year1buick Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 Does the lossless rate affect anything else? I don't think so, but I have to admit that my technical knowledge of it is pretty limited. I think the main "problem" you could run into is that the lossless files will probably only play on the program you used to rip them. (But, if we're talking about making an "improved" CD to listen to, this isn't an issue.) I think the main thing is, it offers the same fidelity of an AIFF or WAV recording (which don't use compression) but with using much less hard drive space. MP3 and ACC use even less space, but can start to mess with the sound quality. Even so, you can also adjust the bit rate on those, and lessen the deleterious effects. (The trade off is more disk space will be required.) I've always ripped my music at 192 kbs and have never really been bothered by the sound. But, if you want to try and get as close to CD quality as possible, you could go with lossless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acn Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 Thanks - your response answered all the questions I hadn't asked yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PR ROCKS Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 I can't say if it was the amps, or just the recordings. As you pointed out in the first paragraph, the second CD offers far more brass presence than the first. Crown and BK are tremendous! But for disc 1 the hornlines all sound kind of neutered. There are brass parts even in the Cavaliers' ballad that simply cannot be heard, even without any amps present. Interestingly, the vocals in Cadets ballad are almost inaudible as well. I wonder if perhaps there was an issue with mic placement, because it's not just that the amps are loud in certain shows, but that the brass is almost edited out of certain shows. The vocals in Cadets' ballad were almost inaudible live at Finals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scudder Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 If you can get yoru hands on something like Adobe Audition you can rip the audio to your computer and work nearly every sound thing you'd want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 maybe i'll wait to order and see if it's corrected Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CloudHype Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 I used Audacity for everything and got some plugins.To raise the volume is simple, just use the Amplify tool. BTW Audacity is free :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar15 Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 The vocals in Cadets' ballad were almost inaudible live at Finals. I agree, I was near the 40 on the upper deck, and I could not hear her clearly or loudly at all. Thing is, at all the "big" moments, the hornline was still playing incredibly subdued to make room for the singer. :( Do you think we'll ever get to hear this ballad performed by a corps with no vocalist? I don't know about anyone else, but I'd really like to hear it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcat Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Very simply, for the OP saying to "Bump up" the audio - I couldn't disagree more. Drum corps is a lot closer to classical than Creed. Not sure what I mean? Most pop music is "clipped" heavily in order to achieve that "loud" sound. Of course, you can say "how loud is a CD?" and the answer is, 0 or less. You get volume out of your system, but there's only so loud that digital audio can go. Trying to keep this short, your normal music sound makes curves, up and down, relating to how your speaker needs to be to repro the sound. Many modern groups add amplitude to those waves, "squishing" them and flattening the tops. Most bands, it won't matter. Start doing this to instrumentals, and you'll hear it right away. This isn't guitars with reverb and distortion, where the sound distortion is insignificant -- if you mess with it much, you ruin the true sounds that we all know. If you want to play with it, take your favorite corps piece, open it in Audition/Audacity/SF, whatever, and add 10dB to it. Any wave editor will show "clipping" - saying you're squishing the audio. Squished audio is by definition distorted. Finally, as you well know, there are huge changes in volume on the field. Volume doesn't change much in the studio. You rarely hear bands playing their guitars with dynamics of any consequence. When you play, you'll find that these guys don't crush the audio for those reasons. It's not easily understood until you've tried it. Once you do, you'll fully understand why your cds come the way they do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tylerdurden Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Music is very compressed and limited right now. Listen to a song from the early 90's and before, then compare it to a song today. Many engineers and mastering engineers are now refusing to keep going louder, and are trying to go back to reasonable levels. The CDs sound fine to me, just turn up the volume some off and on. Its also impossible to "remix" the brass sound when you are using 2 mics. You are relying on the individual corps' dynamic control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevingamin Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 This article seems to fit the current discussion: Why the "loudness wars" are killing today's music Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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