I think that is the reason I turn off the radio a lot these days. Pound pound pound monotony.

When I moused over the link and saw "death of hi fidelity" I thought about the time I bought a Wallflowers CD. Sounded great in the car on the radio. Get the CD, slip it in at home, and what's this distortion-laden low-fi crap I'm hearing? Yeah, probably what was intended. It's "art" or "grunge" or "alternative." To me it's bad music.

You take that back about my favorite band, subby.

You take it back RIGHT NOW. (pops)

Rolling Stone knows absolutely nothing about my favorite bands.

From one of the articles linked from the directly linked article:

But when is it desirable for music to be at a consistent volume? When it's not being actively listened to; i.e. when it's intended as background music.

The annoying thing about visiting my sister is her habit of leaving the stereo on all the time to provide background noise. Most of the time nobody is paying attention. She's not one of the tiny number of people who actually think about lyrics, for example.

Its Rolling Stone. They wouldn't know good music if it bit them in the ass.

I'm at least glad to see the issue of sound quality mentioned. There's always been badly recorded, mastered, or played music. But the last ten years have introduced a new kind of suck in listening to music.

Who's up for a party at my house where you can hear some good music on a good-sounding system?

Last party, some cute 19 year old Asian actress was in my living room dancing seductively to Rev Al Green.

SilentStrider: They wouldn't know good music if it bit them in the ass.

True. But I've seen very little change in the last 20 or so years in the music biz; the formula = pretty lead singer, lead guitarist, rhythm, bass, drums, and/or organ/piano. Blah blah, fark me, I love you, I'm so sad, emo emo, different hair or shirt or pants or skirt, but it all sounds exactly the same as 20 years ago. Everybody sticks to the formula with perhaps a little tweaking, but it's old and busted for the most part.

I wish there would be a breakout band; someone radical and new and just farking awesome.

darkhorse23: Everybody sticks to the formula with perhaps a little tweaking, but it's old and busted for the most part.

I wish there would be a breakout band; someone radical and new and just farking awesome.

Well, pretty lead singer is out...I give you the John Butler Trio. (pops)

darkhorse23: I wish there would be a breakout band; someone radical and new and just farking awesome.

that's what nirvana was. then their sound and style got co-opted. not willingly on their part mind you, but still.

i guess this is why i listen to music that's just a little off of the mainstream. not obscure, but not exactly the current big thing either.

SilentStrider: that's what nirvana was.

That's who I was thinking of.

When I was younger (yeah, shut up) to play in a band, to sing 'that kind of music' was radical, new and different. Little kids wanted to grow up to be doctors, firemen, astronauts. Now every little kid wants to be a 'rock star when they grow up'. It's lost its edge, the danger zone, which to me was a key ingredient of good music. One used to become a rock star by accident, by simply playing what was in one's heart and burned in one's brain. Now, it's just another career choice.

Goddamn Courtney Love for killing him. Actually, that's a pretty good parallel - He was music in its purist ground floor form. Her music is just garbage put together by attempting to see what will fly and what won't; to be 'outrageous' for its own sake instead of going deep into the soul and just putting forth, and letting us be the judge. It's like how Haight Ashbury was a great place to be in the early 60's before mainstream media got hold of it and everybody else just copied it. There's always a little flame, a central beginning, of everything including music. But once it's been copied, and copies made of the copies, trying to be like the bands and do their music instead of your own thing, well, it's watered down just too much now.

//probably doesn't make sense, going to go smoke a bowl.

I was really impressed when I saw Los Lonely Boys open for the Rolling Stones a while back. They have a live DVD out, now a few years old, that's just beautiful.

Wait for the music, this clip is pretty good. (pops)

darkhorse23: //probably doesn't make sense,

you made enough sense that i got what you were trying to say.
All I can say is, when it's going to happen, it'll happen. Rolling Stone won't have any say in the matter, neither will ClearChannel, or anyone else but the fans. That's when music is in its most raw pure form.

And also - there was another thread about how today, no shows on TV have great themes like the Brady Bunch and Gilligan - we also had commercials with great jingles, done by people whose job it was to come up with original stuff to catch our attention.

Now all we get on commercials are old rock songs used to sell us stuff. When you guys are older like me, you're not going to have anything special to your generations to appreciate.

I think that the Ad Men and Women have become lazy, it's easier to grab a song from the radio than to come up with something original; and on the other side of that- which goes back to the music business - there's too many rock'n'rollers out there who are writing top 10 songs just so they can sell them to the advertising agencies, selling out and padding their bank accounts. When me and the first husband were doing concerts, there wasn't one band that I booked that would have ever considered doing that, they would have been ashamed to sell out to big media.

The only current music acts that I can think of that make absolutely great sounding records are Beck and Bjork. I'm talking sound engineering and mastering here, although the music is pretty darn good too.

darkhorse23: no shows on TV have great themes like the Brady Bunch and Gilligan -

They took the minute that the theme took, and sold it for commercial time.

The most recent, real TV theme I can think of is Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire.

Earguy: The most recent, real TV theme I can think of is Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire.

