Audiophiles have been complaining about the loss of dynamic range in modern audio recordings. I wonder if that is also the reason why the Sugababes' single "Red Dress" sounds so bad. I mean, it sounds OK if you hear it in the video on TV, on the radio, or in the shopping mall, but if you play it on a good stereo, it sounds like crap.
And I'm not talking about the interlude on the distorted bass, which "obviously" was intended to sound that way. No, I'm talking about the whole sound spectrum, in particular the highs, which is lacking. It sounds as if you're playing the song on poor equipment, like a portable radio, or even a guitar amp.
People from the record industry, get a clue. If music on a CD sounds as if it was played on a small radio, then you're taking away every incentive for them to buy a CD. It's just no fun playing it on good equipment. I know, it can be very addictive, but lay off the fat and salt.
Re:Don't get it
bart on 2006-08-13T07:46:58
Yes, they have been postprocessing music to play on radio and TV for decades. What is new, is that now, they already do it on the CD, while before, they tried to get the best out of a recording.
I think it's a sign of the times, in the late 70s and 80s you could easily buy hifi equipment in virtually any shop for electric appliances, but these days, all you can find in plain shops is cheap microchains, portable radios, and "home cinema" sound systems. For better equipment, you really have to go to specialized shops for audiophiles.
That implies that the quality of equipment that ordinary people can buy, is a lot lower than it used to be.
And CD sound is now optimized for those cheap systems, having small speakers with limited maximum volume. But, on good audio systems, even though it doesn't sound worse, it doesn't sound much better than on the cheap systems either. It doesn't sound half as good as you know the system is capable of. And yes, that is quite a letdown. It takes a huge bite out of the fun of enjoying music.Re:Don't get it
pudge on 2006-08-13T08:07:23
Yeah, I've heard of this... I just don't have too many remastered CDs from decades ago, so wasn't sure how much they've been compressing them in the remastering process. I looked up some stuff, and the answer appears to be, at least in some cases: a lot.
As to equipment, true, you can't get it in most shops that sell plain electronics, but there are plenty of places you can get it. Any Circuit City, Best Buy, etc. (which seem to be in just about every strip mall these days). I don't know what most people get though, and even if you get those decent sound systems, you still end up with tiny satellite speakers, which can work OK if you also get a subwoofer and set it all up properly, but most people probably don't do that.
