DSD-wide

[Covenant]

I was reading that an encoding technique called DSD-wide could offer some distinct advantages for the recording studio as it uses 8 bit sampling instead of 1 bit like DSD. For one thing equalisation would be easier. Would this mean that the compression techniques that we all hate could be eliminated?

[Ali Tait]

I don't think it's compression itself that's the problem, it's the way it's used.

[Stratmangler]

I was reading that an encoding technique called DSD-wide could offer some distinct advantages for the recording studio as it uses 8 bit sampling instead of 1 bit like DSD. For one thing equalisation would be easier. Would this mean that the compression techniques that we all hate could be eliminated?

Does this mean that all compression is bad, or are you just referring to the brick wall limiting that seems to be commonly in use these days?

An observation on DSD recordings I've encountered so far is that none of them have been "volumed to death", and a more natural dynamic results.
My take on this is that having a recording too loud on DSD literally robs bandwidth from one aspect of the recording and gives it to another - digital swings and roundabouts, if you like.
Which means that DSD already seems to prevent the use of brick wall limiting, because an overly hot (loud) recording will be suffering in the fidelity stakes.

DSD-Wide would make it more feasible to brick wall limit a recording, because of the greater bandwidth available.

[realysm42]

If so many people hate the way tunes are mastered and it's apparent to them, why isn't it to the "professionals" doing it?

Or is it and they are under strict rules on the sound they are to produce?

[Ali Tait]

I think that's the crux of it. They can't all be deaf!

[Stratmangler]

If so many people hate the way tunes are mastered and it's apparent to them, why isn't it to the "professionals" doing it?

Or is it and they are under strict rules on the sound they are to produce?

The mastering engineers are unfortunately at the mercy of their clients, and if the client (usually a record company, not the recording artist) instructs that "everything has to be louder than everything else" then that's what the mastering engineer must do.

There is some fallacy that making a recording as loud as possible gives it more impact.
Now that being loud is normal, I would have thought that a whisper screams loudest

[Covenant]

http://www.turnmeup.org/

[Reid Malenfant]

The mastering engineers are unfortunately at the mercy of their clients, and if the client (usually a record company, not the recording artist) instructs that "everything has to be louder than everything else" then that's what the mastering engineer must do.

There is some fallacy that making a recording as loud as possible gives it more impact.
Now that being loud is normal, I would have thought that a whisper screams loudest

A freind popped round a couple of days ago & asked if I'd mind spinning a CD so he could hear some decent clean bass that he knew was there, but couldn't hear on anything he played it on....

Within about 20 seconds of the disc being played he said "this sounds bloody awful".. There was zero dynamic range & it was obviously recorded at some stupendous level as it was loud as hell on a volume setting I start listening at on an evening

Now it sounded pretty good to him on his CD player in his van....

I think that sums things up rather nicely