On Fri, 15 Dec 2000 05:18:31 -0600, David Shin wrote:
I already sent a reply for this question, but wanted to clarify something. I mentioned CD's that are compressed as well as amplified in the final mixing stage. The compression I'm referring to is increasing quiet passages to match the loudest passages. So that's how the peaks and lows disappear. I think all radio broadcasts are compressed like this. So if you're in a car, you don't have to turn up the volume in order to hear the quiet parts of a song, as it's all the same loudness. You can also get Winamp plug-ins that compress the audio on-the-fly, such as AudioStocker and RockSteady. However, most pure audiophiles detest such sound bastardization of course.
Radio stations further compress the already mastered material with multiband comppressors(www.prorec.com has good articles on that). Optimod for example is a five band compressor of this nature($12000). The main reason for pushing up the sound to their transmission limiters is NOT primarily because of dynamics. It plays a part of course, but the executives(never the guy actualy making the settings on the Optimod) demand loudness. I've never heard of anyone else wanting so much destruction of dynamics for loudness. The guy at one of the four most popular radio stations told me he'd made the compression 'nice' sounding and promptly got a call from the boss as to why they weren't as loud as the others any longer.
Audio amateurs and business professionals are executives in one skin.
Tony