Members Goofball Jones Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 There is an article over at Rolling Stone about "In the age of MP3s, sound quality is worse than ever". It's an interesting article...talking about sound compression and how producers are gearing music now to play through little computer speakers and what-not while we're losing fidelity. I know it's been talked about before, but this article is pretty comprehensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fastplant Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 I think it's a matter of consumers wanting convenience more than sound quality. In time, the sound quality will go back up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PaulyWally Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 I think it's a matter of consumers wanting convenience more than sound quality. Yup. Consumers have been sacrificing quality for convenience for a LONG time now. And not just for audio. Can you say, "McDonald's"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bnyswonger Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 that's why I still find myself spinning these 12'" licorice pizzas.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RSBro Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 Well to look at it from the "wrong" side here, if you know 75+% of your listeners are going to be hearing the mix through hundredths of an inch earbud drivers, you tailor it to suit those needs and compress the hell out of it to accomplish the best sound possible. I missed out on vinyl, so maybe I just don't know what I'm missing? I listen to most of my music in my truck, and have a pretty nice setup in there so my music sounds pretty good actually. I rarely listen to music at home consciously, and actually pay attention, as sad as that sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pickabar Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 For the majority of my youth I only listened to 4th and 5th generation cassettes of bands that had recorded on four tracks or even boom boxes. Fidelity is overrated IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Les_Izzmor Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 that's why I still find myself spinning these 12'" licorice pizzas.... I wish I'd never sold my albums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Goofball Jones Posted December 28, 2007 Author Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 It's interesting though that for music, most consumers are ok with listening to it through tinny earphones or computer speakers or what-not...yet when it comes to home-theater they go all out with the 5.1 or now 7.1 digital dolby SRS THX. Sure, you can play your CD's through it and even get 5.1 surround audio....but who wants to just listen when you have that big 52" plasma you paid an arm and a leg for! But seriously, back in my day we would buy and album, then go home and listen to it all the way through while reading the liner notes. That's all we really had besides just 4 channels on the TV. Now it's more just background noise and I'll admit that's how I listen to stuff now....while surfing the net or doing something else around the house. It's been a long time since I just sat down and listened to something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Super Bass Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 that's why I still find myself spinning these 12'" licorice pizzas.... My brother had one of the master records for Ride The Lightning, but it got damaged It sounded amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RSBro Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 It's interesting though that for music, most consumers are ok with listening to it through tinny earphones or computer speakers or what-not...yet when it comes to home-theater they go all out with the 5.1 or now 7.1 digital dolby SRS THX.Sure, you can play your CD's through it and even get 5.1 surround audio....but who wants to just listen when you have that big 52" plasma you paid an arm and a leg for!But seriously, back in my day we would buy and album, then go home and listen to it all the way through while reading the liner notes. That's all we really had besides just 4 channels on the TV. Now it's more just background noise and I'll admit that's how I listen to stuff now....while surfing the net or doing something else around the house. It's been a long time since I just sat down and listened to something. True. I spend LOTS of time in my truck which is why I invest so much in car stereo. I have a decent set of speakers for my PC, but could probably do a lot better w/ an upgraded soundcard and some powered studio monitors or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ThudMaker Posted December 28, 2007 Moderators Share Posted December 28, 2007 If anyone has ever done any mastering, the final mix is not only tested on the studio monitors, but in a car, on a small radio and in some headphones. Music shouldn't be tailored just for cheap earbuds. Since the idea is that people give up quality, why would you tailor a mix to that lack of quality? A quality mix that sounds good over the monitors, car speakers and headphones is going to be the better mix always. I sure don't want to hear a song mixed special for earbuds on XM as I'm cruising down the road in my vehicle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FreestyleIntruder Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 Yep, stuff these days is just being overcooked to the Nth degree in the quest for 'impact' http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/jan/18/pop.music http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/10/02/cd_mastering_is_killing_music.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members t3ch Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 It's a shame really, and I'm kind of insulted... You expect us to pay $12-$20 a CD (more than they've ever been), yet put out {censored}tier quality than before? That makes sense. When I download mp3's or rip my CD's, I always use LAME VBR 0, which is the highest quality of mp3 compression. For anything instrumental/orchestral only, I'll use lossless... I have over a terabyte of space for a reason, it pisses me off knowing that I'm quality-whoring for nothing. I didn't buy $350 computer speakers and a $180 sound card for nothing... Ugh. Maybe mp3-player manufacturers should add some hardware filtering into their products with user options, then all this would go away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members misterhinkydink Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 It's devolution or evolution. Before AOR, popular music was mixed to sound good through a car's dash-mounted AM radio. Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound", anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BeeTL Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 It's devolution or evolution. Before AOR, popular music was mixed to sound good through a car's dash-mounted AM radio. Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound", anyone? Exactly. High-fidelity was never TRULY a mass-market phenomenon. Most were happy with cassette and 8-track in the days of Hi-fi, and the digital realm has done more to increase access than we can even imagine. Hi-fi is still out there for those who desire it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PaulyWally Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 Most were happy with cassette and 8-track in the days of Hi-fi You couldn't exactly take your record player + tube amp + column speakers on the road with you. Something had to be portable. And 8-track really wasn't that bad. It actually had a lot of potential. But the point to them was portability. And no matter how good the medium was, no automotive audio system could give the 8-track justice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dert_stylus Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 If anyone has ever done any mastering, the final mix is not only tested on the studio monitors, but in a car, on a small radio and in some headphones. Music shouldn't be tailored just for cheap earbuds. Since the idea is that people give up quality, why would you tailor a mix to that lack of quality? A quality mix that sounds good over the monitors, car speakers and headphones is going to be the better mix always. I sure don't want to hear a song mixed special for earbuds on XM as I'm cruising down the road in my vehicle. This is so true. I was mastering our EP and I had to go and listen on all the "outlets" I had available before I was "happy" with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dert_stylus Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 There is a Great Article in This months issue of Recording Magazine by Bruce Kaphan that outlines how much disregard we have for resolution when mastering a CD for the masses. IMO, if its starts off as Sh*t , it will sound like Sh*t ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ivanthetrble Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 It's interesting though that for music, most consumers are ok with listening to it through tinny earphones or computer speakers or what-not...yet when it comes to home-theater they go all out with the 5.1 or now 7.1 digital dolby SRS THX. Sure, you can play your CD's through it and even get 5.1 surround audio....but who wants to just listen when you have that big 52" plasma you paid an arm and a leg for! But seriously, back in my day we would buy and album, then go home and take a bunch of bong hits and listen to it all the way through while reading the liner notes. That's all we really had besides just 4 channels on the TV. Now it's more just background noise and I'll admit that's how I listen to stuff now....while surfing the net or doing something else around the house. It's been a long time since I just sat down and listened to something. There, fixed it for ya. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted December 28, 2007 Moderators Share Posted December 28, 2007 I think it's a matter of consumers wanting convenience more than sound quality. In time, the sound quality will go back up. Not necessarily. Gresham's Law can be adapted to this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted December 28, 2007 Moderators Share Posted December 28, 2007 This is so true. I was mastering our EP and I had to go and listen on all the "outlets" I had available before I was "happy" with it. I did that, too. Then, after the CD was finished, I took it to a local music store to get a few on the shelf. He played it through a cheap-assed PA system with way too much treble, and, guess what? It didn't sound all that good. But waddaya gonna do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 82Daion Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 I've actually bought as much vinyl as I have CD's in the past year, and I'm 19. The production techniques used on modern pop/metal/punk/etc. are one of the reasons that I don't listen to much of it-as the author of that RS article said, it makes music more of an aural assault than a listening experience. I enjoy listening to jazz because those production techniques aren't employed to produce it, and so it's more pleasant to listen to (and more fulfilling to me from a musical standpoint, but that's outside the scope of this discussion.) As Thud said, a good mix will have been tested on all sorts of monitoring sources before being released-not every home listener will have a set of Genelecs as their stereo speakers. I don't think that most pop music has ever been the model of fidelity (although there are exceptions), and so I'm not too worried-however, it would be nice if the whole brick-wall limiting thing went away, as the sound it produces is not a musical one. As a future producer/engineer, I'll be doing my best to combat it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ThudMaker Posted December 28, 2007 Moderators Share Posted December 28, 2007 I did that, too. Then, after the CD was finished, I took it to a local music store to get a few on the shelf. He played it through a cheap-assed PA system with way too much treble, and, guess what? It didn't sound all that good.But waddaya gonna do?Just because you have a good mix doesn't mean that someone isn't going to put it through a crap system. A crappy system or operator can make Yes 90125 sound like garbage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Goofball Jones Posted December 28, 2007 Author Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 They did list at the end of the article some examples. It's good to know not everyone is doing this. The Robert Plant/Allison Krauss album comes to mind...which is one of my favorites of this past year. Wonderful recording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceGhost Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 A crappy system or operator can make Yes 90125 sound like garbage. There is nothing in this world that will ever make that album sound good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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