Chapter 10
Volume and dynamics
There are three kinds of volume control. The first uses meters to control overall level. For the second, to control internal dynamics, we need loudspeakers and our ears. The third employs compressors and limiters and is fully automatic but may still require monitoring by ear.
The first application of volume control is purely technical. Meters are used to keep the signal within limits that allow it to pass with minimal unwanted changes through equipment, along lines and links, to reach broadcast transmitters or recording media. If an analogue level is too high, preamplifiers will overload and distort, tape recording media will be saturated, and (even worse) any attempt to convert analogue to digital will ...
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