Dynamic Range Day!

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I support this movement, however, there's something they appear to have missed.

An awful lot of recorded music these days is played back through clock radios, speakers built into a laptop, and tiny iPod docks.

Only one of the above has a built-in compressor (or at least, my laptop seems to) to prevent it from clipping when turned up.
The other two will, more often than not, simply clip.

Who wants to listen to a track where they can't hear half of it, and the other half sounds like its been run through a guitarist's distortion pedal?
People will simply pick something else to listen to.

Until all devices that can't cope with dynamics have built-in compressors, we'll never get the full dynamic range.

Chris
 
Mr Orban Has A Lot To Answer For...

The 'Loudness War' sound is pretty much the norm for live sound too nowadays...digital live desks with on board dynamics processing encourages over use of limiting/compression.
That said a lot of modern music is mega processed on stage way before it hits any PA....guitar and bass sounds are uber distorted, multiband compressed, limited, eq'd and mangled....before they hit any on stage speakers (often an isolation cabinet)...and then the PA.

james1993rack.jpg


Metallica guitar rack (for example)

So the CD sound is not all that far removed from the live sound really.
The big problem starts when over enthusiastic multi-band processing is applied before broadcasting, usually FM commercial stations....the net result is often a fatiguing distorted mess.
In contrast my local community FM station employs a single band compressor that mostly serves as an AGC stage...the on-air sound is very pleasantly 'hi-fi' despite a degree of compression and peak limiting.

Dan.

There are many interesting links on that FB page (I am already a subscriber) including this - Loudness means NOTHING on the radio - The Proof
 
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