14 Jan
2008
14 Jan
'08
5:49 p.m.
On Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:44:34 -1000
david <gnome(a)hawaii.rr.com> wrote:
Compressed music avoids the radio station nightmare of
quiet passages -
listeners might think something's wrong with the station and switch to
another station. Any "selling better" effect is only because radio
stations simply refuse to play uncompressed music.
That was not the argument I have always heard in favour of "loud mastering".
After all, if the radio stations wanted to they could always compress the material as it
is broadcast. Perhaps Classic-FM (UK classical station) already do this as classical CDs
tend to have much more dynamic range and are thus hard to listen to in the car because the
quiet passages get lost in noise whereas Classic FMs radio output seems to be less prone
to the problem. I have often thought that the car CD player should offer a compressor but
I'd want it under my control and still have the option of hearing the same CD at home
with the full dynamic range.
Back to the reasons for "loud mastering" - I had heard it was to get people to
notice the song, i.e. if it was louder sounding than the rest people would suddenly notice
it. Of course once one producer does it the others have to follow and a kind of war
ensues.
Steve.