CD Volume Question
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Other music related lounges
Forum Name: Tech Talk
Forum Description: Discuss musical instruments, equipment, hi-fi, speakers, vinyl, gadgets,etc.
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=46895
Printed Date: November 22 2024 at 21:51
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: CD Volume Question
Posted By: Drew
Subject: CD Volume Question
Date Posted: March 06 2008 at 23:47
OK- sometimes when I'm in my car a certain CD on my radio will be at volume 25 or so- which is a good listening volume- and so today I pop in "The Rainmaker" by the Flower Kings and I have the volume at 45- significantly higher- and the volume seems about the same Do certain CD's put out more sound than others? Just curious.... ------------- |
Replies:
Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: March 07 2008 at 01:02
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Different album were mixed and engineered differently, so of course, volume levels, equalisation, compression levels etc etc, vary. I tend to find when I play The remastered version of Megadeth's Rust In Peace, then go to say, Metallica's Ride The Lightning, to get the same volume as RIP, I have to increase it by a few decibels. ------------- 
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Posted By: oliverstoned
Date Posted: March 07 2008 at 03:15
| Yes, there are dramatic differences of level from one record to another. |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: March 07 2008 at 04:54
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It's down to the difference between the average volume level (actually the RMS level) and the Peak volume level. The peaks represent sharp bursts, like cymbal crashes, where as the average sound level is the rest of the music.
Most music on CD will peak at 0dB (ie the loudest sound that can be recorded on the CD) but how "loud" it sounds to you is represented by the average level. Compression (and to some extent Equalisation) boosts the average while compressing the peaks so the average sounds louder, but at the expense of the dynamic range of the music (ie quiet passages are now relatively louder) ------------- What? |
Posted By: Man Erg
Date Posted: March 07 2008 at 05:18
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So,do lengthy cd's suffer the same fate as lengthy vinyl records?
When vinyl records were approximately over,let's say 50 minutes,the track bandwidths were compressed to make room for more music to be held on one disc. The same seem(ed)s to be the case for cds,especially in the early-ish days of the medium.The more space taken up on one disc,the more inferior the sound.  ------------- 
Do 'The Stanley' otherwise I'll thrash you with some rhubarb. |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: March 07 2008 at 05:23
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^ no, the length of a CD remains constant, music on CD is not time compressed like mp3s are (they are .wav files), The compression is on volume, so only relative loudness that is affected... digitally, 80 minutes of silence is the same amount of data as 80 minutes of Metallica. ------------- What? |
Posted By: Chicapah
Date Posted: March 07 2008 at 08:50
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It happens even more often on classical recordings and it is a real pain in the butt. ------------- "Literature is well enough, as a time-passer, and for the improvement and general elevation and purification of mankind, but it has no practical value" - Mark Twain |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: March 07 2008 at 09:01
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I wish all CDs were mastered uncompressed, as they were recorded, so we get to hear what the artist and producers heard when they made it. Compression is distortion, it affects the fidelity of the signal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war
One of the big selling points of CD when it was first introduced was the huge dynamic range over vinyl (over 96dB difference between quiet and loud compared to 60dB for vinyl), yet what we buy is so compressed the dynamic range is now worse than vinyl.
My amplifier has a volume control that I can use to make the music sound louder, I do not need to have them "doctored" to make them sound louder.
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Posted By: Nightfly
Date Posted: March 07 2008 at 11:51
Exactly! I rarely have my amp volume higher than a quarter of the way round. All this compression is totally unnecessary and destroys the original recording in many cases. I can understand how it may be beneficial in Dance records designed for clubs etc but dynamics are an important part of many forms of music Prog included which compression levels off to a certain extent.
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darqDean wrote:Posted By: Drew
Date Posted: March 09 2008 at 03:29
Thanks guys
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