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average listening levels
In article Mt4xb.234207$9E1.1272847@attbi_s52,
(Dick Pierce) wrote:
Bruce Abrams wrote in message
news:7PWwb.310074$Fm2.327329@attbi_s04...
I can recall a thread from many years ago (perhaps it was a magazine
article) that discussed the fact that by all rights, each commercial CD
should have a calibration tone recorded at a known level. You set the
playback of the reference tone at the appropriate volume level on an SPL
meter and trust that the rest of CD will play back at the volume level it
was recorded at. I wonder why such a concept has never been implemented
even by audiophile labels such as Reference Recordings, Water Lilly, etc.
It WAS implemented by Gabe Wiener at PGM recordings, where the
liner notes of the CD gave specific recommendations for setting
levels for recordings, like "adjust your volume so that the
beginning of track blah-blah averages 75 dB at your listening
position."
Funny how his harpsichord recordings, adjusted this way, had
just about the same level as a similar harpsichord played in
the same room.
I remember some EMI cassettes with some kind of tones, but they didn't
do me any good at the time!
Some kind of reference would be helpful, especially with unfamiliar
instruments. If people overshoot volume levels playing piano recordings,
imagine what happens with fortepianos, clavichords, etc.
Stephen
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