Dynamic Range Of Vinyl Record

The dynamic range of a direct cut vinyl record may surpass 70 db.

Dynamic range of vinyl record.

Lp s surface noise which is responsible for the poor dynamic range is mainly concentrated below 500hz where the noise level is around 50db. These releases on the other hand deliver music at its optimum sound level dynamically leaving the listener to decide on the playback level. Analog studio master tapes can have a dynamic range of up to 77 db. Analog fm broadcasts rarely have a dynamic range exceeding 50 db.

The dynamic range of music as normally perceived in a concert hall doesn t exceed 80 db and human speech is normally perceived over a range of about 40 db. Consumer analog cassette tapes have a dynamic range of 60 to 70 db. Cds can handle over 90 db. The maximum dynamic range we can put on a vinyl record is around 60 db.

The dynamic range of human hearing is roughly 140 db. And while most of what i discovered was correct some vinyl releases are intentionally mastered with more dynamic range it turns out some of the. With the above in mind i began exploring why some vinyl records have greater dynamic range rightly concluding that mastering lay at the heart of the issue. In practical terms this means that cds have more than 10 times the dynamic range of lps.

Pcm of any flavor has a flat response to fs. The unofficial dynamic range database uses a sliding scale from 1 to 20 1 being the worst 20 being the best to rank the dynamic quality of each of the recordings they list. There s very little compression so the loudest parts of those sounds often stand out like you d expect them to at a live performance. Cd 16bit on the other hand can achieve 96 db dynamic range.

16 bit cd digital audio has a technical dynamic range of 96 db though many argue the perceived range is higher when taking dithering into account. Under theoretically ideal conditions this could perhaps improve to 120 db. That s why snare drums cymbal splashes and other loud instruments have so much more punch in vinyl recordings. Vinyl s dynamic range is dependant on frequency because vinyl doesn t have a flat maximum output curve.

When i cut a master for vinyl and a cd master from the same digital master tape they sounded pretty much the same except for the noise floor. The difference between the loudest and softest sounds an lp can play is about 70 decibels db. Vinyl records typically yield 55 65 db. Vinyl can still push music to the limits of its dynamic range 55 70db but it often shies away from doing so in order to maintain sound quality.

This number represents the difference between the peak decibel level on a recording and the recording s average loudness. Fdr vinyl our full dynamic range releases were made in response to the so called loudness wars with the dynamic range of music being restricted more and more in an effort to make it sound louder. In other words the lp recording has a lower noise floor than the cd recording for the majority of the spectrum frequencies above 2khz.