Home General Asylum

General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories.

Compression Affects a Host of Sonic Attributes

Responsible, inquisitive, mature, learned, and music-loving audiophiles roll up their sleeves, do the hard work, and make the comparisons.

If you get the Nuclear Blast CD of Testament's Brotherhood Of The Snake, listeners will react to the compression, with body language which reads, "This doesn't feel right." And it doesn't matter if you play it in your car, or on your megabuck home stereo. The Nuclear Blast copy sounds crumpled and squashed, versus the free-sounding Japanese pressing.

Keeping playing the Nuclear Blast CD. One of the moms puffs up her cheeks. That is her way of saying that the images are bloated and ill-defined.

Adding compression to vocal tracks make them sound rougher and more gruff. There aren't any female vocals on the Testament album, but if there were, too much compression can alter the timbre and texture of the woman's voice.

The sound of the cymbals seems cut-off, making listeners grit their teeth.

Have you ever made your own studio drum recordings? With proper microphone placements, you can capture the stick hitting the skin; the "shudder" and unique character of each wood or carbon-fiber drum; and the way each drum stroke then "lights up" the studio room's dimensions. Compression absolutely kills these relationships.

Have you ever seen Testament's drummer, Gene Hoglan, perform? I initially saw him in the early-90s, when he led Dark Angel, on their Time Does Not Heal tour. He really does play with a machine-like effortlessness, control, and precision. When Hoglan's drum recordings are compressed, his drumming sounds clunky or soft - which is wrong and plain offensive.

All this isn't new; in the early 90s, Stereophile's Dick Olsher complained about compression, and the way it alters and ruins the music, regardless of how loudly or quietly you play it back.

When you go from the Nuclear Blast to the Japanese pressing of Testament's Brotherhood Of The Snake the latter is like a breath of fresh air, its speed and note development left intact. As ones who value music, we audiophiles must continue to investigate and report on matters of sound quality.

-Lummy The Loch Monster



Edits: 12/18/16

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Schiit Audio  


Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups

FAQ

Post a Message!

Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.