SlimChances wrote:
> Seems a bit cynical and rather doubtful. Yes recordings for the last 20
> years or so have been baly influenced by the Loudness Wars and other
> forms of compression but there are still producers, engineers and
> musicians that care deeply about the quality of the music they make. see
> this explanation of what has gone wrong
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFaRIW-wZlw
Yes the loudness wars have had a huge impact (and I think everyone is
very familiar with that) - for around 25 years recording quality was
seriously compromised - one of the many things that highlighted what was
wrong with the music industry as a whole. Other factors also influence
the quality of the recorded material released to the public.
RobbH wrote:
> Without disagreeing with that statement, I think it's worthwhile to
> remember that, for the people who do it, sound recording can be many
> things: an art, a science, a skillset, a passion, a sacred mission. But
> in most cases, it's also a job. And, as with most jobs, there are good
> days and bad days, and there are tasks that must be done, even if they
> don't work out as one would like. And there are often compelling
> incentives to do the job in ways that are incompatible with accurate
> audio reproduction.
Yes agree totally - there are many competent and many excellent
recording engineers and/or producers out there - but as you say they
will still have the off day, combine that with a lot of mediocre work
and the loudness wars mentioned above I think we have been through a
period where a very large amount of recorded material produced for
public consumption isn't what it could be. And I don't think it's a
cynical view - its just realistic and based on real world experience.
It is heartening to see so much high quality recording & production
these days, the outputs from many record labels are consistently high
(such as Stockfisch, Blue Coast, Chesky, etc), the loudness wars seem to
be over and there are more recording engineers and producers seem either
more capable or more committed to the quality of output. I guess one
could argue that recording engineers may well have always been generally
good, but the producers are the ones who have undermined the output for
consumption (e.g. due to the loudness war directives from the big record
labels, etc).
As I think has been mentioned elsewhere artists also often have little
or no input into the final production version of what gets commercially
released, even if they have had a big say in the actual recording
sessions. It's also important to remember that artists like Mark
Knopfler, Sting, etc, are rare as they both (a) have the power to
control exactly how their recordings are produced and released, and (b)
even more importantly have very good 'critical ears' for listening to
create the best sound for consumer release (and that may not mean they
have physically good hearing - as many artists ultimately end up with
mild to badly damaged hearing - but in a more esoteric sense of
understanding recording and playback capability & quality). While I only
worked in the Hi-Fi & Professional Music area briefly it became apparent
from experiences both during that time and outside of it many musicians
may have fantastic 'ears' for live music and creativity, etc, and create
and play amazing music but can still have a very average appreciation
for playback of consumer recorded music (e.g. happy to listen to MP3s on
earbuds and never listen in the way a music enthusiast or a positive*
'audiophile' might). This is by no means intended as a negative, its
just a reality - when your music is often 'live' and intimate, or in
concert type performances with PA systems and other wise in a recording
studio the profile of the sound is quite different to how a consumer's
home hi-fi, headphones, or similar designed for playback of a consumer
recording, will sound. There are quite a lot of great artists out there
who can produce their own recordings extremely well, but again this
seems a recent phenomenon and previously they were probably very few and
far between (given just how many recorded artists there have been over
the years)...
* i use 'positive' to exclude from the term audiophiles the rivet
counters and snake oil types who focus on unquantified effects or highly
subjective differences in hardware and such which has no bearing on, and
usually detracts from, actually enjoying the music.
Things are definitely better - but I think you would have to be the
eternal optimist to think that the most recordings are produced for
consumer playback as well as they could have been (at least over the
modern period of the last 50-60 years).
Anyway just my 2 cents. YMMV.
*Hi-Fi 1*: QNAP HS-453DX NAS+QLMS/Allo USBridge Signature+Shanti
LPS/Cirrus ESS Sabre 32-bit Reference DAC (Oppo 105D)/Yamaha Aventage
CX-A5000/Focal SM9s.
*Hi-Fi 2*: Sqbox Touch+Shanti LPS/Focal XS Books.
*Hi-Fi 3*: PC+Squeezelite-X+Material Skin/Focal XS Books.
