Unrelated musings

[caddyman]

Never buy a CD produced before 1988 especially if it is an analogue transfer. The buggers had no conception of sound levels. The first of them I came across was Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms from 1986. To hear it, you had to jack the amp up so far that the front fell off the speakers when you put another CD on.

My current listening, First Generation by Van der Graaf Generator is like that. Good stuff but mixed so quietly. The CD is dated 1986 as well. Maybe it was just that year's production that was so poor.

At least the re-mastered Brothers in Arms is mixed up to a listenable volume. I fear this one never will be.

And I think I might be close to curing my knackered left foot through the simple expedient of wearing a different pair of shoes. Not fully fixed yet, but has been much better today.

Just goes to show, don't it?

See, the title was quite accurate. It's all unrelated.

Comments

there are a number of issues at work, in my opinion.

[suitandtieguy.livejournal.com]

i think that what you're really witnessing is a recent trend towards overly compressed mastering.

read these articles, they're fascinating:

http://www.prorec.com/prorec/articles.nsf/articles/8A133F52D0FD71AB86256C2E005DAF1C

http://www.geocities.com/mjareviews/rant7.html

Re: Unrelated musings

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

That is interesting. And I have noticed that some CDs are loud even with the volume turned right down.

While I understand the loss of dynamic range, I equally get annoyed by the 'too quiet' transfers. You'd think there would be a happy medium.

To be honest, I long thought that most 'pop' these days doesn't seem to have any dynamic range anyway. I assumed that I was just getting old and 'music wasn't as good as it was in my day' - it never occurred to me that it was a consequence of mixing everything LOUD.

I equated that with Spector's wall of sound which is quite different.

Either way it pains me.

[mollpeartree.livejournal.com]

So much for my dire predictions about your foot. It could still recur though!

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

I shall still be mentioning it to yon quack on my next visit to get my blood pressure checked.

Can't hurt, can it? ;-)