Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site


In the Forum: Playback Listening
In the Thread: Attention Sound Engineers (compression and loudness)
Post Subject: It is a worrying state of affairsPosted by Andy Simpson on: 4/29/2008
 Romy the Cat wrote:

A very good article on the subject that basically proves my attitude on the subject: it is not about technology but the idiocy of people who use the technology.

http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/HFN/ClippingOnCD/clipping.html

The Cat


The term 'over-compression' is becoming very widely used in the recording industry.

It is slowly becoming politically correct to accept that gross distortion is not a good thing. It is not 'cool' to 'smash' a recording any more.

However, it is also politically correct to accept that although 'over-compression' is a bad thing, the 'right amount of compression' can 'improve' the sound of a recording.

In other words, nothing has changed.

Sound engineers want to DO something. They are rarely happy if a recording just sounds good after simply plugging in the microphones. They like to 'improve' it. They like to be 'creative'. The increasingly popular job title 'mixer' exists in testament to this.

The best engineers do nothing whatsoever. Their greatest skill is that of leaving the recording alone and forcing the mastering engineer to do the same.

Sound engineering is not a creative art.

Art is subjective.

Engineering is objective.

Andy

Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site