irwin Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 I just picked up a new DVD,"The Jerry Garcia Band Live at Shoreland".I have to turn the volume control on my amp much higher than normal to get a reasonable amount of volume.Could this be a defective disc,or just a poorly recorded show? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironwoods Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 Hi, does it sound good, despite the higher volume needed? Maybe bring this up in DVD's, Music and Movies , under the Entertainment section of the forums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irwin Posted November 9, 2005 Author Share Posted November 9, 2005 Yes,it does sound pretty good.I just find it unusual that I have to turn the volume up so high.Most of my listening is done with the volume knob set at 9 o'clock.With this disc,to get the same level of volume I have to set the knob to about 1 o'clock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 It may simply mean that recording is, uh, "better" than most other recordings. In many cases, the dynamic range of a recording (the difference in volume level between the quietest parts and the loudest parts) is "compressed" - that is, the quieter portions are made louder, and the loudest portions are made less loud. This has several effects - it makes a recording sound better on cheap equipment that doesn't have the ability to reproduce a wide dynamic range (cheap car radio, boom box, Walmart Rack-O-Equipment). As the quieter portions are boosted in level, it makes the whole thing sound "louder" so it stands out more when you're channel surfing. And, as there's less difference between the loudest parts and the rest of the music, the whole thing can be recorded at a higher level, which again makes it stand out more in a crowded channel jungle. In fact, there's only one real drawback, which is it screws up the music badly. On a good system with the capacility to reproduce a wide dynamic range, heavily compressed recordings sound, well, bad. At least, more bad than they would if they were not compressed. If a recording is, uh, recorded (?) without unnaturally restricting the dynamic range, the ususal result is that the overall volume level is lower, as most music is not played at full tilt boogie levels all the time - there are loud moments and quiet (or at least less loud) moments. However, the "aliveness", or "jump factor", or whatever you want to call it that makes live music sound so much different than recorded music, will be captured much more realistically on an uncompressed recording. Jerry was a real stickler for quality recordings, so I'm not surprised. Turn it up and enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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