Now this is the story all about how
my life got flipped turned upside down

//so sad that I know the entire song

darkhorse23: Now all we get on commercials are old rock songs used to sell us stuff. When you guys are older like me, you're not going to have anything special to your generations to appreciate.

I was an 80's kid, i have transformers and gi joe to look back fondly on.

/robots in disguise.

SilentStrider: /robots in disguise.

my son (80's kid) loved transformers and now so do my grandkids. They love to sing the theme song.

Transformers - robot eating pies
Transformers - robots swatting flies
Transformers - just some metal guys
Transformers - robots wearing ties
Transformers - grease gets in your eyes
Transformers - cheeseburgers and fries

oh, lordy it gets worse too.

No, smitty. You suck.

Earguy: Last party, some cute 19 year old Asian actress was in my living room dancing seductively to Rev Al Green.

That's very nice if the 19 year old Asian actress is the only girl in the room, but the Reverend is supposed to get all the girls dancing seductively. Try his version of "I Can't Get Next To You" and maybe there'll be more next time.

darkhorse23: oh, lordy it gets worse too.

i'll take your word for it.

Low fidelity? Sounds great everytime I listen to it

Bring back vinyl!!!

SilentStrider: darkhorse23: I wish there would be a breakout band; someone radical and new and just farking awesome.

that's what nirvana was. then their sound and style got co-opted. not willingly on their part mind you, but still.

i guess this is why i listen to music that's just a little off of the mainstream. not obscure, but not exactly the current big thing either.


Yeah, Nirvana brought something new to the scene. How to really suck at playing and still make it big. Then you kill yourself.


//likes musicians that actually know how to play

Earguy: The most recent, real TV theme I can think of is Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire.

The Big Bang Theory has an actual opening theme song (by TMBG, no less!) but it's only about 20 seconds long. Still I was shocked the first time I heard it.

SilentStrider: All I can say is, when it's going to happen, it'll happen. Rolling Stone won't have any say in the matter, neither will ClearChannel, or anyone else but the fans. That's when music is in its most raw pure form.

And then Rolling Stone and Clear Channel and the media in general will swoop in, commercialize that new sound and destroy it forever.

darkhorse23: When you guys are older like me, you're not going to have anything special to your generations to appreciate.

Not sure who should be getting off who's lawn here, so I'll call it a truce.

I can't think of a decade in which this argument hasn't been made, to be honest. I'm willing to think back a few hundred years, but my passion for it starts in the early 20th century. It probably ended when I started thinking about my lawn. The kids will figure it out for themselves, I have faith in that.

marksman:
//likes musicians that actually know how to play

good for you, so do i. but step down off your high horse for a bit and realize not every musician has to be Jimmy Page, Geezer Butler, or Neil Peart. They just have to really love what they're doing and do it with passion. Which is what those guys do, and what Kurt did too.

frostus: And then Rolling Stone and Clear Channel and the media in general will swoop in, commercialize that new sound and destroy it forever.

yup. but for a brief time at least, it will be musical heaven.

Earguy: I give you the John Butler Trio. (pops)

We wanted good bands - not wank-laden pseudo-political angry vegan hippy jerkoffs.

All you Britney Spears fanbois can fack yourselves.

Grateful Dead on Dicks Picks is a godsend and that is all I need.
It don't get any better than that.

This is a link I've had for a while that illustrates the Loudness War pretty well. Friends that I've shown it to have been pretty amazed at what they weren't hearing.

There is always good music and great musicians!!! Gotta look, cutties.

I think we can blame Phil Spector for popularizing the idea of massively compressing the dynamic range, at least he was trying something new at the time. Nowaday its just too common for people to have a couple of tiny satellites at ear level and a sub under your computer desk, and a set of ear buds for outside. Its like producers have forgotten that volume intervals are as big a part of music as pitch relationships.

/Im an audiophile, sue me.

marksman://likes musicians that actually know how to play

I prefer artists

darkhorse23: Earguy: The most recent, real TV theme I can think of is Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire.

Now this is the story all about how
my life got flipped turned upside down

//so sad that I know the entire song

The ENTIRE song with the plane verse and everything or the truncated version where he skips right to the cab?

/likes 2/3 of the Good sounding albums
//would nail Norah Jones like she was a Lady Jesus
///was terrified at the prospect of U2 being even louder and thus yet sh*ttier

This is why I like this part of any decade. Somewhere between the 6th to last year of the decade something pretty cool comes out that is surprisingly killer. However, the bush years suck so bad, and America is pretty much farked for forever, I almost doubt it, but history seems to give me some hope.

I am sick and tired of experienced producers being paid good money to intentionally rush an album so it has that "lo-fi, stripped-down" sound with thin guitars and copious amounts of room sound.

If you want good production, listen to "Ys" by Joanna Newsom. 100 percent analog production, just like mom used to make.

frostus: The Big Bang Theory has an actual opening theme song (by TMBG, no less!) but it's only about 20 seconds long. Still I was shocked the first time I heard it.

Glad you mentioned that, reminded me of this (new window)

Coincidently, I not only enjoy Big Bang Theory but Malcolm in the Middle is one of my all time favorite shows. I'm unfamilar with They Might be Giant's work for the most part but they sure as hell know a good show when they do a theme song for it.

darkhorse23: Earguy: The most recent, real TV theme I can think of is Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire.

