too much compression - interesting article

[Red Kite]

Great article, thanks for posting!

But I too think it depends on the music. The loudest CD I ever heard was a uitar Wolf album, but I don't want it a bit quiter! This is supposed to sound aggressive as hell, and over-compression can to a lot for that purpose. I bought another Guitar Wolf album on vinyl, and it just don't sound the same, even when I raise the volume to the same level.

I think with techno the problem is not the muchthe compression of the recordings, but the compression in the clubs. Would like to hear some breathing of the music there, but usually the clubs just try to get as much out of their speakers as possible and that really hurts your ears.

[victorgonzales]

Great article, thanks for posting!

But I too think it depends on the music. The loudest CD I ever heard was a uitar Wolf album, but I don't want it a bit quiter! This is supposed to sound aggressive as hell, and over-compression can to a lot for that purpose. I bought another Guitar Wolf album on vinyl, and it just don't sound the same, even when I raise the volume to the same level.

I think with techno the problem is not the muchthe compression of the recordings, but the compression in the clubs. Would like to hear some breathing of the music there, but usually the clubs just try to get as much out of their speakers as possible and that really hurts your ears.

That is very true. Teh clubs do some mean sh!t to your songs sometimes.

[Bogdan]

http://www.soundenterprises.com/
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Ron+Murphy

[Der geile Ami]

I think with techno the problem is not the muchthe compression of the recordings, but the compression in the clubs. Would like to hear some breathing of the music there, but usually the clubs just try to get as much out of their speakers as possible and that really hurts your ears.

This is because most djs do not know how to use a mixer. If the performers are constantly overdriving the input signal and mixing hte mains and monitors at full, of course the club is going to try to preserve their gear. A limiter will catch peaks, but redlining everything raises the average level.

It is a hard struggle. A problem I have with far too many live acts is that their mix is not compressed to the point of typical records. Too often the signal has to be raised to the point of clipping to keep up with hte overall intensity of where djs play. This has nothing to do with the sound systems. If the pa is at its physical limit, raising the volume is not going to make anyhting better. If the pa has plenty of headroom, the input gains are still in the trash. Add a generation of people that have heard enough music as dangerous levels and it exacerbates the situation. argh.

[Red Kite]

This is because most djs do not know how to use a mixer. If the performers are constantly overdriving the input signal and mixing hte mains and monitors at full, of course the club is going to try to preserve their gear. A limiter will catch peaks, but redlining everything raises the average level.

This is absolutely true of course. Sometimes the sound is already heavily clipped before it even reaches an compressor. Sometimes I see DJs playing, and the led on the mixer never even leaves the maximum red lights.

But sometimes clubs just overuse compressors to compensate that their sound system isn't actually good enough for the volumes they try to reach (Tresor Batterieraum for example, or most small after hour clubs in Berlin) and that isn't very nice to your ears.

[sorgenkind]

so that's somehow proving some things imho:
-very few people at party are aware about sound quality issues, it just have to be loud, whereas the paradox is that our body’s adrenalin production reaches it’s peak when we are exposed to 93 dB SPL, by e.g. a 95 dB SPL exposure the adrenalin production sinks.
-club owner still haven't realized how the music listening experience plays a role in club enjoyment... I mean there have been so many parties where after a while I had to leave cause the PA quality was fatiguing my ears. Still, I ask myself why the heck is so difficult for people to understand that if you drive your PA at maximum 75% of it’s power it will sound at ist best, this is not the case if you use the 100% of ist power.
-some producers are way too much in the "ultramaximizer trip" and the keep on maximizing everything, and this is also caused by the fact that our track’s loudness has to compete with the „pro“ mastered ones. I did a post about this very topic some time ago here in this forum.

I realize that people who have musically grown up with overcompressed mp3 (aren't the younger between us the so called mp3 generation? I maybe belong to it too being myself 29, despite the fact that I firmly refuse to shell cash for an mp3 player) does not feel the lack of dynamics as we do since they never heard it (or very little), so it’s not their (our) fault, but still we could try to get over this trend.

[New Guy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4h ... ed&search=