Volume Perception Question

[blue439]

In remastering some tracks for uploading (I've noticed this in the past also) I noticed that some tracks with few instruments sounded just as loud as tracks with a full band playing, even if the waveform indicated it was softer and in reality. if you were in a room with a live band the band would sound much louder than say, just a voice and guitar. Once recorded, however, it seems the more "spacious" the sound, the more its perceived loudness. If a sound is "busy" it doesn't sound as loud as it would live. Is this an acoustic/perceptual phenomenon? Any audio experts out there?

[Five]

dynamics processing can affect the RMS (which is the percieved volume)

human ears naturally compress sound so that at the concert when your ears are getting hammered with high SPLs they sort of "turn down" the volume and take some time to return to normal.

if it is analog it could be tape compression and a more narrow dynamic range

well there's a few theories for you. you can't really record a show with a 150dB range and expect it to translate perfectly as tho you were there.