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Thank you Mr. Marks for the clarification. The concept of volume normalization has been around for quite some time and most computer media players have the ability to make use of them. The most common and widely used one is called "Replay Gain" but of course iTunes isn't able to use Replay Gain and it's own propriety version called "Sound Check".
However replay gain is for use by individuals whereas what you where describing is one to (hopefully) be used by the broadcast industry. If that does happen and songs are then normalized so that no one song is louder than another then perhaps it will have the positive effect of ending this silly loudness war.
Of course being a "jazz fan" I don't often encounter overly compressed dynamic range while listening to jazz.
Yeah, 6 eyes rule!!!!!
Say what?
Excuse me for being more than a little dense on a Monday.
I have seen the deterioration. I am ripping vinyl to 24/96 digital so that my family can play the music with no hassle. In the process, I remove a bad pop or two and normalize the track to use all the dynamics I can get with the 24 bits. So this means I look at the track in a graphic representation.
Man you can see the difference between overly compressed "modern" recordings and the older vinyl. The old stuff has a shape to it, the dynamics fade and rise as the material dictates. The new stuff is by and large at 11 the whole way.
Not that I mind the approach, judicious use of compression is necessary for rock and roll. But over using it squeezes the life out of the music. Take a look for yourself some day, the results are easy to spot.
Trey
Actually it's quite easy to "take a look" at dynamic range compression, at least for digital audio files provided one is using a Windows PC and that you have foobar2000 installed.
Here's what you do:
1) Load a given album or song into foobar2000
2) Select the tracks you would like to test
3) Right click on the file(s) and select "ReplayGain" from the pop-up contact menu and then select either "Scan per-file track" or "Scan selection as a single album"
4) foobar2000 will then scan the track(s) and a pop-up window titled "ReplayGain Scan Results" will appear.
Ideally the number for "Album (or Track) Gain" should be as close to zero as possible. The greater the dynamic range compression the more negative the number will be. For example a well recorded jazz album might return a gain number between -2 and -5 whereas a recent rock or pop music album might return a number between -9 and -12 (or greater). Interesting but all to often very depressing.
old columbia lps from the classic jazz era. excuse me for being a little old every day of the week.