diff --git a/pmd-cli/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/internal/PmdRootLogger.java b/pmd-cli/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/internal/PmdRootLogger.java
index 54f23ad079..7ac9751425 100644
--- a/pmd-cli/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/internal/PmdRootLogger.java
+++ b/pmd-cli/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/internal/PmdRootLogger.java
@@ -44,6 +44,10 @@ public final class PmdRootLogger {
                 // need to reload the logger with the new configuration
                 log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(PMD_CLI_LOGGER);
                 resetLogLevel = true;
+
+                // logging, mostly for testing purposes
+                Level defaultLogLevel = Slf4jSimpleConfiguration.getDefaultLogLevel();
+                log.debug("Log level is at {}", defaultLogLevel);
             }
 
             PmdReporter pmdReporter = setupMessageReporter();
@@ -68,9 +72,6 @@ public final class PmdRootLogger {
         PmdReporter pmdReporter = new SimpleMessageReporter(log);
         // always install java.util.logging to slf4j bridge
         Slf4jSimpleConfiguration.installJulBridge();
-        // logging, mostly for testing purposes
-        Level defaultLogLevel = Slf4jSimpleConfiguration.getDefaultLogLevel();
-        log.info("Log level is at {}", defaultLogLevel);
         return pmdReporter;
     }
 }
diff --git a/pmd-cli/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/CpdCliTest.java b/pmd-cli/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/CpdCliTest.java
index 11eceafc15..af1eee72aa 100644
--- a/pmd-cli/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/CpdCliTest.java
+++ b/pmd-cli/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/CpdCliTest.java
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.startsWith;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.emptyString;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.not;
 
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
@@ -90,7 +91,7 @@ class CpdCliTest extends BaseCliTest {
     @Test
     void debugLogging() throws Exception {
         CliExecutionResult result = runCliSuccessfully("--debug", "--minimum-tokens", "340", "--dir", SRC_DIR);
-        result.checkStdErr(containsString("[main] INFO net.sourceforge.pmd.cli - Log level is at TRACE"));
+        result.checkStdErr(containsString("[DEBUG] Log level is at TRACE"));
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -102,7 +103,7 @@ class CpdCliTest extends BaseCliTest {
     @Test
     void defaultLogging() throws Exception {
         CliExecutionResult result = runCliSuccessfully("--minimum-tokens", "340", "--dir", SRC_DIR);
-        result.checkStdErr(containsString("[main] INFO net.sourceforge.pmd.cli - Log level is at INFO"));
+        result.checkStdErr(not(containsString("[DEBUG] Log level is at TRACE")));
     }
 
     @Test
diff --git a/pmd-cli/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/PmdCliTest.java b/pmd-cli/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/PmdCliTest.java
index b03fe815f9..85958562fd 100644
--- a/pmd-cli/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/PmdCliTest.java
+++ b/pmd-cli/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/PmdCliTest.java
@@ -199,14 +199,13 @@ class PmdCliTest extends BaseCliTest {
     @Test
     void debugLogging() throws Exception {
         CliExecutionResult result = runCliSuccessfully("--debug", "--dir", srcDir.toString(), "--rulesets", RULESET_NO_VIOLATIONS);
-        result.checkStdErr(containsString("[main] INFO net.sourceforge.pmd.cli - Log level is at TRACE"));
+        result.checkStdErr(containsString("[DEBUG] Log level is at TRACE"));
     }
 
     @Test
     void defaultLogging() throws Exception {
         CliExecutionResult result = runCliSuccessfully("--dir", srcDir.toString(), "--rulesets", RULESET_NO_VIOLATIONS);
-        result.checkStdErr(containsString("[main] INFO net.sourceforge.pmd.cli - Log level is at INFO"));
-        result.checkStdErr(not(containsPattern("Adding file .*"))); // not in debug mode
+        result.checkStdErr(not(containsString("[DEBUG] Log level is at TRACE")));
     }
 
