[kj] Yahoo! Tech: "Why New Music Doesn't Sound As Good as it Did"

[B. Oliver Sheppard]

Link in aforementioned post:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ

-Oliver


B. Oliver Sheppard wrote:

> From: http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/33549

>

> Why New Music Doesn't Sound As Good As It Did

>

> Wed Jun 27, 2007 10:17PM EDT

>

> Never mind that today's factory-produced starlets and mini-clones just 

> don't have the practiced chops of the supergroups of yesteryear, pop 

> in a new CD and you might notice that the quality of the music 

> itself—maybe something as simple as a snare drum hit—just doesn't 

> sound as crisp and as clear as you're used to. Why is that?

>

> It's part of the music industry's quest to make music louder and 

> louder, and it's been going on for decades, at least since the birth 

> of the compact disc. Click the link for a nice little video, a mere 2 

> minutes long, which explains it in detail, with audio cues that you'll 

> be able to hear in crisp detail.

>

> The key to the problem is that, in making the soft parts of a track 

> louder (in the process making the entire track loud), you lose detail 

> in the song: The difference between what's supposed to be loud and 

> what's supposed to be soft becomes less and less. The result is that, 

> sure, the soft parts of a song are nice and loud, but big noises like 

> drum beats become muffled and fuzzy. But consumers often 

> subconsciously equate loudness with quality, and thus, record 

> producers pump up the volume. Anything to make a buck.

>

> The bigger problem is that this is all unnecessary. Stereo equipment 

> is more powerful today than ever, and last time I checked, every piece 

> of music hardware had a volume knob.

>

> Don't take my word for it: Pop in the first CD you bought and play it 

> at the same volume level as the most recent one you bought. You might 

> be shocked by what you hear.

>

>

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