Using compression in chamber/classical music

[recordinghopkins]

Originally Posted by panatrope

It is part of the perceived dynamic of the station, and sets the level expectation for a piece of music, and limits the impact of say, an ff entry. The BBC did a lot of work on this (albeit in the Golden Age of Radio) to define listeners expectations of voice following music and music following voice. It is an important part of the (critical) radio listener's experience.

Can you elaborate more on the findings of the BBC, or provide reference to publications? Thanks!

[panatrope]

It was in the late '70s or early '80s, and was a BBC Research Report with a title like 'preferred levels of voice and music in radio presentation'. I recall particularly that voice following music was preferred about 2db louder and voice preceding music was preferred about 2dB softer. The operational implication was the voice level was reduced across the announcement.

While I have kept copies of some of those reports, I'm not sure I would have kept that one, and if I did, I could find it readily as those records have been 'moved' two or three times. However, we may live in hope.

However, you may have better luck searching here:

BBC - R&D - Publications - RD Reports