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Annoying trend? New vinyl equalization and compression

Hi...I searched discussions and didn’t find much mention of this. Direct me if there is a thread.

Is this just a few of the recent (maybe last 5 years or so) albums I’ve picked up reissued on vinyl or a trend by the big manufacturers (such as Rhino records etc.....not talking about "audiophile" Mofi etc.).....

-------Albums sound dynamically compressed, thick in the bass and very rolled off on top--------.

Of the thousands of albums I have.....these recent pressings/purchases have this same sound.

A couple recents.....David Bowie Scary Monsters, A new Samantha Fish Death Wish Blues, A reissue of Ozzy Osborne Blizzard of Oz etc.

Not sure if this might be an EQ that compliments new vinyl purchasers and sounds better on USB or maybe inexpensive tables or systems???

Or is it just a few of the releases I purchased and not so widespread?

 

foeraus

Showing 3 responses by atmasphere

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,604 posts
 

@mahler123 

The radio stations have their own compression they've used for decades, even back in the 1960s.  I don't doubt Colombia was using compression though. I was commenting on much more recent releases.

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,604 posts
 

I doubt that Technics is selling all their new turntables to just the high end market.

When we were mastering LPs for a digital source file, we would try to make sure that the file had no DSP other than normalization. In that way we could master an LP that had greater dynamic punch than the digital master. I know we were not the only mastering house doing that! Since the digital release is often thought to be played in a car, there is a tendency to compress it. LPs of course have no such expectation.

Irony is still in. If you want the most dynamic range out of a recording you stand a better chance getting it with the LP rather than the digital release simply on this account.

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,604 posts
 

Compression is used because it takes less time to engineer the LP side. You just start the source file (or tape) and let the cutter do its thing.

You might spend 4x as much money if you don't use the compression, trying to sort out how to cut the LP and still have a real world cartridge be able to track it. LP mastering costs the same as high buck lawyers.

So a lot of reissues are compressed to keep costs down.

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