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With all the recent negative attention that the "loudness war" - the music industry's tendency to increasingly limit the dynamic range of CD recordings of popular music - has been receiving lately it seems more music artists are beginning to try to do something to address it (for example, see Rolling Stone: Hi-Fi not dead after all). The most recent example is a new CD from a popular artist that's made directly from an LP master.
According to a recent column in The New York Times ("For Tom Petty Fans, the True Sound of Vinyl, Also Captured on a CD"), a new album from the group Mudcrutch, featuring Tom Petty, will include the LP-mastered CD packaged with the vinyl version of the album. Those who purchase the regular CD version of the album will receive a separately mastered product that, according to one of the album's producers, reflects "the realities of the marketplace" - presumably meaning it has a reduced dynamic range.
This is an interesting approach, but it does bring up a couple of questions. For example, I wonder if the LP-mastered CD, while perhaps not being unduly compressed (a good thing), might also reflect equalization and/or limiting in the master that was added to compensate for vinyl's inherent limitations (and which would be unnecessary - and detrimental - on a CD)?
That aside, why not make the LP-mastered CD available separately, rather than require listeners to purchase the LP package to get it? I checked online and didn't see this available as an option. Better yet, why not make both the regular and LP-mastered recordings available online as downloads?
While it's nice to see the "loudness war" being actively fought on several fronts, I doubt that much will come of efforts that are dependent on the recording and distribution of dying media formats.
Comments, questions or suggestions? Email me at rich.pell@verizon.net.
Related links:
The death of high fidelity?
Rolling Stone: Hi-Fi not dead after all
Audio myth: Vinyl better than CD?
Vinyl vs. CD: Readers respond
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