[MaxCast]

Can someone explain compression on software media?  I have read about cd's being compressed and thus not sounding up to their potential.  I think I understand about compression on DD and DTS.  Is it the same?

How much of the music we buy is compressed?  Can the compression vary ie, compress just a little or compress a lot?

Thanks,

[Ferdi]

Hi Maxcast, they are 2 different things:

Compression as in DD or DTS (or MP3) is a digital compression technique for making sound files/tracks take up less space on the record or transport medium.

The compression used in production of many pop CDs and on a lot of radio-stations makes soft sounds louder and limits some of the loud sounds. The overall effect is that the average is much louder.

[Rob Babcock]

Most commercially released pop albums have only a few dB dynamic range, I guess mostly so the music sounds good on FM and in cars.

I've noticed that a lot of discs from the early days of CD exhibit much more compression that todays albums typically do.  Obviously modern mastering techniques have improved quite a bit, and producers and engineers are much more familiar with how to record digitally.

[MaxCast]

Thanks for the clarification guys.  It is sad that we spend $$ and time getting the most out of our systems, each to his own means.  But we all are stuck with the same good or shitty recording offered by the record companies.

I am going to start a new thread which will ask for recommendations of the smaller recording companies which offer better than average recordings.