     @Test
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/test/resources/simplelogger.properties b/pmd-core/src/test/resources/simplelogger.properties
index eb4277c2cb..cbffab1517 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/test/resources/simplelogger.properties
+++ b/pmd-core/src/test/resources/simplelogger.properties
@@ -5,11 +5,11 @@
 org.slf4j.simpleLogger.logFile=System.err
 org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showDateTime=false
 org.slf4j.simpleLogger.dateTimeFormat=yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSXXX
-org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showThreadName=true
+org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showThreadName=false
 org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showThreadId=false
-org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showLogName=true
+org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showLogName=false
 org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showShortLogName=false
-org.slf4j.simpleLogger.levelInBrackets=false
+org.slf4j.simpleLogger.levelInBrackets=true
 
 # Default log level for all loggers
 # Must be one of "trace", "debug", "info", "warn", "error" or "off"
diff --git a/pmd-dist/src/main/resources/conf/simplelogger.properties b/pmd-dist/src/main/resources/conf/simplelogger.properties
index eb4277c2cb..cbffab1517 100644
--- a/pmd-dist/src/main/resources/conf/simplelogger.properties
+++ b/pmd-dist/src/main/resources/conf/simplelogger.properties
@@ -5,11 +5,11 @@
 org.slf4j.simpleLogger.logFile=System.err
 org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showDateTime=false
 org.slf4j.simpleLogger.dateTimeFormat=yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSXXX
-org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showThreadName=true
+org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showThreadName=false
 org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showThreadId=false
-org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showLogName=true
+org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showLogName=false
 org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showShortLogName=false
-org.slf4j.simpleLogger.levelInBrackets=false
+org.slf4j.simpleLogger.levelInBrackets=true
 
 # Default log level for all loggers
 # Must be one of "trace", "debug", "info", "warn", "error" or "off"
diff --git a/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/BinaryDistributionIT.java b/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/BinaryDistributionIT.java
index 57c5de0638..f9dd400565 100644
--- a/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/BinaryDistributionIT.java
+++ b/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/BinaryDistributionIT.java
@@ -171,13 +171,13 @@ class BinaryDistributionIT extends AbstractBinaryDistributionTest {
 
         result = PMDExecutor.runPMD(createTemporaryReportFile(), tempDir, "-d", srcDir, "-R", "src/test/resources/rulesets/sample-ruleset.xml");
         result.assertExitCode(4);
-        result.assertErrorOutputContains("[main] INFO net.sourceforge.pmd.cli - Log level is at INFO");
+        result.assertNoErrorInReport("[DEBUG] Log level is at TRACE");
 
 
         // now with debug
         result = PMDExecutor.runPMD(createTemporaryReportFile(), tempDir, "-d", srcDir, "-R", "src/test/resources/rulesets/sample-ruleset.xml", "--debug");
         result.assertExitCode(4);
-        result.assertErrorOutputContains("[main] INFO net.sourceforge.pmd.cli - Log level is at TRACE");
+        result.assertErrorOutputContains("[DEBUG] Log level is at TRACE");
     }
 
     @Test
diff --git a/pmd-test/src/main/resources/simplelogger.properties b/pmd-test/src/main/resources/simplelogger.properties
index eb4277c2cb..cbffab1517 100644
--- a/pmd-test/src/main/resources/simplelogger.properties
+++ b/pmd-test/src/main/resources/simplelogger.properties
@@ -5,11 +5,11 @@
 org.slf4j.simpleLogger.logFile=System.err
 org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showDateTime=false
 org.slf4j.simpleLogger.dateTimeFormat=yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSXXX
-org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showThreadName=true
+org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showThreadName=false
 org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showThreadId=false
-org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showLogName=true
+org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showLogName=false
 org.slf4j.simpleLogger.showShortLogName=false
-org.slf4j.simpleLogger.levelInBrackets=false
+org.slf4j.simpleLogger.levelInBrackets=true
 
 # Default log level for all loggers
 # Must be one of "trace", "debug", "info", "warn", "error" or "off"