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Huh? Did you say something?

Good topic, Mike, and something I grumble about a lot. We are blessed with a drummer who understands and uses dynamics, and who also understands playing softly. We didn't use "terrorist compression" on our CD - in part because of Buddy's playing. In fact, our CD carries a "WARNING" label.... which reads: "Warning!! This CD contains FULL DYNAMIC RANGE and explicit audio clarity." There's an explanation inside.

The outcome of this is that the CD sounds like a live band. Our keyboard player does work occasionally with a local sound company. He plays our CD sometimes in between bands in festival settings. On more than one occasion, people have asked him "who's the band and they're not on the main stage - where are they?"

"Ear fatigue" is another issue. You get tired of hearing the overcompressed stuff. Without a rich, full dynamic range, the soundscape is flat and 2 dimensional.

Personally, I think MP3s are a plot to get the public to accept lower quality in recorded music -- HA! They are convenient, but I hate the idea that they take the place of a CD. The fidelity just isn't there. And when you take a song (of which the dynamic range has been compressed) and squish it into an MP3, yikes!

I came across a great article on this subject a while back. I'll see if it's still online; if so, I'll post the link.

Earplugs? absolutely.

Brenda