I most certainly still buy CDs. I rip all my own MP3s to the so-called Uberstandard using Exact Audio Codec. I don't bother pinching off the web because the quality is usually disgraceful. With decent headphones the difference is far from subtle.
I try and find issues from the early 90s or before, since most of them aren't afflicted. The first records I noticed the volume increase on were Dirt by Alice in Chains and Astro Creep 2000 by White Zombie. They're probably restrained by today's standards.
As regards "determined by the marketplace": rubbish. Idiocracy has never been an excuse for idiocy.
It's determined by marketing execs playing Joneses and asking why the sound on a pre-release master is so soft compared to all the other records in the playlist.
"The market" has no idea about this, except for a tiny few who wonder why they always have to turn the volume on their receiver down when they play CDs or MP3s after watching DVDs or TV.
To repeat myself, there is simply no reason to compress the audio in this manner, as it can compressed on the playback end. Our musical history is currently being destroyed by marketing goons.
I recommend the following article: http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/loudness.htm
Compression should occur on the user end. Compression used to be offered on car CD players, and it did a perfectly good job of commpensating for background noise. Now we have a format with 96dB or so of potential dynamic range using maybe 5dB and no reason to buy proper hi-fi for modern records.
Many artists and engineers do not do this to records, it's the marketing side.
The reason for not paying (and in my opinion a download is not theft if there was no chance of the record being otherwise bought) is to not reward and thereby encourage bad practice. I buy all the music I like on CD so that I get to keep it at the highest possible quality. I will not pay for lousy mastering and non-Red Book "copy controlled" discs.
Incidentally, DVD now has the opposite problem. Dialogue is recorded increasingly softly so that explosions and gunfire jump out of the mix.
What's interesting about that situation is that unlike CD dynamic range compression which can NEVER be fixed, it can be controlled by the user. Most DVD players have a dynamic range limiter (usually called "night viewing" or similar) so that people can watch comfortably without upsetting the neighbours.
If they'd only thought to implement this on CD and MP3 players, there'd be no need for compression. ReplayGain is an attempt, but it has few corporate backers.
The Elvish is wrong. The E and O tehtar require long markers (looks like an undotted "j"). Currently it reads as "Nett-o-rama", not "Neet-oh-rama".
Also, as an "interesting" side note, placing the vowels above the preceding consonant is the Quenya form. The Sindarin form places them above the following consonant.
Yes, sorry, major Tolkien geek when I was a teenager. It's over. Didn't even like the films much. Not the greatest book ever or anything like that.
I try and find issues from the early 90s or before, since most of them aren't afflicted. The first records I noticed the volume increase on were Dirt by Alice in Chains and Astro Creep 2000 by White Zombie. They're probably restrained by today's standards.
As regards "determined by the marketplace": rubbish. Idiocracy has never been an excuse for idiocy.
It's determined by marketing execs playing Joneses and asking why the sound on a pre-release master is so soft compared to all the other records in the playlist.
"The market" has no idea about this, except for a tiny few who wonder why they always have to turn the volume on their receiver down when they play CDs or MP3s after watching DVDs or TV.
To repeat myself, there is simply no reason to compress the audio in this manner, as it can compressed on the playback end. Our musical history is currently being destroyed by marketing goons.
I recommend the following article: http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/loudness.htm
Many artists and engineers do not do this to records, it's the marketing side.
The reason for not paying (and in my opinion a download is not theft if there was no chance of the record being otherwise bought) is to not reward and thereby encourage bad practice. I buy all the music I like on CD so that I get to keep it at the highest possible quality. I will not pay for lousy mastering and non-Red Book "copy controlled" discs.
What's interesting about that situation is that unlike CD dynamic range compression which can NEVER be fixed, it can be controlled by the user. Most DVD players have a dynamic range limiter (usually called "night viewing" or similar) so that people can watch comfortably without upsetting the neighbours.
If they'd only thought to implement this on CD and MP3 players, there'd be no need for compression. ReplayGain is an attempt, but it has few corporate backers.
http://theladyfingers.blogspot.com/
It's a bit sweary.
Also, as an "interesting" side note, placing the vowels above the preceding consonant is the Quenya form. The Sindarin form places them above the following consonant.
Yes, sorry, major Tolkien geek when I was a teenager. It's over. Didn't even like the films much. Not the greatest book ever or anything like that.