undefined | Better HN

0 pointsbootload10y ago0 comments

"Compression is the best tool we have for accurately reproducing the musicality and emotion of a musical performance. Without compression, most recordings would be unlistenable."

That is your artistic choice, as it should be.

"The MP3 only has 5 percent of the data present in the original recording. … The convenience of the digital age has forced people to choose between quality and convenience, but they shouldn’t have to make that choice." -- Neil Young. [0]

Not every artist wants this to happen. They have no choice and listeners get a fraction of the sound recorded. This was not the case with vinyl.

@mborch, the exact compression method is of less importance than recognising that for all the compression being discussed, is a retrograde step from vinyl. Why?

[0] http://allthingsd.com/20120131/neil-young-and-the-sound-of-m...

0 pointsbootload10y ago0 comments

"Compression is the best tool we have for accurately reproducing the musicality and emotion of a musical performance. Without compression, most recordings would be unlistenable."

That is your artistic choice, as it should be.

Not every artist wants this to happen. They have no choice and listeners get a fraction of the sound recorded. This was not the case with vinyl.

@mborch, the exact compression method is of less importance than recognising that for all the compression being discussed, is a retrograde step from vinyl. Why?

[0] http://allthingsd.com/20120131/neil-young-and-the-sound-of-m...

0 comments

5 comments · 2 top-level

LeoPanthera10y ago· 2 in thread

You are confusing two different types of compression.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_compression

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_range_compression

bootloadOP10y ago

thanks @Leo, point noted. So the DRC effects the audio amplitude? A lot of the sounds I listen too are recorded in analog tape based studios, the DRC are used in digital studios and post processing?

cnvogel10y ago

No, compressors have also been used in analog studios for a long time... See, for example, this device... http://www.audioblendmastering.com/fairchild-670/

Often digital plugins try to recreate the characteristics of such old tube monsters, because their sound is considered superior by some.

On the other hand, mastering plugins (including compressors and much more) nowadays are algorithmically that complicated that an analog version is not feasible.

EDIT: sorry, link is to an old limiter, not strictly a compressor, but one gets the idea

mborch10y ago· 1 in thread

different compressions being talked about here.

bootloadOP10y ago

thx @mborch

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse