> degree. Rock and roll was the pioneer in that department, and
> many recordings from the sixties on were compressed within an
> inch of their lives.
Absolutely! The compression methods were different than today,
but that's mostly because of technology. One of my favorite
types of compressors actually used a lightbulb to shunt the
higher voltages when the levels peaked. Almost everybody used
tape-compression during the mastering process. (some still do).
The nice thing about tape-compression is that it is infinitely
accurate in attack/release.
> In my first radio job, which would have been in about 1967, we
> compressed the signal further.
My company installed a compressor in a huge 500KW clear-channel
AM station in Kamkatcha. Prior to the compressor, they were
peaking at 15%. After the compressor, it wiped out half the AM
dial in America and it almost bankrupted the station when the
electric bill came! We went back in and installed a solid-state
50KW transmitter.
> Perhaps the modern CD is compressed more. It is surely
> compressed in a more sophisticated manner.
Yes and no. There are several "meltdown" compressors used in
mastering today: Finalyzer, UltraMaximizer (and their version
variants) are two of the popular ones and they are essentially
multiband compressors that treat bass seperately from midtones,
from high-frequencies. These compressors also apply certain
"gloss" characteristics where they take the highs, for example,
and apply extreme compression and then blend it back into the
mix. Much of the bass you hear isn't. A processor called
MaxxBass sees to that. It takes and creates pseudobass by
fooling the ear/brain into believing that the upper-sideband of
the bass tone is actually the real thing. The benefit is
in-your-face bass without slamming the rest of the mix into
submission in the compressor.
As to classical? Well, the problem with running no compression
on classical is the extreme dynamic range is beyond the
listening comfort of the listener. You have to bring up the
bottom while also limiting the highs. A really good friend of
mine was an engineer at WGBH and did a blind test with several
musicians from the Philharmanic. They did a "without
compression" and a "with compression". To a man and woman, they
preferred the compressed sound better. Why? Because they could
hear their own part!
AG
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