[John Williamson]

On 19/07/2017 12:14, wrote:
And why John, during those initial '80s era transfers
of those original master tapes to CD, should that
'compression and other faffing about' have been
done at all? I glad that stuff WASN'T done, and don't
get this culture that everything being transfered to
digital *must* be compromised by such processing.


Just for the heck of it, go to a recording session. Classical or pop,
electric or acoustic. Sit in and listen to what's going on and what it
should really sound like.

Get a copy of the session recordings, and see what happens when you mix
them together without effects of any sort. It'll sound flat, quiet and
uninteresting compared to the original.

One outstanding example. I did a recording of an orchestra, with a
simple stereo pair just behind and above the conductor's head. It's a
good recording, with all the instruments clear and well separated, and
just enough room tone to blend them into a cohesive whole. Full
modulation on the loud bits, and his comment when he heard the raw
recording? "It's a bit quiet, isn't it?" Well, you were the one waving
the stick, controlling the volume, sunshine, *you* turn it up a bit...

Otherwise, I'll compress the dynamic range on the CD to stop him and
others whinging.

Or take a live session from a pop group at a performance. Record it to 8
master tracks, then mix to suit you. Then someone plays it back in their
car and all the subtle but quiet bits disappear under the engine noise,
so you remix with less dynamic range and a bit of equalisation. Then it
gets onto the radio, and not only the engine noise but the FM background
noise drowns out the good bits, so they need turning up, either by
riding the faders or using a compressor.

In the early days of CD, none of this was done, leading to complaints
form the public that the new medium was too quiet, so in part, that's
why we now have the fashion for "sausage skin" envelopes on a lot of
recordings. Another reason is people listening in noisy locations on
earbuds with limited output levels, which is a relatively new thing,
leading to a need for even less dynamic range in the recording.

However, as None says, this has all been explained to you and JackAss
many times, and you still show no sign of even a glimmer of comprehension.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.