Almost posted before, but now have TWO pieces of material on the way current CD mastering (by supposed "professionals") is pushed to distortion in the fight to be loader than the next guy, whetever mess it makes of the sound!
1. Mike Richter's temporary page, reviving a previous piece on the topic
http://www.mindspring.com/~mrichter/
2. http://www.loudnessrace.net/ - a strongly opinionated site on the same topic.
The first example, in particular has some good images that show tracks which just hit 100%, tracks where the 100% level is hit often but not clipped (must be using very good compresser), and tracks where the clipping ranges from brief to hitting the wall.
The result of the most aggressive over-level, is a harsh, brutal sound that hits you hard, but does not bear listening to for longer periods.
Clipping is a sign of incompetence, and sub-100% clipping is just pointless.
Compression is a necessary evil, as people do not want to miss the quieter parts, but don't want to have the loudest section at the level that would be required if the full dynamic range were preserved - an extreme example being "muzak" - where the level must never be too quiet nor too overpowering - and just imagine playing that louder.
1. Mike Richter's temporary page, reviving a previous piece on the topic
http://www.mindspring.com/~mrichter/
2. http://www.loudnessrace.net/ - a strongly opinionated site on the same topic.
The first example, in particular has some good images that show tracks which just hit 100%, tracks where the 100% level is hit often but not clipped (must be using very good compresser), and tracks where the clipping ranges from brief to hitting the wall.
The result of the most aggressive over-level, is a harsh, brutal sound that hits you hard, but does not bear listening to for longer periods.
Clipping is a sign of incompetence, and sub-100% clipping is just pointless.
Compression is a necessary evil, as people do not want to miss the quieter parts, but don't want to have the loudest section at the level that would be required if the full dynamic range were preserved - an extreme example being "muzak" - where the level must never be too quiet nor too overpowering - and just imagine playing that louder.
