Why, oh why, do people ruin music with compression???

what'swrongwithcompression?

 

Sadly, it costs money to create different masters. Some labels tend to skimp costs.

 

SUCH a great post ... you nailed it Christian!

 

I think we may be referring to digital clipping here. Compression is a useful tool if used correctly.

 

I mean, c'mon. You need decent speakers for such a comparison.

 

Yeah, if used correctly. But more often than not records are over-compressed. The main problem with over-compression is ear fatigue. Initially an over-compressed record may sound great (full and present), but after a while your ears will want a breather from the flatline monstrous bass and crunched cymbals, but there isn't one.

A friend of mine produced an album with this sort of compression. Initially I thought it sounded really good, then the second half of the album sounded rubbish. There was no difference in the mixing or mastering though, my ears had simply got fatigued after a mere twenty minutes.

 

Tasteful compression when recording/mixing yes.
It is not needed in mastering.

 

I get that people may want loud music through their phones but why compress hi rez downloads or even CDs for that matter? Vinyl often gets more respect. However, high rez formats do not, even though most of their users are audiophiles. I wrote to ProStudioMasters to request that they insist on uncompressed files from the record companies. They claim that they have no control over what the record companies offer. That is true when the compression is baked in during production. However, if uncompressed music can be offered on vinyl, why not in hi rez? Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Look at the Sgt. Pepper remix. It sounds wonderful on vinyl but compressed on all the digital formats including hi rez.

 

I always wonder how the Mars Volta cd's would sound had they been mastered properly, or Amy Winehouse's Back To Black. Albums that I love but that I can't fully enjoy.

 

I too am at my wits end with this.

It has caused me to listen to a lot more classical and period jazz.

 

I listen to a syndicated comedy program (Bob and Tom) in the morning on an old Panasonic boombox with an analog tuner while showering and getting ready for work. The show is on a rock station that switched from classic rock to modern rock format and the music comes on after the show ends at 10 AM. I don't bother changing the station since I primarily listen only for the show, and not for the music.

Sometimes, on Saturdays I leave it on after the show and the music on a boombox is borderline unlistenable. Why? It is all blasted compressed and sounds like an AM radio cranked up. There are no dynamics and lots of distortion.

It gets so fatiguing I turn it off. No way I am going to buy music like that. It is not enjoyable.

 

if you didn't use any compression on anything, it would sound crap.

 

Not if you mixed it like it had compression. Automated mixing makes that much easier these days.

 

"WHAT'DJYASAY!??"

 

That's not necessarily true. Most of the time there's plenty of compression baked into the mixes, has been since the late 80's/early 90's, at least.

 

Scar Tissue sounds great on my HomePod and my premium car stereo system, the places where I listen to 90% of my music. Same for that Figure Of Eight example.

I can’t speak to what CDs sounds like on vintage component rack systems but I can tell you that on equipment optimized for streaming these sound great when streamed. Have you considered modernizing to solve this problem?

 

Many of the early CDs sounded bad, not because of loudness/compression, but because recording engineers hadn't yet figured out how to best master for the format. Now, the industry knows how to make great sounding CDs, but often intentionally chooses to do otherwise.

When I listen to a loud and compressed CD, I shake my head and wonder, WTF were they thinking?

 

You mean, downgrade equipment to compensate for shoddy mastering?

 

In the late 80s/early 90s, they started really getting it "right". That Diament Houses of the Holy, and many early 90s releases, like Black Crowes first 2 albums, for example, those really sound fantastic on CD.

 

The whole album, but especially this song drives me nuts:



I can only listen to it in the car.

 

Just a bit amount of compression is alright, as some songs have to sound more crispy and punchy. But I never understood the loud mastering or extra fat compression.
People at radio stations add even more compression, as equalizing the sound/volume of tracks from different sources. IMO there never is/was a good point for compressing music so loud.

 

Quote me where I said the vinyl was compressed. It's not even out yet!

 

There's the 'unmastered' version of the whole Californication album (out there). And surprisingly the tracks are all compressed to hell even before they were mastered.

 

If modern mastering sounds better on modern equipment, then isn't it your vintage equipment that's been downgraded? Isn't what you perceive to be "shoddy" a direct result of hanging on to 40 year old receivers and stripped speaker wire without recognizing that it is obsolete?

There's a reason the record companies are recording and mastering music a certain way. For those of us who listen on modern gear, it sounds fantastic. Old media for old systems, new media for new systems, it's how technology works. By all means hold onto your vintage electronics and vintage media, but please don't judge how the rest of us consume new media. We're not suffering from this compression sickness you are reacting to. Our listening experience is not compromised. Yours is, unfortunately.

 

Stripped speaker wire? ROFL. You make a lot of assumptions. The vintage equipment is just more revealing. I solved the issue by being more judicious about what I spend money on. I have "unmastered" versions of super brickwalled albums like Californication and Black Crowes By Your Side. I do my own vinyl rips for digital on the go playing. There are certainly ways around the issue, better ways than aquiescense to the shoddy brickwalled sound and smiley faced EQ with hard limiting, digital clipping and a squashed dynamic range. Good sound never becomes obsolete, friend. No compromise here. Sounds like the compromise is in the 'modern' equipment that covers up how bad most modern masterings sound. That's truly a compromise. By definition.