• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Neil Young speaks out against excessive compression

#2
don't compress, memory/disk space is cheap these days

Apple Lossless is here now.

What we need is music to be released in 32 tracks so that everybody can do their own mix. And a few digital automation tracks so that "producer" mix can be heard.
Want to hear just the bass? Just turn on the bass track.
 
#3
I don't understand his complaint. He sounds like an old crank to me. Does anyone actually think that Neil could tell the difference between a lossless digital recording and a 256k AAC file? Please. Even if he had the most sophisticated playback equipment on the planet he wouldn't be able to tell the difference. And neither could I. Only the most golden-eared audiophiles could even hope to do so. Old Neil probably has enough hearing loss to preclude him ever successfully distinguishing the two.

Basically all I heard when I read his remarks was "get off my lawn!"

And the bit about downloading an uncompressed song in 30 minutes? He's on drugs if he thinks that's the kind of "innovation" anyone wants.
 
#4
scottfeldstein said:
I don't understand his complaint. He sounds like an old crank to me. Does anyone actually think that Neil could tell the difference between a lossless digital recording and a 256k AAC file? Please. Even if he had the most sophisticated playback equipment on the planet he wouldn't be able to tell the difference. And neither could I. Only the most golden-eared audiophiles could even hope to do so. Old Neil probably has enough hearing loss to preclude him ever successfully distinguishing the two.

Basically all I heard when I read his remarks was "get off my lawn!"

And the bit about downloading an uncompressed song in 30 minutes? He's on drugs if he thinks that's the kind of "innovation" anyone wants.
Click to expand...

If you have Lava Power cables and Anjou speaker cables, you can hear anything...
 
#6
scottfeldstein said:
I don't understand his complaint. He sounds like an old crank to me. Does anyone actually think that Neil could tell the difference between a lossless digital recording and a 256k AAC file? Please. Even if he had the most sophisticated playback equipment on the planet he wouldn't be able to tell the difference. And neither could I. Only the most golden-eared audiophiles could even hope to do so. Old Neil probably has enough hearing loss to preclude him ever successfully distinguishing the two.

Basically all I heard when I read his remarks was "get off my lawn!"

And the bit about downloading an uncompressed song in 30 minutes? He's on drugs if he thinks that's the kind of "innovation" anyone wants.
Click to expand...

Especially with certain types of music where there isn't a lot of space between frequencies, a la noisy rock, I can absolutely tell the difference between a cd and an mp3. There are certain types of music that I'll say "meh" and buy mp3's but there are others that I MUCH prefer to have on cd or vinyl. I don't think he's being an old crank at all.
 
#7
I agree with Scott on the point that Neil's hearing can't be too good at this point in his life, so it's nigh impossible to take anything he 'hears' seriously.
 
#8
scottfeldstein said:
I don't understand his complaint. He sounds like an old crank to me. Does anyone actually think that Neil could tell the difference between a lossless digital recording and a 256k AAC file? Please. Even if he had the most sophisticated playback equipment on the planet he wouldn't be able to tell the difference. And neither could I. Only the most golden-eared audiophiles could even hope to do so. Old Neil probably has enough hearing loss to preclude him ever successfully distinguishing the two.

Basically all I heard when I read his remarks was "get off my lawn!"

And the bit about downloading an uncompressed song in 30 minutes? He's on drugs if he thinks that's the kind of "innovation" anyone wants.
Click to expand...

+1
 
#10
MonetBass said:
I agree with Scott on the point that Neil's hearing can't be too good at this point in his life, so it's nigh impossible to take anything he 'hears' seriously.
Click to expand...

There are old half blind cowboys that can still tell the difference between a horse and a cow from across a field. Not because they can see them perfectly but because of the way they move.
 
#16
1) CD is higher fidelity than vinyl
2) Correct me if I'm wrong but a relatively high bit rate mp3 only loses 5% of the audio information, not has only 5% of the audio information
3) What's wrong with WAV and FLAC?
 
#20
There's a local radio station whose day mix is almost purely 44.1 CD audio, while their evening mix is computer based and uses more lossy formats. I can physically feel in the added fatigue on my ears how much more jagged the compression makes the latter feel. I actually called the radio station to inquire about their compression and signal chain because listening in the evening fatigued my ears much faster than daytime listening with all other controllable variables being the same.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back