Abuse of compression in CD mastering (article)

[Mixmachine]

Everything Louder Than Everything Else



"You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like — static."
— Bob Dylan in Rolling Stone magazine

"There's something . . . sinister in audio that is causing our listeners fatigue and even pain while trying to enjoy their favorite music. It has been propagated by A&R departments for the last eight years: The complete abuse of compression in mastering (forced on the mastering engineers against their will and better judgment)."


I personally have experienced this problem in my car system while listening to CD versions of old Disco hits at high volumes, my ears begin to hurt! Something that never happened before..

[Bernie]

Mix, also check out this past thread on compression.
Music Volume Compression: the Dirty Little Secret...

[eddie]

I always noticed that when songs fade, you never hear the beginning of the fade when played on the radio. I guess this is due to compression which makes low sounds almost as loud.

The first Cd I noticed this on was Shai's Blackface CD from 1996. It was a bit ballad heavy but there was no background sound; every note appeared upfront. I liked the songs but not the sound. There was definitely a difference in the loudness between this 1996 recording and their debut.