Quote:
Originally posted by Smart Little Lena:
[B Compression effects, THAT I think I can hear on different CD’s to greater or lesser degrees myself (a long standing irritation). When I hear it (what I think is compression) it removes ‘life’ from the recordings.
[/B]


Compression, like all other studio effects, can be done well, and poorly. Compressors are used on the vocals on just about _all_ popular music releases. The dynamic range of the voice is just too much to compete with all the other instruments otherwise. The effect is indeed a 'flattening' of the sound, and it takes on a "Hi-Fi" quality, in the worst sense if used with too heavy a hand. If a vocalist sounds like he/she is virtually 'swallowing' the microphone, you can bet that there is compression used, and the more it sounds like that, the heavier the compression. Listen to a disk jockey on a rock music FM radio station for a perfect example of heavy compression.

It is also routine practice to compress the bass guitar, in order to even out the relative loudness of the notes in the bass line.

[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited November 10, 2002).]