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Can CD's be loud and ok?

I've read on an other thread how a lot of new releases on CD are overcompressed or eq'd to distortion levels.
Certainly heard that on the last Jayhawks record.
However,surely (or maybe not)CD's can be mastered to a higher volume without distorting the original recording?
Yes?
No?
Just that I have some new CD's that are loud but seem (to me at least)to have a good balanced sound.
Madonna's last record and the last Blur album sound like that to me(to name but 2)-loud in regards to some older CD's.
Likewise if you listen to remastered versions they do get noticeably louder.
Check out Pink Floyd's DSOM from Mob.Fid to the 94 version to the SACD hybrid.
ben_campbell
lugnut
1,190 posts
 
Ben,

I'm sure I'll stand corrected if I'm wrong but when CD's are mixed so that the quiet passages are too loud then that is compression. A whisper should be a whisper, not a shout. That's my complaint with so many of today's CD's. It seems that the artists must like the "hot" sound. I would think that distortion would occur only when the signal is too much for the circuitry invovled.
ben_campbell OP
1,169 posts
 
Yes Lugnut and I agree I state the last Jayhawks CD as one that's been messed up-it's too forward and the distortion is in fact obvious.
I'm not arguing that happens but take the likes of Sea Change by Beck-rated highly as a recording-that CD is loud.
Post removed 
ben_campbell OP
1,169 posts
 
Ok I'll put it another way because I am still confused.
Is it possible to make a good recording without compression and the CD sound reasonably loud.
No?
Yes?
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