I'm sorry but the first song is a white box for me. Can you give the name?

^
I switched them to Grooveshark links.

EDIT: Also, the Grizzly Bear song was recorded in someone's house, so you can't say it's because of some fancy modern studio. The issue is either in modern recording equipment and/or in the mixing process.

Thanks. I could definitely hear that the other one was a lot louder at the same volume level, but like you said, it gives it a different type of sound. I think both have their ups and downs. I think both achieve different effects..if only they were more aware of that..

Sometimes I think the louder/clearer sound is better for stuff like heavily electric/synthesizer songs or anything you want to have a big, sort-of "epic" sound, but when you've a mellow acoustic piece the softer, warmer, fuzzier production works better. I think that Grizzly Bear song would sound a little better if they had gone through a time machine and borrowed Carole King's 1972 recording equipment. ;)

Depends what you mean by "louder". A lot of the modern mastering uses a ton of compression to squeeze every last bit of volume into the song, sacrificing dynamics in the process.

Meh. If I want to hear some kind of folk, I'm going for something from the seventies, but if I want something to completely pummel my brain into submission (as I often do), I want something so loud that I can't even think straight. Thankfully Rick Rubin's production does kind of the same thing, so Reign in Blood still sounds loud as **** even if it's from 1986. But in general, I'm perfectly happy to have an album be senselessly loud, since I'm not as interested in the specifics as I am the overall effect. So I have an affinity for albums after the early nineties.

And an affinity for threads from 2014.

It's all Rick Rubin's fault. I enjoy it when that approach is taken with mindless abrasion (Merzbow, some extreme metal and punk) as opposed to Red Hot Chili Peppers or other bands focusing more on melodies. It just whitewashes everything too much. Can you imagine what Blue would sound like with Rick Rubin as the producer? (Not that she would ever hire him.)

It's not my fault that the new poster was a spammer. Apparently I had things to say.

As other posters have noted, there is this thing called The Loudness War. It presumably started by someone wanting their song to "stand out" on the radio - most likely the record company rather than the artist. I doubt that it has a lot to do with "heavy music" such as metal, as I think it's a cross-genre phenomenon.

You could say just turn down the volume - why is it a problem? The problem is that the extra loudness is achieved by dynamic compression, i.e. the softer sounds are amplified more, the louder ones not amplified so much, losing dynamic range.

Steven Wilson is one artist who has a bit of a crusade against the loudness wars. On one of his albums he actually suggests in the liner notes to use the volume knob if you find the music too quiet or too loud.

I have four Midnight Oil albums. Two of them are recorded noticeably louder than the other two. While I don't notice any compromising of sound quality, the volume disparity is very annoying, because if I want to play all the albums together in "shuffle" mode, I find myself constantly having to turn the volume up or down as a new song starts.