“When There’s No Quiet
…there can be no loud.”
Why music is sounding worse today than 20 years ago. A short lesson in overcompression. Compression is a great thing. It helps to smooth out a jagged performance or poor microphone levels, but taken to an extreme, overcompression causes a loss of clarity. Check out the video for a good explanation.
The use of compression is a subjective thing. I try and keep my compression usage to a minimum (technically, around 2.5:1 or so). I’ve seen the “big boys” compress at 4:1, 5:1, or even 10:1. Doing so can squash the juice out of any track. You’ll have a loud sound, but there’ll be no detail or contrast in it. Ick.
They do this to get the most out of the radio bandwidth, and to compete with every other track that’s overcompressed. It’s an arms race where the loser is your ears.