Irony In The Music Industry












5 thoughts on “Irony In The Music Industry

  1. People can argue endlessly about different formats, but until mastering engineers quit trying to make everything the loudest possible it doesn’t matter. Most people can’t hear the difference between a decently recorded MP3 and the original master tape, especially with electric instruments as sources. What people can hear is when the masters are recorded FULL LOUD, extreme analog compression with no dynamic range and no impact. I was interested in SACD because it’s technical specs required headroom, eliminating the advantage of loudness-war mastering–but another chicken and egg problem, until there were enough players, it wasn’t worth remastering, until there’s remastering there’s no reason to get a new player. I’d much rather listen to an MP3 that was recorded and mastered properly, with reasonable dynamic range than I would the best possible consumer format with typical modern mastering. Loud is fine, but I should be the one turning it up, not the mastering engineer.

    • “Loud is fine, but I should be the one turning it up, not the mastering engineer.”

      Seriously. My receiver has a knob for that.

      Even so, I get worn out on high-compression, lossy tracks that they try to pass off. Most people can’t tell the difference? Oh, absolutely. That’s why they are prevalent in the market. But, for those of us who want more, there should be an answer.

  2. I have a large collection of vinyl (33 rpm) records. Years ago I started to look for a way to remaster them to CD and not lose the quality of sound via mp3.

    I discovered a software program called “Wave Corrector” that does an excellent job of processing vinyl or tape. It not only keeps the warmth of LPs but also will clean up most of the scratches and pops.

    I used it to remaster the Beetles “White Album” that had been too many parties and was a piece of trash played on a turntable. Could not believe how well it removed the scratches, pizza, booze, etc. I did wash the album in dish soap before I played it for recording purposes.

    You need to be slightly “techie” to get the most out of the software, but it works just fine in all of the default options.

    I have no connection, interest, etc. with the Wave Corrector guys, but I can tell you they have a great program and super tech support.

    Give their free version a trial if you want to remaster vinyl. It is free forever and will do 75% of what the professional version will. Most casual users will never need the professional version.

    Sorry if this sounds like spam, but since they are in the UK and I’m in Dallas, TX, perhaps you will recognize this for what it is — just a satisfied user that wanted to move his vinyl over to CDs and perhaps help you do the same.

  3. I’ve never really been a fan of the mass market music. I discovered Nine Inch Nails through my friends. (Even though Pretty Hate Machine sold well, it was not played on the local music channels.)

    I’m willing to bet that I can count on one hand the number of bands I started listening to because they were played on the radio. As a matter of fact, most of the songs that got me to buy an album were not the #1 hits. (The station played “Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man” and I became a Concrete Blonde fan. I can barely stand “Caroline.”

    • I can definitely relate to liking some of the less mainstream, but I do love me some formulaic pop for just what it is. For instance, I am a Lady Gaga fan not because her work is musically significantly, but for the whole show. The fact that she’s such a marketing genius attracts me to purchasing her CDs. I have been guilty of buying a few albums because of whatever I heard on the radio, but I feel like that’s been pretty decently balanced out with more esoteric stuff. I don’t get the people who exclusively listen to whatever the DJ picks out for them.

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