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RE: Why contemporary music sounds terrible




Too bad that the remastered Zep CDs are too loud way too bright...


>Absolutely Brian!those Zeppelin record production
>still amaze me,and they are made to be turned up!those
>drum sounds still sound fresh and the sounds page got
>out of those small amps and guitars are the most
>interesting ive heard in rock n roll history.What ive
>always found brilliant about such a band was the
>passion behind it,there are mistakes all over the
>place like the solo on "baby i am gonna leave you" the
>instrumental "black mountain side" or the bleeding
>echo at the end of "you shook me" or the cut off lost
>part by their engineer which i believe page fired on
>the spot which they had to solve by pasting another
>part at the begining of "celebration day"...
>but is the honesty power and passion,no frills or
>thrills they played back in those days that make them
>so special to this day,almost as if it was the last
>time they were going to live...
>Luis
>
>
>
>
>--- greg williams <gregorwilliams@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>>  Brian,
>>
>>  I am also a fan of Page and his production in
>>  general in terms of dynamics,
>>  but have you heard "How the West was Won"? It was
>>  hugely disappointing for
>>  me in this regard; it is squashed beyond belief, and
>>  so is the sound on the
>>  Zeppelin DVD, which was released around the same
>>  time. I don't know if it
>>  was Page himself who suddenly caved in or his
>>  mastering engineer, but I
>>  really wish I could hear those recordings with some
>>  dynamics still intact.
>>
>>  ~Greg
>>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>>  From: Brian Kupferschmid
>>  [mailto:apparitionapparition@yahoo.com]
>>  Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 8:48 AM
>>  To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
>>  Subject: Re: Why contemporary music sounds terrible
>>
>>  I wholly agree with this, I believe a lot of today's
>>  music is crap, not just because the talent is
>>  lacking,
>>  but the dynamics as a whole is lacking.  Aside from
>>  super compressed material, the bands themselves only
>>  see to know two sounds, clean and dirty.  Where's
>>  the
>>  middle ground?  I can listen to a blues song and
>>  still
>>  hear the dynamics, I can hear the accentuations on
>>  the
>>  notes being played to create emotion.  A lot of
>>  today's pop and rock music lacks that.  Mind you,
>>  Metal in all it's forms, isn't supposed to be
>>  dynamic
>>  in the musical sense, but why would you squeeze the
>>  life out of any song to make it in your face?  My
>>  favorite stuff to listen to would be anything Jimmy
>>  Page produced(Led Zeppelin for sure).  He composed
>>  his
>>  songs and used the studio to enhance his material
>>  with
>>  what he refers to "light and shade".  The
>>  combination
>>  of close and room micing, soft versus loud and
>>  layering acoustics with clean electrics and so on.
>>  If
>>  you think about it, even some of the heaviest
>>  sounding
>>  stuff he did, wasn't all that distorted.
>>  Ultimately,
>>  his use of dynamics traslated over into the
>>  mastering
>>  part as well, what makes the big parts sound big is
>>  the small parts, thus making the song truly
>>  engulfing.
>>   Another band to use dynamics to it's fullest is
>>  Tool,
>>  because of the ebb and flow, you can listen to an 8
>>  minute tune and not get bored, because the shifts in
>>  phrasing and dynamics keeps you there, and what's
>>  more, everytime you listen to it, a new part pops up
>>  you didn't realise was there before.  Anyway, I've
>>  spoken what I think, so I have to agree, part of
>  > what
>>  is annoying about today's music is the lack of
>>  dynamics, it wears you out.
>>  --- Krispen Hartung <khartung@cableone.net> wrote:
>>
>>  > This is an interesting article posted on the jazz
>>  > guitar discussion group.
>>  > Jeff Kaiser and I had some interesting discussions
>>  > about the abuses or
>>  > misgivings of compression and the quest for hotter
>>  > levels in newer CDs when
>>  > I was mastering the discs for the Boise
>>  Experimental
>>  > Music Festival....all
>>  > the different ways you can increase levels (for
>>  CDs
>>  > to sound comparable to
>  > > other professional CDs in your player),  yet
>>  > maintain natural dynamics, etc.
