Re: Compression in radio? (was MP3 article)
BARNARD wrote: BTW, following up on Joe Gracey's comments on the sound quality and nature of these files, I have a related question for Joe or others who know, regarding radio broadcast... That is: do radio broadcasts add compression to the recording being broadcast? In listening to various recordings on the radio, I've gotten this impression, but in technical terms I don't really understand what's going on. Thanks, --junior No shit they do. In the worst cases they compress and even peak limit it half to death, and they also use a lot of phase distortion and terrible stuff to try to be louder than anybody else on the dial. In the best of cases they just add a little touch of compression to make the station louder and more even, level-wise. It is really weird to hear a mix you slaved over for three days reduced to a flat, squashed dime-thin wash by a radio station using too much processing. In fact this is one reason that so much HNC sounds so funky on the air- not only are they mixing the records on consoles with a compressor on each track and a compressor over the two-mix output, but they compress it again in mastering and then the radio stations compress it about ten times more than any sane recording engineer would even consider doing once they broadcast it. This creates a sort of dull, overly-bright, boring final sound that really tires the ears in a subliminal fashion that you don't even realize is happening. On the other hand, in the great old days of Top 40 AM radio, of which I was privileged to attend the funeral as a kid DJ, the records weren't really compressed much if at all in recording or mastering, just peak limited to keep the needle from bouncing around in the groove, so we ran everything on the air through those old glorious tube compressors at a pretty hefty rate of speed and that's why the radio sounded so By-God cool in the sixties. Think of this: Jimmy Reed doing "Baby What You Want Me to Do" over the tube radio in a red '57 Chevy (mine) coming out of a huge-magnet 7X5 oval speaker mounted in the top of the dashboard at about 150 decibels on a Texas summer eve. It sounded very, very good. Can I get an amen? -- Joe Gracey President-For-Life, Jackalope Records http://www.kimmierhodes.com
Re: Compression in radio? (was MP3 article)
Can I get an amen? I'll go ya' one better, a BIG AMEN BROTHER! Mike Hays http://www.TwangCast.com TM RealCountry 24 X 7 Please Visit Then let us know what you think! Mike Hays www.MikeHays.RealCountry.net For the best country artist web hosting, www.RealCountry.net
Re: Compression in radio? (was MP3 article)
, in the great old days of Top 40 AM radio,.. the records weren't really compressed much if at all in recording or mastering, just peak limited to keep the needle from bouncing around in the groove, so we ran everything on the air through those old glorious tube compressors at a pretty hefty rate of speed and that's why the radio sounded so By-God cool in the sixties It sounded very, very good. Can I get an amen? Joe Gracey Amen, Joe! Even if I didn't have a readily-available tube Radio much past he early 60s!... The same stuff was still used at the low-power AM campus station I worked in '68-'71 in DC...that was the first place I'd ever heard of peak limiting or compression or any of the available tube-era sound processing --but, yeah, the point and result was actually to sound better on the air, given the "limitations" of the situation--and it did. I'd only add that this is one of the missing elements in less-informed comments on how "bad' all those old records sound in the primitive olden days --back before flaming every recording to hotter than hot than trebler than treble became the norm. You don't hear 'em now the way they most often sounded then. Hell, I've also heard 1930s 78s through a no-juice wind-up player with a resonator box and cone that sounded pretty good--and way louder than anybody would expect, too! (I happen to own one of those "Back to Mono" buttons--but, it's not a philosophical statement, just some ass-busting fun... it was a giveaway with the Phil Spector box set!) Barry M.
Re: Compression in radio? (was MP3 article)
Oh yes, Amen!! g And as Barry said, this is indeed one of those missing elements when people talk about how different older recordings sounded. It's not the just vinyl-vs-CD and analog-vs-digital matters once hears about most often, but also this habit of putting lotso compression on everything, at every level of the recording, from individual tracks, to mixes, etc to broadcast... --junior
RE: Compression in radio? (was MP3 article)
In my immense experience - i.e., 2 stations - some do, some don't. WOBO does, WYSO doesn't. When you don't, it's hell on those broadcasters who tend to use volume rather than pitch for emphasis and inflection - not that I know that from my immense experience, of course, but I have this friend... ... Could you further explan that last statement? A compressor reduces the dynamic variation in a signal; if, as I do, you have a tendency to raise your voice volume-wise to emphasize words or syllables, applying compression to the station's output presents a more consistent (though not flattened) volume level to the listener, which IMO is a good thing. I suspect that good announcers don't need it (at least, not as much), but that's only a hypothesis, as I have don't have any personal experience in that regard g. Jon Weisberger Kenton County, KY [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://home.fuse.net/jonweisberger/
