In article , Iain Churches
wrote:

"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...
In article , David Looser


In any individual case I can't tell if the problems are due to an
'accident' or more deliberate.

There are no "accidents" Too many stages of checks and balances.

Depends on your definition of 'accident'. You can also say there are no
'traffic accidents' as they generally have a cause, and might have been
prevented if someone had behaved differently. Post hoc arguments can muddy
this.

But I doubt that 'accidents' *never* occur. If you think no-one ever makes
a mistake then I'm afraid I don't share your belief on that point. FWIW I
also agree with what you've said, re those who choose to add level
compression and clipping *genuinely* believe this is "what is wanted". The
snag is that them believing this doesn't mean their thought is well-founded
in the relevant case.

Can you state some instances and examples within the classical genre?
If you don't want to post them on an open group, please send by e-mail.
In confidence of course.

If you look on my webpages you can find measured examples. e.g. the 'Living
Stereo' CD release with gross clipping. I presume this was because they
were selling 'loud' as if it meant 'wide dynamic range'. But I can only
surmise why this was done.

It seems to me to be insane for CD mastering to be anything more than
transferring the supplied master to CD, as faithfully as possible.
When the material is supplied on a CD-R (as I believe it often is
these days), then the manufactured CD should simply be a clone of the
master.

I agree. However as *Iain* has reported here, it certainly happens
that a recording sent off to be put onto CDDAs comes back with added
compression, etc.

This case was the first in which I was involved and even then not
directly from the outset. But it transpired that clear, written
instructions had been sent for "no changes of any kind to be made" even
though the peak level was rather on the conservative side. It took a
single telephone call from an EU lawyer to get the plant to admit
"human error" and the matter was resolved subsequently.

So 'accidents' *do* happen. :-)

BTW I was listening to a recording I'd made from R3 DAB some years ago. And
I was struck by just how low the modulation levels were at the time, ad
that there was no sign of any deliberate or automated compression. The
result compared very well with a couple of BIS CDs of music by Sibelius I
also listened to that are excellent. However thoughout I had the volume
gain set over 20dB above what I use for things like R4 speech. Which is as
it should be from my POV. But I guess some people would be baffled or
irritated by this given the routine use of compression.

As a result of the thread,. I have had correspondence with people who
have received questionable service in CD mastering. One even told me
that his material came back "pitch corrected" !!

I'm quite happy to agree that these problems are far rarer with classical
CDs than pop. However problem cases do arise and can be found. Alas, this
is no consolation when someone finds what they have obtained *is*
compressed and/or clipped - with no alternative on offer.

The price of quality is eternal vigilance?... :-)

Slainte,

Jim

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