Search - Tom Petty :: Highway Companion

CD mastering too compressed

John Hamby | Puget Sound, WA USA | 11/02/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a fine album, as noted by many other reviewers, and I recommend it in any format.



The CD edition suffers from extreme dynamic compression, a partial casualty of the Volume Wars. The LP edition has much wider dynamics, which allows the music much more life and power. This variation is not intrinsic to the formats--someone consciously chose to take the dynamics out of the CD master. It's also not subtle--with a good turntable, the differences in the first minute of the first track are impossible to miss. On the LP, the quiet beginning invites turning up the volume, the vocal sounds like a human, and then the full band kicks in with a blast. On the CD, it's all much flatter.



The LP is ridiculously expensive ($35), and is annoying to play because it's four very short sides, but it's by far the best way to hear this music.





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