why cds are "louder" now? (1 Viewer)

[John Watson]

Hmmm. Regarding Compression, louder is still louder. Modifying lows and peaks to ensure punchier sound suitable for people who listen in cars is very different than just making the cds louder. Making cds plain louder has also happened. For the reasons I cited.

About this Compression: the compressed records may communicate better to people who see no need for any soft and low in their life, but for me it's a very boring kind of music. Flanged ear-bleeding sound and monotonous machine precision percussion irritates the hell out of me. High energy only works for a short burst. Like youth.

As a constant din ("New Country", techno-rave) well, let them have it (with due enforcement of reasonable "keeping the peace" by-laws).

But when old records are altered with the new technology to suit this demographic, well, "Look what they've done to the songs, Ma" as Melanie sang, seems relevant. I had "Raw Power" on vinyl, sounds like I wouldn't like it on cd.

I'm not an audiophile or techie (0 is the max?!), and without understanding all the above posts in detail, am grateful for recording and amplification, for radio and cd, because I can listen to a representation of Beethoven, Beatles or Brubeck in my own home.

But it sounds like the technology is out of control, and is harming the "music". And I sure hope the A&R folks and engineers will not reprocess all the classic or jazz music library to meet this need. When the proportion between the peaks and lows is destroyed, the original music is lost, and it's something different.

PS "Square Wave" sounds like a great name for a new group

 

[Joel Fontenot]

The short answer is... yes - in the "line level" world. That is what that CD player, tape player, and turntable after the phono pre-amp stage pumps through those wires before getting amplified. Dead silence is negative infinity and sound is measured in logorithmic steps up to 0. The CD range theortically starts registering around -100 db. Cassette tapes start maybe around -70 to -60 db (depending on DNR and type of tape used). Records start around -50 to -40 db, depending on how isolated the turntable is. Analog signal can go over 0 db but that is where clipping/distortion/saturation begins. In the 16bit CD digital world, sampling values stop at 0 db and gets no higher.

Clear as mud?

Joel

 

[John Watson]

I enjoyed your post Joel.

But negative infinity?

And dead silence is beyond human experience.

"Flat world" was an intellectual tour de force, if I recall correctly, but I kept thinking I would fall over the edge.

Anyway, thanks for trying, but my learning curve these days is a right-angle, and I keep sliding down.

 

[Joel Fontenot]

So is negative infinity.