Dynamics - LP records. (1 Viewer)

[Philip Hamm]

I don't know if it's just me.
Recently I've been recording a lot of my records to CD using the ADC in my Sony minidisc deck to convert to digital, then going optical into my computer.
I've noticed that the dynamics of many of my records (mostly bought in the late 70's through early 90s) is extreme. When I see the WAV file in SoundForge it's obvious that the dynamics within each song are really MUCH more dramatic than most CDs. I know CDs typically use lots of audio compression, but it's very dramatic to see the difference with my own eyes in the WAV files.
As a rule I do NOTHING to my WAV files once created except remove major pops and ticks from the vinyl if I can, and normalize the WAV file to 0dB.

 

[RicP]

I've noticed that the dynamics of many of my records (mostly bought in the late 70's through early 90s) is extreme. When I see the WAV file in SoundForge it's obvious that the dynamics within each song are really MUCH more dramatic than most CDs

Sad isn't it? CDs these days are compressed beyond belief. Unfortunately the music industry thinks that all music buyers believe that louder = better.

 

[Rick_Brown]

Do you mean that the album's producer has compressed the music or that the record company has forced this on him? Surely a big league producer, if he wanted a dynamic CD, could specify less compression when mastering? Is this a conspiracy or just the way modern producers produce?

 

[Philip Hamm]

? Is this a conspiracy or just the way modern producers produce?

A lot of both.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

When I see the WAV file in SoundForge it's obvious that the dynamics within each song are really MUCH more dramatic than most CDs. I know CDs typically use lots of audio compression, but it's very dramatic to see the difference with my own eyes in the WAV files.

It sure is. If you know the songs well enough, when you view the waveform in SoundForge or any other editor you can see individual peaks and associate them with certain portions of the song. Not so with modern CDs. Modern CDs have no distinguishable peaks, they're just constant and continuous loudness. When you look at the waveform you almost can't tell that it's supposed to be music.

Who is to blame? There must have been a mastering engineer who sold his soul and used compression to make a CD loud for the sake of being loud. Maybe the artist told him to do it, and the engineer couldn't convince the artist that this was a bad idea. This CD became the envy of other artists, who told their engineers "I want my CD to be louder than that." These engineers had even less chance to convince the artists that it was a bad idea, because it had already been done once. Then comes the digital technology to make it easier than ever to ruin the dynamic range. And down the slippery slope it went.

If only there had been enough foresight 10 or more years ago to put a "loudness" button on all CD players, which would activate a dynamic range compression circuit during playback and make all CDs sound equally loud. (My car CD player has one, it's actually honestly labeled "compression".) Then the actual music on the CD could have been left untainted, preserving the full dynamic range for those of us who know that louder does not equal better. But of course the manufacturers would have balked at such an idea because it would have increased the price of CD players at a time when they were becoming ubiquitous.