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Compressed CD's - What to watch for?

post #1 of 6
12/28/06 at 6:52pm
Thread Starter 
After reading the whole thread on compression and being the victim of two poorly engineered CD's I thought it may not be a bad idea to post a good/bad list for people to check out.

Once I pointed it out to my wife and showed her a few CD's in our collection she picked right up on it.

We bought Prince's Hits 1&2 and it says that they were handled by him from start to finish and you can really tell. His stuff from 25 years ago sounds just as good as the stuff from 2 years ago.

Think it might be a good idea to start a list of poorly produced CD's?
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post #2 of 6
12/29/06 at 2:11am

Re: Compressed CD's - What to watch for?

It would be pointless. Seriously, it would be 95%+ of modern rock/pop/rap CDs. Basically classical and jazz (and maybe folk) would be immune. And a few select rock/pop acts who still retain musical control over their CD mastering (very few do).

It almost might be easier to do a list of well mastered CDs and just assume that if it doesn't make the list, it's overcompressed
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post #3 of 6
12/29/06 at 2:48pm

Re: Compressed CD's - What to watch for?

Agreed. Just about any pop/rock CD produced since about '97 (or an older release remastered since that time) would be a candidate for the over-compressed entry.

In the late 90s, they discovered they could simply cranked up the level and let things clip. Today, they wash everything through digital limiters and compressers and then crank up the level so that while it's darned loud, nothing actually clips 0dbfs anymore. They actually top out just shy of hitting the ceiling - but everything is still slammed at that ceiling.
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post #4 of 6
12/29/06 at 3:55pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Compressed CD's - What to watch for?

Well then a list of good CD's is just as good.

We've been listening to Prince's The Hits 1&2 for the past day. Its an incredible sounding CD. It easily bests my SACD's and DVD-Audios for definition and is very natural.

Love on DVD-A is a fantastic recording to but its not nearly as natural as this, plus Prince's range of music puts everything out there.

I'm assuming he was involved start to finish on these CD's since they are produced under Paisleypark. Everything is so clear and clean.

Its a shame that the rest of my collection doesn't sound like this.

Even if your not a fan you might want to pick this one up. I'm not a big fan of his R&B stuff but I've been listening to it non-stop. Hell if he can make electronic keyboards sound good then there must be something to it

I wonder if any of the rags ever reviewed this.
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post #5 of 6
12/29/06 at 6:11pm

Re: Compressed CD's - What to watch for?

Crosby,Stills and Nash's 1st album[latest remaster]sounds quite good also.
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post #6 of 6
12/29/06 at 6:14pm

Re: Compressed CD's - What to watch for?

Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinJ
Crosby,Stills and Nash's 1st album[latest remaster]sounds quite good also.

Too bad they didn't do a new expanded remaster for "Deja Vu." I still need to pick up (let alone FIND) the new one for "Daylight Again."
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