[RRod]

I listened the first movement to a few other recordings of Tchaikovsky's 6th, some just the first movement, on Apple Music today, including Stokowski and Dorati, and none of them have the same type of problem. So I think you're probably right--it may well have been the conductor. If so, I wonder what the recording engineer thought when he had to deal with it.

On Jansons' Shostakovich 8 he really takes the orchestra down to nothing in the slow movement. Great atmosphere but no one else seems to do it and it turns the album from 'I are serious listener' to 'make sure the AC is off'.

 

[bigshot]

Not much point creating a new thread. It's already been asked and answered a billion times. But if you create your own playpen, at least it means I don't have to skip over your posts in threads with topics I'm actually interested in and can learn from.

Shostakovich is a tricky one. I have at least 6 symphony cycles, but none of them work as a whole. I end up picking and choosing. I should probably focus on that sometime and figure it out.

 

[Indiana]

Hello all, my first post on this Forum. As I listen almost only to Classical Music, I just want to put my opinion here.
I collect Classical CDs for over 30 years now and in my opinion compression on Classical Music is a big problem. At least for me. I must admit I just don't like this "louder is fatter" approach. Every CD I bought that was too loud I sold again. And there were many of them. There are Labels who compress everything without exception. Of course I learned over the years to avoid CDs where the music is no joy to listen to. But I often thought that its really sad to squeeze the beautiful music.

 

[gregorio]

[1] I collect Classical CDs for over 30 years now and in my opinion compression on Classical Music is a big problem.
[2] I must admit I just don't like this "louder is fatter" approach.

1. It depends on the classical music CDs you tend to buy. There are some, particularly the compilation of popular excepts type CDs, made by some radio stations or magazines that are quite heavily compressed. Apart from these examples though, compression on classical music is very light or not used at all.

2. The "louder is fatter" approach is an approach used in popular music genres, NOT classical music! Even those types of CDs mentioned above are not compressed because of the "louder is fatter" approach, they are compressed to reduce the dynamic range, thereby making background or "easy"/casual listening more enjoyable.

G

 

[bigshot]

I'm betting you mean that classical music is too dynamic, not too compressed. If you have to turn the volume up to hear the quiet parts and that makes the peaks too loud, then the problem is too much dynamic contrast, not too little.

 

[TheSonicTruth]

Not much point creating a new thread. It's already been asked and answered a billion times. But if you create your own playpen, at least it means I don't have to skip over your posts in threads with topics I'm actually interested in and can learn from.
.

Just because you don't care about sufficient or appropriate dynamics in recorded music doesn't mean others can't speak out about it.

I'm betting you mean that classical music is too dynamic, not too compressed. If you have to turn the volume up to hear the quiet parts and that makes the peaks too loud, then the problem is too much dynamic contrast, not too little.

A land line DIAL TONE is 'too dynamic' for you.

Bigshot, we may not agree on acceptable dynamic range in recorded music, but at least we agree that a $5.99 RCA pair does the same job just as well as a $59.99 pair, and that a $50 DAC is just as good aa a $500 one. (thread '..Audiophile claims and myths')

 

[bigshot]

You don't even know what I'm talking about. To say nothing of what you're talking about!

I'd like to know what labels "squeeze" everything the release, and I'd be interested in specific classical titles that the poster thinks have problems with the dynamics. I have nearly 10,000 classical CDs. I'd like to rack up an example and hear what he's talking about.

...unless we have a sock puppet here.

 

[TheSonicTruth]

You don't even know what I'm talking about. To say nothing of what you're talking about!

I'd like to know what labels "squeeze" everything the release, and I'd be interested in specific classical titles that the poster thinks have problems with the dynamics. I have nearly 10,000 classical CDs. I'd like to rack up an example and hear what he's talking about.

...unless we have a sock puppet here.

If it's Indiana(post #168) you quoted, it's abundantly clear that he's claiming a LACK of dynamics, or EXCESS of dynamic compression, on some classical CDs, not, as you were trying to suggest to him(post #172) too much dynamics.

 

[bigshot]

He is saying it gets too loud. That can happen in classical music if you have too wide of a dynamic range. You set your volume for the quiet opening bit and by the end of the movement it gets to the louder parts and because you've set the volume high enough to hear the quiet parts, it makes the louder parts way too loud. This isn't uncommon in classical music. I've heard quite a few recordings on the BIS label that are unlistenable because you keep having to adjust the volume level. The same is true of some of the early digital DGG recordings.

