| Your "VU" meters are probably designed to give more weight to peak
levels than to others. In other words, they are not displaying
the average or the instantaneous level, they are tending to hold
onto peaks.
This makes sense for taping, because what you want to do is record
as high a level as possible without having the peaks too high.
CD's give you a wider dynamic range -- which means that the average
level of a CD is farther below the peak level than you would find
in a comparable vinyl record.
Solutions? 1. Pre-taping compression (which I think is covered
elsewhere in this conference). 2. Experiment to see whether you
can copy a cd to tape with the VU meters at a higher level without
degrading the signal -- between new tape formulations and the possibly
conservative factory meter calibration, you may be pleasantly
surprised. 3. Keep on turning up the car tape deck.
By the way, you probably do not have "VU" meters in your deck --
the real thing is fairly expensive and has very precisely determined
ballistic characteristics.
|