Here we can talk about technical bullshit

[Guest Smues]

The fact that commercials tend to be played at a much louded volume then regular programming. Very annoying when you're watching TV at a comfortable volume and have to find the remote and turn it down every time the commercials come on because suddenly it's painfully loud.

[Lord of The Curry]

On that front, music files that for some reason have the audio set higher then other tracks. My iPod was on random today and a Sufajn Stevens song came on that sounded like it was cranked to 11 and damn near blew my eardrums out.

[Cheech Tremendous]

On that front, music files that for some reason have the audio set higher then other tracks. My iPod was on random today and a Sufajn Stevens song came on that sounded like it was cranked to 11 and damn near blew my eardrums out.

 

This. Why the hell do people do that? The problem is that it sounds fine on my computer speakers so I never know until I actually listen to said songs on my iPod.

You could find entire articles about this very phenomenon. What has happened is that music producers are turning up everything in the mix to max levels. Modern production doesn't really allow anything to breathe. It's been done to give the illusion of more bass and feel, with the intention of keeping the music from sounding "tinny" on crappy computer speakers or ipods. The end result is a loud mess that's very grating after a couple of minutes. It's a real problem, and it's one of the reasons that vinyl is starting to make a minor comeback among non-audiophiles.

[The Metal Maniac]

The fact that commercials tend to be played at a much louded volume then regular programming. Very annoying when you're watching TV at a comfortable volume and have to find the remote and turn it down every time the commercials come on because suddenly it's painfully loud.

 

That's just you becoming old and bewildered.

 

It's actually not, that really happens.

 

Commercials tend to use all the available sound they can, unlike TV shows, which have quiet parts, and loud parts - if everything was turned up to loud there'd be no quiet parts, and commercials don't WANT quiet parts, so there you go.

[Zetterberg is God]

On that front, music files that for some reason have the audio set higher then other tracks. My iPod was on random today and a Sufajn Stevens song came on that sounded like it was cranked to 11 and damn near blew my eardrums out.

 

This. Why the hell do people do that? The problem is that it sounds fine on my computer speakers so I never know until I actually listen to said songs on my iPod.

You could find entire articles about this very phenomenon. What has happened is that music producers are turning up everything in the mix to max levels. Modern production doesn't really allow anything to breathe. It's been done to give the illusion of more bass and feel, with the intention of keeping the music from sounding "tinny" on crappy computer speakers or ipods. The end result is a loud mess that's very grating after a couple of minutes. It's a real problem, and it's one of the reasons that vinyl is starting to make a minor comeback among non-audiophiles.

 

The new Metallica is quite guilty of this. But the problem songs I'm talking about are comically loud. Turning it down to minimum volume and still hearing it loud. I understand the new production thing but at least those songs don't scare the shit out of me when they come on randomly unlike the ones I described.

[Guest Israeli Mixed Wrestling]

The Flaming Lips have gotten very bad, worse than most, when it comes to the scourge that is audio compression.

[At Home]

Audio compression like how? Everything you hear on a cd is compressed. The mics that record the drums, vocals, and almost everything else are compressed by design, as are the mics that record distorted guitar signals (which is compressed via the output tubes in the amp), mixing is a form of compression, and there is software compression.

 

There's no such thing as a recording that hasn't been compressed somehow.

[Guest Israeli Mixed Wrestling]

I meant "compression" as it's used to denote cutting out the range of dynamics, which has become popular in audio engineering these days, unfortunately. At War with the Mystics as mentioned and Hail to the Thief are the first two that I think of off the top of my head where there's hardly any dynamic contrast.

 

I know how microphones work.

[At Home]

I'll have to check it out. I'd like to get a bit clearer picture at what you mean, what is a good album to compare to show the disparity between the two?

[Guest Israeli Mixed Wrestling]

Well, I agree with the camp that says Steely Dan's Aja is the gold standard of engineering, but I'm not sure if there are a lot of soft passages. Pretty much anything before the advent of modern digital mastering should give you an idea, I would think. Classical and jazz recordings are going to have less dynamic compression because those are niche markets where the consumers might actually care about dynamic contrast.

 

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/wee...und-forever.htm

Here's something from the late great Stylus that explains this better than I can because I still don't know as much about recording as I want to. Cheech probably read this one.