Classical music, at least since the LP era, has had plenty of dynamic range. Compression isn't an issue with classical CDs like it is pop CDs. Anyone who listens to classical music knows this. You have admitted you know nothing about classical music on CD.

 

[TheSonicTruth]

He is saying it gets too loud. That can happen in classical music if you have too wide of a dynamic range. You set your volume for the quiet opening bit and by the end of the movement it gets to the louder parts and because you've set the volume high enough to hear the quiet parts, it makes the louder parts way too loud. This isn't uncommon in classical music. I've heard quite a few recordings on the BIS label that are unlistenable because you keep having to adjust the volume level. The same is true of some of the early digital DGG recordings.

Classical music, at least since the LP era, has had plenty of dynamic range. Compression isn't an issue with classical CDs like it is pop CDs. Anyone who listens to classical music knows this. You have admitted you know nothing about classical music on CD.

Bull$hit:

Read post #168, I quoted here:

"Hello all, my first post on this Forum. As I listen almost only to
Classical Music, I just want to put my opinion here. I collect Classical
CDs for over 30 years now and in my opinion compression on Classical
Music is a big problem. At least for me. I must admit I just don't like this
"louder is fatter" approach. Every CD I bought that was too loud I
sold again. And there were many of them. There are Labels who
compress everything without exception. Of course I learned over the
years to avoid CDs where the music is no joy to listen to. But I often
thought that its really sad to squeeze the beautiful music."

NOWHERE IN THAT ENTIRE PARAGRAPH does it sound like Indiana is suggesting the music "gets too loud". According to the section I bolded, it implies that the ENTIRE CD was too loud.

Bigshot: STOP trying to manipulate other posters' words and use then to fit your pro-compression or anti-dynamics agenda! Get a job at Fox News if you want to be in the manipulation business.

 

[Glmoneydawg]

Bull$hit:

Read post #168, I quoted here:

"Hello all, my first post on this Forum. As I listen almost only to
Classical Music, I just want to put my opinion here. I collect Classical
CDs for over 30 years now and in my opinion compression on Classical
Music is a big problem. At least for me. I must admit I just don't like this
"louder is fatter" approach. Every CD I bought that was too loud I
sold again. And there were many of them. There are Labels who
compress everything without exception. Of course I learned over the
years to avoid CDs where the music is no joy to listen to. But I often
thought that its really sad to squeeze the beautiful music."

NOWHERE IN THAT ENTIRE PARAGRAPH does it sound like Indiana is suggesting the music "gets too loud". According to the section I bolded, it implies that the ENTIRE CD was too loud.

Bigshot: STOP trying to manipulate other posters' words and use then to fit your pro-compression or anti-dynamics agenda! Get a job at Fox News if you want to be in the manipulation business.

If a cd is too loud,it has to be in comparison to the quieter passages

 

[TheSonicTruth]

If a cd is too loud,it has to be in comparison to the quieter passages

If a CD or album is too loud, it's too ****ING LOUD - period!

I suggest we all cool it and let Indiana speak for himself what he meant in #168.

I think it's pretty clear what he meant.

 

[bigshot]

Sonic, would you please sit down and let the guy speak for himself.

You're right Dawg. Loudness is relative. We have a volume knob to set it. After that, something is only too loud in comparison to things that are too quiet. If something is compressed too heavily, it is never too loud or too quiet. It is always the same volume. Classical music also isn't listened to in three minute songs. You sit down and listen to a symphony for a half hour. The volume is all relative for that half hour. It isn't like pop music where every three or four minutes you get a completely different song.

 

[TheSonicTruth]

He is saying it gets too loud. That can happen in classical music if you have too wide of a dynamic range. You set your volume for the quiet opening bit and by the end of the movement it gets to the louder parts and because you've set the volume high enough to hear the quiet parts, it makes the louder parts way too loud. This isn't uncommon in classical music. I've heard quite a few recordings on the BIS label that are unlistenable because you keep having to adjust the volume level. The same is true of some of the early digital DGG recordings.

Classical music, at least since the LP era, has had plenty of dynamic range. Compression isn't an issue with classical CDs like it is pop CDs. Anyone who listens to classical music knows this. You have admitted you know nothing about classical music on CD.

" You have admitted you know nothing about classical music on CD."

STOP PUTTING WORDS in people's mouths!

 

[bigshot]

How many classical CDs do you have, Sonic? You told me before that you don't generally listen to classical music. Only pop/rock.