Friday, August 1, 2008

Now hear this (or not)


Up to 40 percent of musicians suffer from hearing loss, according to some recent studies. In classical music, orchestral string players seated downwind of brass sections are especially at risk:

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=fdf725c5-63ef-4d11-bc34-94fed3626b69

Sound compression leaves out 10/11ths of the audio information in a "good" quality MP3 file, Rhodri Marsden reports in The Independent:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/you-wont-believe-your-ears-the-new-sound-revolution-880230.html

Unfortunately, the article does not compare or relate MP3 sound compression with that commonly employed in commercial recordings and broadcast-radio signals. Was some of that 10/11ths of audio gone long before it got to the new playback media? Or are we talking about compounded compression – i.e., fractions of fractions of the original sound?