bellutta@irst.it (Paolo Bellutta) (08/24/90)
I got lots of replies to my previous posting about the use (and abuse) of compressors and limiters both in the recording studios and in TV/Radio stations. All replies point out that: the average listener is in a noisy environment and uses cheap stuff; for a station "louder" = "better"; Ok. I give up on TV/Radio stations (anyway in Italy, since there are still no rules, stations use compressors limiters and >100% modulation to sound "louder"). But then, what's the point in having CDs? Couldn't be possible to have a different processing for CDs and LPs and Cassettes: record on a multitrack recorder with no processing at all, mix for "low quality" and "high quality"? Since most of the recent studios have automated mixers, it shouldn't be so difficult. Would the cost be so high to be impractical? I guess that have a "low level quality" sounding acceptable on high end gear is really more expensive than that. Don't you feel frustrated after spending thousands of $ and listen to a record or a CD? Now I became too lazy to still go out with my old Revox A77 MK II and a couple of Sennheiser MD421. Almost all of the recordings (mikes straight to the recorder) I did are noisy but still sound more "live" than any CD I have! Are there studios that are using less of these equipments so I could look in the CD brochure before buying it? Paolo Bellutta I.R.S.T. vox: +39 461 814417 loc. Pante' di Povo fax: +39 461 810851 38050 POVO (TN) e-mail: bellutta@irst.uucp ITALY bellutta%irst@uunet.uu.net