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Disgusted about modern sound.

#41
Billnc said:
My generation listened to music on Bose speakers, Klipsch, JBL etc. with good amplifiers because music was really important. The kids listen on cell phones and iPods, nya nya nya nya nya nya! WE WIN!
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Wrong. The market for good gear has never been more developed than the present. Just check out the flagship Sennheiser HD800, or the in ear monitors that Westone, Shure and other companies are putting out. The community for 'audiophiles' is constantly growing, just unseen.

For the folks on this thread who are lamenting the death of sensible mastering, I'm with you all. But not all is lost, I think. Artists like Icelandic post rock band Sigur Rós are still doing it the good old way with large dynamic ranges in their songs. Just check out Viðrar vel til loftárása from their second album Ágætis byrjun.

For now, I choose to speak with my wallet, and buy well produced music over the extremely compressed ones. Join me!
 
#42
I can't say much for 21st century digital sound. I have 3 reel-to-reel recorders - 2 are 4 track and the Fostex is 8T. I use the Fostex MR 16 in much the same way as I do the 8T and have a 24 channel mixer. The one aspect concerning Bass guitar is when I record or play (live) my Rickenbacker Stereo Bass, I actually use the stereo channel (MR16) or Behringer 24 ch. desk. I must have been the only bassist who, instead of souping up the bass, I built a stereo bass rig. Now all the mixing must hinge on balance between instruments (inc. voices) any bias towards a particular group of instruments in a mix (inc. voices) will show on the finished job. Mixing can always be reworked anyway.
Playback: This relies as much on the gear that it is being played through as much as the master mix. A tinny old hifi set should also be part of the job - then you get the sound that the consumer hears to compare with the top of the range studio gear. Sound has become so complex that basics are being overlooked. Keep the use of technology basic.
 
#44
I agree with the majority here that records today really sound bad (not all, though).

Since many people won't take music seriously enough to buy expensive hi-fi equipment and/or headphones, and just stick with the cheaper stuff, they won't hear the difference of a well-mastered and mixed album and a dreadful one. The real difference only comes to light with the right (usually expensive) equipment. There's no way in hell that the terrible ipod headphones can reproduce that kind of sound quality. The majority of people don't know how to listen to properly recorded and mixed music, because they never came in contact with it, or just don't care enough. And honestly, dishing out 1000s of dollars into good equipment isn't worth it for most of them, and I can understand that.

Also, the horrible digital compression of lossy formats like AAC and MP3, by far the most used digital music formats on music players, further ruins the recording and all you're left with is this souless noise, lacking any feeling, other than from the actual songwriting itself.

Yes, I have an iPod (classic, with 120 GB), but I'm going to great lengths to have the most optimal listening experience with it. I use a small adapter with a line-out to bypass the mediocre inbuilt amp, and use a seperate headphone amplifier and my AKG headphones. I convert all the music from my CD's into lossless formats like ALAC, FLAC and WAV, and put them on my iPod. I refuse to buy any MP3s or other lossy formats, as I think that it's a total rip-off.

Unfortunately, this just further brings out the bad quality of recent albums, no matter how good the music itself is.
 
#45
trowaclown said:
Wrong. The market for good gear has never been more developed than the present. Just check out the flagship Sennheiser HD800, or the in ear monitors that Westone, Shure and other companies are putting out. The community for 'audiophiles' is constantly growing, just unseen.

For the folks on this thread who are lamenting the death of sensible mastering, I'm with you all. But not all is lost, I think. Artists like Icelandic post rock band Sigur Rós are still doing it the good old way with large dynamic ranges in their songs. Just check out Viðrar vel til loftárása from their second album Ágætis byrjun.

For now, I choose to speak with my wallet, and buy well produced music over the extremely compressed ones. Join me!
Click to expand...

You are correct, but all the kids and adults I know listen to music on crap, with really tinny sound. I know of no one personally shelling out the bucks like we did, when EVERYONE had a decent system.
 
#46
WhiteNinja said:
I convert all the music from my CD's into lossless formats like ALAC, FLAC and WAV, and put them on my iPod. I refuse to buy any MP3s or other lossy formats, as I think that it's a total rip-off.
Click to expand...

Considering most CDs have been digitized and had lots of compression applied by the time they are burned, you're not saving much information by ripping to ALAC, FLAC, or any other lossless codec vs MP3. There's no way to add the missing information back to the album once you've got it on CD.

Everything else just reinforces my decision to stay away from any and all compression as much as possible in my playing and (eventual) recording.