>>  > Now, it has occured to me that often times when I
>>  > hear a CD, especially
>>  > pop/rock CDs, and I think to myself, wow that is a
>>  > really hot and "in your
>>  > face" level", the mix also doesn't have much of a
>>  > dynamic range...some guy
>>  > is screaming his lyrics, or you can tell that is
>>  is
>>  > practically blowing his
>>  > brains out to get that tone out of his horn...but
>>  it
>>  > is no louder than the
>>  > section where he is wispering poetry over an
>>  ambient
>>  > section.  It's like
>>  > compress, compress, compress, limit, limit,
>>  > limit....turn that wave form
>>  > into a solid bar, and then raise it to 0db...in
>>  your
>>  > face, 100% of the time.
>>  > Below is the first time I've seen this referred to
>>  > as exhausting, but it
>>  > makes sense. Even if you turn your stereo down,
>>  > there might be something to
>>  > be said of giving the human pyche a break with
>>  > natural dynamics and more
>>  > space.
>>  >
>>
>Tension....release....tension...release....louder....softer,
>>  > etc,
>>  > etc.
>>  >
>>  > This article/topic, could I suppose turn into the
>>  > discussion of the
>>  > pschological results/benefits of adding more space
>>  > to one's compositions
>>  > (not making the composition "better" or "worse,"
>>  > mind you).  Can adding more
>>  > space and natural dynamics put the human psche at
>>  > ease? Is it more condusive
>>  > to generating natural emotive responses? (natural
>>  > meaning those that one
>>  > might expect on the bell curve of a person, day to
>>  > day).  Good questions. I
>>  > suppose part II of the article below could explore
>>  > this: "Natural dynamics
>>  > in music and 'Horror of the Vacuum'."
>>  >
>>  > What would be hilarious, or maybe frightening, is
>>  if
>>  > something happened to
>>  > our atmosphere, such that it added a form of
>>  > compression and normalization
>>  > to 0db to all sound....imagine walking down the
>>  > street, hearing a boy wisper
>>  > to his mother, a man scream at his dog, a
>>  > streetworker jackhammering, cars
>>  > beeping, etc...but everything  never veered much
>>  > from 0db....even the
>>  > ambience in the atmosphere (white noise) would be
>>  > 0db. We might go insane.
>>  > :)
>>  >
>>  > I included some excerpts from the article below,
>>  as
>>  > well.
>>  >
>>  > Kris
>>  >
>>  > ----- Original Message -----
>>  >
>>  > Everything Louder Than Everything Else: Have the
>>  > loudness wars reached their
>>  > final battle?
>>  >
>>
>http://www.austin360.com/music/content/music/stories/xl/2006/09/28cover.html
>>  >
>>  > "You listen to these modern records, they're
>>  > atrocious, they have sound all
>>  > over them. There's no definition of nothing, no
>>  > vocal, no nothing, just
>>  > like - static."
>>  >
>>  > - Bob Dylan in Rolling Stone magazine
>>  >
>>  > "There's something . . . sinister in audio that is
>>  > causing our listeners
>>  > fatigue and even pain while trying to enjoy their
>>  > favorite music. It has
>>  > been propagated by A&R departments for the last
>>  > eight years: The complete
>>  > abuse of compression in mastering (forced on the
>>  > mastering engineers against
>>  > their will and better judgment)."
>>  >
>>  > "The mistaken belief that a 'super loud' record
>>  will
>>  > sound better and
>>  > magically turn a song into a hit has caused most
>>  > major label releases in the
>>  > past eight years to be an aural assault on the
>>  > listener," Montrone's letter
>>  > continued. "Have you ever heard one of those test
>>  > tones on TV when the
>>  > station is off the air? Notice how it becomes
>  > > painfully annoying in a very
>>  > short time? That's essentially what you do to a
>>  song
>>  > when you super compress
>>  > it. You eliminate all dynamics."
>>  >
>>  > For those already confused, Montrone was
>>  essentially
>>  > saying that there are
>>
>=== message truncated ===
>
>
>www.myspace.com/luisangulocom
>
>
>
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