD, and streaming formats. Especially with digital music and streaming, where it just doesn't sound near as good, full, and dynamic as it used to. And she said a sentence that stopped me in my tracks:
“Streaming is all mastered for loudness, not depth.”
She was talking about audio quality, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it applies to far more than music.
It applies to how we design experiences for events.
A World Optimized for Loudness
Much of modern life is optimized to be loud. In music, loudness comes from compression where everything is pushed to the front so it sounds “good” on earbuds, phones, and car speakers. The tradeoff is dynamic range. Quiet moments disappear. The edges get lost.
In live events, loudness shows up differently but feels familiar:
- Bigger production
- Faster pacing
- Constant stimulation
- Very little space to breathe
It looks impressive, grabs attention, but it doesn’t always create connection.
Depth Is What Lingers
Depth works on a different frequency.
Depth has dynamics — contrast between quiet and loud, stillness and release.
Depth has humanity — stories that feel real, imperfect, and lived-in.
And depth has harmony — the experience fits the room, the timing, and the audience. Nothing feels forced or out of scale.
When those elements are present, something interesting happens:
People stop multitasking.
They engage.
They remember.
The Vinyl Version of Live Experiences
Songwriter City experiences are the vinyl of live entertainment.
They’re not compressed, not designed to shout, and they don't rely on spectacle. Instead, they rely on connection.
A world-class songwriter performing a song you recognize. Then telling you why it was written.
A lyric landing differently because of the story behind it.
A room that gets immersed in the moment.
That quiet isn’t empty.
It’s full.
Designing for Depth in a Loud World
As technology accelerates and attention spans shrink, depth is becoming increasingly rare....and increasingly valuable.
Depth doesn’t ask for more volume. It asks for intention.
It asks us to:
- Leave space
- Trust the quiet moments
- Let humanity lead
- Design experiences that feel right, not just big
Because the moments that stay with us, the ones people talk about months or years later, aren’t mastered for loudness.
They’re mastered for depth. And that's where moments that matter are made.
- Mike
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