A good Youtube video which displays the same thing
Its sad, but way too many people today dont even care about hearing the full range of sound...as long as its loud. Personally, I want a record to sound like the band is playing in my living room, and compression ruins that to sh*t.
I have to agree on the lack of production in todays music. I'd blame the music moving to digital muscic files and thus compressing the sound that was actually there. And since its "free" noone cares how bad it sounds. Also blame hte ear bud headphones...they kill sound quality as well.
Take a listen to say a Dr Dre produced rap cd and then listen someone elses...much better audio production. tight accurate bass... nice drums... and lots of little touched that you can't pick up unless you have some decent audio gear to pick them up.
For Rock music.... lsiten to a Audioslave or RATM cd...even if it is loud heavy metal the audio quality is still there. Godsmack and Evanesesnce are also good examples of good audio production.... deep tight bass lines... held in check guiatars...even good drum stuff.
I don't mind distortion like a Sonic Youth or Nirvna like sound... but heck...even Nirvana's Nevermind cd had good production ( can't say the same for In Utero though.... ).
And hey...blame EMO
All anyon wants to hear is screaming guitars and vocals.... *sigh*
I have to agree on the lack of production in todays music. I'd blame the music moving to digital muscic files and thus compressing the sound that was actually there. And since its "free" noone cares how bad it sounds.
Your comment reminds me of the recent Bob Dylan quote about how digital music should be free because of how bad it is. See the bold sentance below from a reuters story:
Quote:
Bob Dylan says the quality of modern recordings is "atrocious," and even the songs on his new album sounded much better in the studio than on disc.
"I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past 20 years, really," the 65-year-old rocker said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
Dylan, who released eight studio albums in the past two decades, returns with his first recording in five years, Modern Times, next Tuesday.
Noting the music industry's complaints that illegal downloading means people are getting their music for free, he said, "Well, why not? It ain't worth nothing anyway."
"You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them," he added. "There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like ... static."
Dylan said he does his best to fight technology, but it's a losing battle.
"Even these songs probably sounded 10 times better in the studio when we recorded 'em. CDs are small. There's no stature to it."
Dylans recent album is an excellent example of something well produced, as that RS article notes. Listen to a high quality version of "Thunder on the Mountain"..the sound is crisp and bright, all the instruments have room to breathe, theres great dynamic between loud/soft...it sounds like hes playing live 15 feet in front of you. thats how it should be.
And I agree that CDs are a crappy medium. It was a rushed technology that was thrown out into the marketplace as soon as humanly possible. I can assure you the engineers who worked on compact discs weren't happy with what ultimately (and somewhat arbitrarily) became the standard.
Dynamic Range: The difference between the loudest and softest sound on a recording. This is usually done so that all of the music can be heard because it's assumed that people might be listening in noisy areas where the softest notes/passages might otherwise not be heard. Listening to compressed music while driving might improve the listening experience but listening on a good stereo it will sound like junk.
niuhuskie84 Wrote:
And I agree that Cd's are a crappy medium. It was a rushed technology that was thrown out into the marketplace as soon as humanly possible. I can assure you the engineers who worked on compact discs weren't happy with what ultimately (and somewhat arbitrarily) became the standard.
At first it was thought that CD's were crap - too bright and hard on the ears. With better and better transports and digital-to-analog converters we're finding that CDs can sound quite good. Many of the recordings made during CD's infancy are poor and could never be made to sound good but we've found that the main problem with CD playback was in the equipment used to playback music and crappy recording techniques.
For the record my stereo consists of MBL 111E speakers, MBL 9008 amplifier, Audiomeca Mephisto IIx top loading CD transport, Tact Audio 2.0s room correction DAC/preamp, MIT cables, PS Audio power cables, and Tice Signature power conditioner all being fed by 4 dedicated 20 amp circuits in a room treated with GIK acoustic panels.