New Santana Album "Africa Speaks"

Compression for radio is just capitalism at work. So now you are pissed at the very God you pray to ?

some of us actually own compression tools and use them - with a light and deft touch, unless the artist and producer wants the heavy hand. Not normally at a small studio for economics.

also, for the vinyl freaks and RtR fans there  are many forms of compression, so intentional some not.

of course the same cuts at 33 vs 45 sound different- wonder why ?????

And I don’t have a spot in the small chorale mobile rack for a compressor, nor would I want one there.... but there are limits to tape and a killer A2D has far better undistorted dynamic range.

Money walks, nobody talks. 

I am into dynamic range as much as the next person, likely more so. However, it is unfortunate, that many listeners who spend a considerable amount of money on audio gear ( my definition of an audiophile ), listen to recordings, putting the musical content, 2nd. If the sonics are not great, many listeners I know, will not play it. Coming from a live, un-amplified music background, the majority of recordings suffer from compression, over equalization, and so on. The recordings we buy, stream, whatever, will never be, anything like the real thing. However, I can still enjoy it all, because I put first, the musicianship, the artistry of the writing, of a piece of music, the arrangement, which is the ability, of putting it all together. This is a nice addition to my Santana catalog, and he, as far as I am concerned, has still " got it ".

I'm with you my friend.