OldGit Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Steve Wright's having a good day T Two Blue Mink tunes back to back with Herbie Flower's brilliant swooping and sometimes tuba-like bass lines and then Renaissance's Northern Lights with the best Chris Squire impression, ever.. I've got Northern Lights on CD but it doesn't sound as good as it does when it's played on the radio .. How do they do that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Compression... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nimrod Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 [quote name='wateroftyne' post='135088' date='Feb 6 2008, 03:29 PM']Compression...[/quote] Exactly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 [quote name='wateroftyne' post='135088' date='Feb 6 2008, 03:29 PM']Compression...[/quote] And more than a little, too. Sometimes as much as 20:1! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jase Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Radio compression is legendary!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jase Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 [url="http://www.flashbacksales.co.uk/articles/compression.htm"]http://www.flashbacksales.co.uk/articles/compression.htm[/url] I seem to remember a little from music tech in Glamorgan....but I dropped out far to technical and I kept failing maths Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGit Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 [quote name='Jase' post='135099' date='Feb 6 2008, 03:43 PM'][url="http://www.flashbacksales.co.uk/articles/compression.htm"]http://www.flashbacksales.co.uk/articles/compression.htm[/url] I seem to remember a little from music tech in Glamorgan....but I dropped out far to technical and I kept failing maths [/quote] Cheers ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broomer Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 my band was lucky enuff to have a some of a song played on radio 1 (just sweet theft - plug ) my bass sounded a soo much thicker and powerfull, still my playing let me down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 [quote name='wateroftyne' post='135088' date='Feb 6 2008, 03:29 PM']Compression...[/quote] Not just compression, but multi-band compression. The audio spectrum is split into 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 parts (by frequency) and each section gets compressed on it's own. Mucho loudness ensues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderthumbs Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 [quote name='OldGit' post='135082' date='Feb 6 2008, 03:23 PM']Steve Wright's having a good day T Two Blue Mink tunes back to back with Herbie Flower's brilliant swooping and sometimes tuba-like bass lines and then Renaissance's Northern Lights with the best Chris Squire impression, ever.. I've got Northern Lights on CD but it doesn't sound as good as it does when it's played on the radio .. How do they do that?[/quote] Yeah, I heard that too. Sounded so much better than listening to Radio Drone etc. where it's the same old same old played over and over again and endless prattle by the DJ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayfan Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 (edited) [quote name='wateroftyne' post='135088' date='Feb 6 2008, 03:29 PM']Compression...[/quote] Spot on. All radio stations use them - usually [url="http://www.orban.com/products/radio/fm/8500/"]Optimods[/url]. The commercial FM music stations like to drive them hard so they sound louder on the dial. Radio 1 and 2 have just copied that idea. It's why the song always sounds punchier on the radio. Audio purists and hi-fi nerds hate it but it's a sound that I quite like. Radio 3 and 4 don't really bother much with compression, which is why they sound so quiet! Edited February 7, 2008 by stingrayfan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R,5,R,5... Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 [quote name='stingrayfan' post='135507' date='Feb 7 2008, 09:17 AM']Audio purists and hi-fi nerds hate it but it's a sound that I quite like. Radio 3 and 4 don't really bother much with compression, which is why they sound so quiet![/quote] It could be argued that the dynamic range of classical music (and perhaps speech) is broader than that of the average pop/rock song, so it would make sense for these stations to go easy on compression. I know I would see absolutely no sense in heavily compressing even a string quartet from the late 19th or 20th century. Besides, if the station's quiet, you can always turn it up! This is not to poo-poo compression altogether, of course -- it is very useful when you want to hear some music and there's significant background noise, like when you're driving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 Multi band compression on classical is the horriblest thing ever. The whole sound changes. There is a light classical prog on Radio Cymru (Welsh radio). Radio Cymru is put through M B C. The prog is on on every Sunday morning. Until I knew about M B C I was absolutely convinced that the presenter had his own weird reverb unit which he put across everything to get a signature "sound" for his programme. Amongst other things, all the upper strings become un-naturally pronounced and shimmer - but not in a good way. I used to lie in bed trying not to listen to it, but my wife used it as an alarm. It has now moved slot. Phew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 I find i can pick out a bass line better off the radio than i can from my PC so i run all my tracks that i have to learn through Ozone and it really helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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