Peace,
Greg
 
#47
I'm getting old (40 this year), and I like the music that some of today's bands are putting out. I credit being in a band that plays a lot of modern rock because it forced me to learn music made after 2000 that I was mostly unaware of. I discovered some good songs and artists along the way. I also came to the conclusion that quite a few of those songs needed a 5-string, which I had steadfastly refused to touch before joining my band. Learning to play a 5 has turned out to be the best thing I've done in awhile. Last night while using a 4-banger to attempt a 70s-era song in Bb, I asked myself "How on earth did anyone get by without a 5 back then? This is so much easier!" I was stunned to hear myself say that, but also glad that I am capable of change in some areas of my life.

Anyway...

Even though I like modern music, I can only listen to so much of it before my ears get fatigued. Last year, my band's drummer told me to check out Sixx AM's Heroin Diaries CD. I had never heard of it, but listened to a few songs online and then bought the disc. Good album, but the wall of oversquashed volume made my head hurt. I recently purchased the band's Live Is Beautiful EP, which contains several songs from the Heroin Diaries. What a difference. I'm sure it has some post-production polish, but overall is much more listenable than the first disc because it doesn't sound like it's been compressed to death.
 
#48
kanonfodr said:
Considering most CDs have been digitized and had lots of compression applied by the time they are burned, you're not saving much information by ripping to ALAC, FLAC, or any other lossless codec vs MP3. There's no way to add the missing information back to the album once you've got it on CD.

Everything else just reinforces my decision to stay away from any and all compression as much as possible in my playing and (eventual) recording.

Peace,
Greg
Click to expand...

You do know the difference between dynamic level compression and data compression, right? Two different things...
 
#49
The first time I encountered the 'new' sound was when I picked up the Rush album Vapor Trails. It sounded absolutely awful. It sounded worse than the punk 7 inch records on thin/cheap vinyl from cheap recording sessions I used to be into. I later found out it was the subject of an essay by a recording engineer on the rising abuse of compression. I don't really listen to radio or much 'popular' music, so I've been spared most of the agony.
 
#50
First mistake was listening to Audioslave ;)

Lot's of great sounding/mixed new music out there if you know what to look for. Try some of the new: Cynic, Opeth, Guapo, Russian Circles, Ulver, Porcupine Tree (or anything Steven Wilson has touched - best producer/engineer around IMO), etc. It's the mainstream big releases that sound so generic and poor.

Just my opinion of course :)
 
#51
Marial said:
The first time I encountered the 'new' sound was when I picked up the Rush album Vapor Trails. It sounded absolutely awful. It sounded worse than the punk 7 inch records on thin/cheap vinyl from cheap recording sessions I used to be into. I later found out it was the subject of an essay by a recording engineer on the rising abuse of compression.
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Invalid Link Removed to that essay. It's worth reading, although right now the ProRec website is down.

I used to think that album was the most horribly overcompressed disaster in modern music, until I heard Level 42's 2006 release "Retroglide", which is substantially worse. Listen to the samples on Amazon to hear what I mean.
 
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#52
As a Rush fan, Vapor Trails was so profoundly disappointing to me when it came out. For the longest time I could never figure out what it was; I just hated the way it sounded, to the point where I couldn't listen to it at all, even if I did like some of the songs.

I remember when I read that essay.... it was very revealing to me.

I wish that they mastered records the way they used to for vinyl. In those days they couldn't have it too loud or the needle would jump out of the groove. They were forced to leave headroom on everything.

Headroom, what a concept.
 
#53
Most of the references here seem to be rock bands. Could it be this loundness war hasn't touched other genres--say R&B?

I mean, most of the R&B I listen to is from the late 90s to early '00, with some mid 2000's--think Jill Scott, Kem, Maxwell.

Has R&B suffered the same loundness craze?
 
#55
LaBassGuy said:
Most of the references here seem to be rock bands. Could it be this loundness war hasn't touched other genres--say R&B?

I mean, most of the R&B I listen to is from the late 90s to early '00, with some mid 2000's--think Jill Scott, Kem, Maxwell.

Has R&B suffered the same loundness craze?
Click to expand...
Well, see again my Level 42 reference above.
 
#57
Any insight in old Cure or Bauhaus LP records (can't recall exactly which) that stated on the label "mixed to be played loud" something or other?

Someone mentioned Foo Fighters but their recent album from what I understand was recorded like a live situation, & all to tape, as some of you know. Respect for Butch Vig.
 
#60
Oreomeister365 said:
Just because you can't be bothered to listen to anything that's not playing on a top 40 radio station doesn't mean what you say is remotely true.
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Well, to be fair, some of today's music is okay like lmfao. their song party rock anthem sounded pretty cool. skrillex is another awesome artist. my brother's been listening to skrillex and I think that guy has some great tunes. it's pop music artists like justin bieber and rebecca black that makes today's music sound like crap. when I've mentioned that today's music has no innovation and no creativity, I'm definitely talking about pop music artist like them. seriously, they suck.:spit:
 

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