Now this is the story all about how
my life got flipped turned upside down

//so sad that I know the entire song


what about home improvement?

/ughuuhgughuuuhh

musicky:
If you want good production, listen to "Ys" by Joanna Newsom. 100 percent analog production, just like mom used to make.

I see your Joanna Newsom, and raise you Peter Gabriel's fourth album (sometimes titled "Security"). All digital production, the way the future should've sounded like.

ZAZ: From one of the articles linked from the directly linked article:
But when is it desirable for music to be at a consistent volume? When it's not being actively listened to; i.e. when it's intended as background music.

The annoying thing about visiting my sister is her habit of leaving the stereo on all the time to provide background noise. Most of the time nobody is paying attention. She's not one of the tiny number of people who actually think about lyrics, for example.

My sister does that in the car and it gets on my damn nerves. She HAS to have music on, but god forbid it go above barely audible. Oddly enough, she's a classicly-trained music major. Do these people even ENJOY music?

First of all, production is secondary to the material that's being produced. Good music will be good even if the recording quality is awful (e.g. great performances from way back when audio equipment was awful). Sure, it'd be better if it was well produced and had good sound quality, but don't put the cart before the horse.

Next, saying "When you're fifteen, it's the greatest thing - you're being hammered" just shows you're much much older than the target demographic, which, oddly enough, is around 15. Older people are less likely to follow recent music.

Finally, if you're that old you should consider yourself lucky, since you'll probably know a lot of really good music from back in the day, which most kids will never hear.

I'm one of those lame people that has all their music in digital format on their computer, with some midrange computer speakers... I wish I could listen at better quality, but everything on the computer is just so convenient, plus I can't afford a good stereo anyway....

/sorry for killing music (apparently)
//I still love music
///don't have an ipod

darkhorse23

"Rock and Roll's not good or bad
It's just the sound of being young."

Al Stewart, "Class of '58"

Too bad rock n' roll records ain't selling this year, CheddarPants.

flgatorfan:

That's a great illustration of how modern recording techniques are screwing up the fidelity of many new recordings.

A lot of people blame CDs, or MP3s for lousy fidelity when in reality, it's what happens in the studio that dictates how good (or bad) the end product will sound. CDs and even higher bitrate mp3s can sound great. But if it sounds lousy to begin with, no end media can pull it out of the crapper.

frostus: Earguy: The most recent, real TV theme I can think of is Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire.

The Big Bang Theory has an actual opening theme song (by TMBG, no less!)

I dare say you're confusing Brave New World with that, which sounds very very much like Barenaked Ladies.

im done with these %$^&ing headlines telling me why my favorite band sucks or why i suck b/c someone the submitter thinks is great has a $#@%ing video for those obnoxious pricks to claim is better than anything i or anyone else can ever do. lots of people can be very good. stfu you pos submitters and stop @#$&ing greenlighting these retarded posts.

"But if it sounds lousy to begin with, no end media can pull it out of the crapper"
Nail
hit



on
head

You could say that the lo fi sound is a reaction to the increasing clinical clearness of a digital media world, a sort of harkening back to a simpler time when Ma and Pa would crank up the old Model T and take a ride on Sunday afternoon and then afterwards maybe crank up the old Victrola or tune in the Grand Ole Opry on the radio if the reception was good. President Roosevelt is having one of his new Fireside Chats afterward. It was a simpler, better time and the lo fi sound opens a door that you can step through to that warmer, better place.

Also, its something sort of 'new' to sell. with the coming of digital recording equipment everywhere, its easy to make 'clean' sounding recordings and people will be used to that. if you make an intentionally 'dirty' sounding recording then you can package it to disaffected teens everywhere as the new breakout sound of their generation that will change everything.

Also, just about in time for bell-bottom trousers to go out of style comes lo fi records as perhaps the next sinister wave of aging media swine repackaging their memories to sell to youth. lo fi came about because some 35 year old record producer douche was drinking champagne from a fancy crystal goblet with his successful and impressive buddies/backstabbers and remembered how 25 years ago he would record pat benatar songs directly off the radio onto cassette tapes, which sounded awful but he loved it. He had a marketing campaign all worked out before he emptied his goblet.

/didnt RTFA, Rolling Stone aint got nothing to tell me
//nirvana was no 'breakout band that changed everything'
///nirvana was repackaged punk for a phil collins world
////nobody ever talks about hip-hop in these threads

You know what I've noticed lately? The opening acts at shows are usually SO loud that they're not enjoyable to listen to. And I've seen plenty of deafeningly loud headliners, it's just that the sound quality of the opener sucks while they're at it.

I think this is because a) they want you to get their songs stuck in your head and b) it softens up your ears for the headliner, whose songs you already know, and if the headliner sounds like crap, you won't know because you're a fan of their music and you fill in the parts you're not hearing with your memory.

what about that lossless audio stuff?

The day I believe anything Rolling Stone tells me about music is the day that, indeed, my favorite band sucks.