Loudness War

T Bone Burnett is another strong proponent and advocate of quality and bemoans the loudness wars too.

I'm curious. One recent CD I've heard that to me sounded like it had phenomenal dynamics, some of the best I have ever heard on CD, is John Fogerty's "Revival" CD.

I need to listen again, but am I missing something? How did it sound so good (drums sounded as real as most anything I have heard on some tracks)? Maybe modern production techniques are not so bad with some kinds of music?

A lot of modern popular music (rap, etc.) is heavy on electronic drums and other electronic instruments. Isn't it true that there is no such thing as "natural" sounding electronic instruments? The sound is eletronically, not acoustically generated, and reality is whatever the artist and or producers wants it to be. Kind of like CGI special effects in many modern movies as well. BTW, CGI keeps getting better and better but personally I do not care for CGI as a replacement for real cinematography. I do not mind it as much if the scene calls for something that is imagined and not real, like a scene on an alien planet as opposed to a scene that supposedly takes place in a landmark city, like London UK say.

Also, most recent remastered CDs I hear surpass the original CD masters in sound quality. How does that happen if all is so astray?

Maybe I'm whacked when it comes to this or something. I know there are a lot of crappy recordings these days but there always have been in the past as well and there have always also been some pretty good ones.

Maybe we audio nuts just need to be more willing to accept things that are new or different better rather than being continuously disappointed when something does not meet our particular high expectations. I know I enjoy music a lot more in general when I think this way and try to be open minded.

By the way, a lot of newer "loud" recorded CDs will cream lesser audio systems not capable of delivering the goods to an audiophile's ears. In some cases, I believe the shortcoming is in the audio systems ability to deliver the "loud" dynamics present without distortion, not an inherent shortcoming with the recording itself.

sorry folks...i forgot to include the link to the discussion i cited above. It's entitled: "Deep Listening: Why Audio Quality Matters"

Here it is: http://philoctetes.org/Past_Programs/Deep_Listening_Why_Audio_Quality_Matters

T Bone Burnett is another strong proponent and advocate of quality and bemoans the loudness wars too.

No surprise there - he is rather a sound quality fanatic and likes to play music loud on his ATC 150ASL...

Pro Software or some media players that allow you to analyze or normalize the sound seems the least expensive route.

Of course you could proceed the old fashioned route and simply start out each new disc at a lower volume setting and raise it to suit yourself.

I find such recordings are pop & rock, urban & hip hop CDs mostly. The audience they're shooting for could care less about dynamic range, and most will be deaf well before their mid life crisis rolls around.