Is this compression?

[ForeverAutumn]

I was listening to Blue Rodeo's Palace of Gold today. Everytime I listen to this album I find that there's something about the quality of the recording that makes me grit my teeth. I'm not really sure how to put it into words, but it's like there's a high-pitched, whiny edge to everything. Like, someone at the mixing board went treble-happy and cranked it way up high. Only it's not really the treble...playing with the equalizer didn't help. I tried turning down the volume and it didn't make any difference. I almost always end up taking this CD out of the player because, after a while, it just gives me a headache.

Is this what y'all mean when you say that something is compressed too much?

[Dusty Chalk]

Well, what you're describing sounds more like distortion. It could be your reaction to compression, but it could just as easily be driving the ADC's into clipping (a frequent problem during the early years of digitization, and still a problem with some novices).

[LeoFenderBender]

I was listening to Blue Rodeo's Palace of Gold today. Everytime I listen to this album I find that there's something about the quality of the recording that makes me grit my teeth. I'm not really sure how to put it into words, but it's like there's a high-pitched, whiny edge to everything. Like, someone at the mixing board went treble-happy and cranked it way up high. Only it's not really the treble...playing with the equalizer didn't help. I tried turning down the volume and it didn't make any difference. I almost always end up taking this CD out of the player because, after a while, it just gives me a headache.

Is this what y'all mean when you say that something is compressed too much?

Check out the explanation for compression at this link:

Compression explained

[Davey]

That Honeydogs CD you listed in your playlist is compressed too much. So is that latest Andrew Bird and most other modern CDs. The last Porcupine Tree. The music never gets quiet. Bass is punchy. Kind of in your face. Barely have to turn up the volume compared to some of your old CDs. What you're describing is something much worse. Could be either very bad equalization or not enough compression for the level they mastered it at, leading to lots of clipped tops on the waveform. Rip a track and post a gif of the waveform

[ToddL]

Maybe the lack of compression in the highs. I find that I hear this in a lot of new digital recordings. Also there could have been noise in the mixing board, bad mastering, unwanted harmonics etc. etc. etc. I doubt that there is anything that you can do on your end. Messing with your EQ's probably just makes it worse.