Some really good replies - thanks again.
Buying a test CD is an interesting idea!! I will probably order one.
In terms of how loud I'm playing it, I guess thats hard to describe....
Not that loud really. About 20% on the control.
If I go a fair bit louder, say 40% then things do seem to sound better.
In fact thats a good point actually, the louder I go the better things sound. The loudest I have been is about 60% and that was borderline silly. Sounded good though.
Does that say anything, or is that what generally happens?
Buying a test CD is an interesting idea!! I will probably order one.
In terms of how loud I'm playing it, I guess thats hard to describe....
Not that loud really. About 20% on the control.
If I go a fair bit louder, say 40% then things do seem to sound better.
In fact thats a good point actually, the louder I go the better things sound. The loudest I have been is about 60% and that was borderline silly. Sounded good though.
Does that say anything, or is that what generally happens?
PS the clutter is still there no matter what the volume, it just on the whole sounds better when louder.
This video that was posted...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ
I think you could be on to something there!!
The pixies CD I said that sounded good has big differences between loud and quiet sounds. The start of where is my mind is a perfect example, the loud drum hit is actaully loud and above the rest of the soudns by a long way.
From that video it would seem some idiots somehwere are pulling the other sounds up to match and ruining the definitions.
I wonder who it is? Do sony master all their CDs or on the covers will it say another company did it?
It would be very intersting to start a list (maybe on another thread) of the ones who are good and bad. It would save me a load of money becasue I would simply never buy from the bad list regardless of the band!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ
I think you could be on to something there!!
The pixies CD I said that sounded good has big differences between loud and quiet sounds. The start of where is my mind is a perfect example, the loud drum hit is actaully loud and above the rest of the soudns by a long way.
From that video it would seem some idiots somehwere are pulling the other sounds up to match and ruining the definitions.
I wonder who it is? Do sony master all their CDs or on the covers will it say another company did it?
It would be very intersting to start a list (maybe on another thread) of the ones who are good and bad. It would save me a load of money becasue I would simply never buy from the bad list regardless of the band!!!
nopiano
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- Feb 15, 2009
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FredFro said:
Then it might be worth you googling Fletcher Munson curves or equal loudness, as there is a lot of psychology and measurement relating to why louder sounds better (up to a point). For example:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher–Munson_curves
Electro
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FredFro said:
You have described and understood the problem with the bad sounding Cd's perfectly
, this is why I posted the link because it is easy to hear the problem as explained in the video .Unfortunately there is little you can do to make badly recorded or mastered Cd's sound better but you can add your voice of disapproval on the other link in my first post .
Here it is again .
http://turnmeup.org/
Also here is a link to a very large list of recordings and their dynamic range scores, it is pretty self explanatory .
Just type in the artist and album you are interested in at the top of the page and click go to reveal the dynamic quality , or if you want to go through it page by page scroll to the bottom and click the back and forward arrows .
http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/index.php?sort=id&order=desc&page=77
That database is pretty amazing. I have done some searches and its pretty much spot on with what im finding with any given CD!!
What I think I will do is sort in order of the best, go down the list and buy CDs based on the ones that stand out and I may like.
I'm actually pretty angry in a way. How can the industry have got it so wrong? What are the advantages of this, is it so it sounds better on poor (as in 99%) of CD players or something?
What I think I will do is sort in order of the best, go down the list and buy CDs based on the ones that stand out and I may like.
I'm actually pretty angry in a way. How can the industry have got it so wrong? What are the advantages of this, is it so it sounds better on poor (as in 99%) of CD players or something?
Electro
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FredFro said:
Yes it can be quite annoying especially when there is some music you really like and it happens to have been recorded or mastered in this very unpleasant harsh sounding way
If you go onto the Turn me up site they explain the reasons why this happens and what is being done about it far better than I can
.http://turnmeup.org/
I've seen that site before but never had a good look at it.
Tried a few searches.
Wow! That explains a lot!
Tried a few searches.
Wow! That explains a lot!
I think the simple answer as to whether it's the CD's or the system is to take a selection of good, bad and ugly CD's to a few people who have ultra hi-fi's and listen to them there.
I think that there's a high chance that a better system will make a higher proportion of recordings sound genuinely enjoyable, and a higher proportion sound attention-grabbingly spellbinding.
I think that there's a high chance that a better system will make a higher proportion of recordings sound genuinely enjoyable, and a higher proportion sound attention-grabbingly spellbinding.
I dont know anybody with a good, let alone ultra HIFI though
Anybody around Leeds wants to show me one though, then I'd of course be super greatful.
Anybody around Leeds wants to show me one though, then I'd of course be super greatful.
Regarding the loudness ratings, IME they don't work for electronica.
I've got a cd that scores only 4, yet it goes from silence to just below 0dBFs almost instantaneously and it sounds great.
The dynamic range calculation is somewhat flawed and, away from the obvious mainstream stuff that's mastered to sound good on a radio in a noisy factory, I find most modern recordings excellent.
I've got a cd that scores only 4, yet it goes from silence to just below 0dBFs almost instantaneously and it sounds great.
The dynamic range calculation is somewhat flawed and, away from the obvious mainstream stuff that's mastered to sound good on a radio in a noisy factory, I find most modern recordings excellent.
I'm in Huddersfield. You're very welcome to come round my place. There's no personal message feature on this forum to arrange visits like this. You can contact me via other hi-fi forums and then report back here on the findings of any visit.
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