On 27 Oct 2005 02:27:39 GMT, "Iain M Churches"
wrote:

"Harry Lavo" wrote in message
...

My conclusion: take what you hear about the transparency of CD's with two,
maybe three grains of salt. Some of it may be equipment- or
blank-induced,
but the deterioration is noticeable in a side-by-side -- ranging from
subtle
to apparent. And if this is true in home recording under controlled
conditions, it is also likely true (as has been asserted) in production
runs
of commercial CD's.

Hello Harry. I attend many mastering sessions to ensure
that what I have recorded reaches the CD without
substantial changes. I can promise you that it is a simple
task to produce a CD which is an exact clone of the studio master.
In classical and jazz music this is how it is normally done.

The problem is that in pop music these days, CD mastering
is regarded as a another step in the creative process -
another chance to tweak the track overall. The old adage
of "fix it in the mix" has moved down one step in the chain:-)
There is no longer the opportunity to work on the individual
elements within the mix, but it is quite common for extra
compression and EQ to be added at the mastering stage.

The result is quite often a retrograde step,
but "make it louder" is the order of the day as far as pop
CD's are concerned. The CD has zero headroom.
Vinyl, like analogue tape, is much more forgiving.

What utter nonsense! CD has *vastly* more headroom than vinyl, some
93dB of headroom compared to the 70-75 of the very best vinyl. Or were
you attempting some kind of faked definition of 'headroom'?
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering