So* I was reading an article on slashdot about some students that made a filter for old atari games to make them look like they looked on 1970s & 80s CRT TVs. The point was, the bleeding/ghosting/noise etc brought back more of the feel of those games.
Anyway, it got me to thinking about Music and how the old cracks and pops from LPs make a sound seem richer to me. Obviously, I'm not the only one because some musicians have added the old LP noise to their music. (eg: "Standing outside a broken phone booth with money in my hand" by Primitive Radio Gods)
I was wondering if this was a phenomenon of us old people or if the younger generation, raised exclusively on CDs and MP3s feel the same way?
Posts: 7085 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
I'm an old person, and I don't find cracks and pops to make sound any warmer.
What I mind, though, is audio that's been mixed to be absurdly loud, something that seems to be a modern trend.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Those little iPod earbuds are cheap buggers, so I don't think your able to hear a difference between low quality 128 or 192 kbps and higher quality recordings even if you wanted to. I invested in a nice pair of Bose headphones a few years back and can absolutely notice a difference between 128 or 192 and 320 of flac files. Listening to a good high-quality recording on good high-quality headphones is a wonderful experience.
And it seems to be a generational thing. If the older generation prefers the snapple and crack of LPs, then the...
quote: ...young people actually prefer the “sizzle” sound of MP3’s.
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: I'm an old person, and I don't find cracks and pops to make sound any warmer.
What I mind, though, is audio that's been mixed to be absurdly loud, something that seems to be a modern trend.
I was a very late adopter of CDs. For 10 yrs after CDs came out I was still listening to LPs and cassettes made from LPs I owned ("It's a NINETY MINUTE tape!! I can put one album on one side and another album on the other and it will AUTOMATICALLY flip the tape over! 90 Minutes of music without touching the needle!!")
Anyway, for the purposes of nostalgia, I guess that makes me 10 years older than my already advanced and decrepit age.
Posts: 7085 | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote:Originally posted by The Pixiest: (eg: "Standing outside a broken phone booth with money in my hand" by Primitive Radio Gods)
Good stuff.
I grew up listening to my mom's old 45's and love that sound. I think there's a time and place for the crackle and pop, though. Not all current music could pull it off and well.
Posts: 691 | Registered: Nov 2008
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1) Stochastic background noise extends the hearing range: extremely soft sounds as well as extremely low-frequency and extremely high-frequency sounds slightly past the edge of ones hearing range are highlighted by that hiss in a way that allows us to hear or at least to sense them. Many audiophiles (particularly extraordinarily sensitive ones) hated early digital recordings and early digital remasterings "wiped clean of dirty background noise" because they sounded "dead" without the stochastic resonance produced by that low background hiss. Nowadays, stochastic noise is deliberately introduced into digital recordings during the studio process.
2) Sound technicians were also active musicians for every recording. And the mikes, tapes, mixing boards, records, and speakers were their instruments. ie Those technicians used the "flaws" of their own instruments upon the music/etc performed by the foreground bands/singers/etc to create the music/etc that most pleased their own sense of aesthetics. Or at least the aesthetic that would most likely sell to the public.
3) Every digital remastering is tampering with the work that those original sound technicians/artists did. Which is why many audiophiles still prefer "imperfect" vinyl on "imperfect" players amplified through "imperfect" tube amps before being shoved out by "imperfect" old-fashioned speakers. And why many young people who were born well after records (and even cassettes) were pronounced dead by the recording industry are getting into vinyl. That "organic sound" is also why there is a growing body of musicians who deliberately choose to record their work in old-fashioned studios using "imperfect" equipment, then have the result pressed by "obsolete" equipment onto vinyl.
posted
I still listen to vinyl records. I also listen to FM radio on nice machines and small ones too. I have a beef with all of them. My dissatasfaction comes from years of "playing in the band". I am used to a different "mix". I perfer to hear some instruments, especially some of the ones from the back of the orchestra. If I put myself into the performance I like to feel the individual musicians presence, not just the solid front of mixed sound. It makes it seem more real, kind of like the difference between a makeup model and the pretty girl next door.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
lofi is still very much a big thing in music. Take, for instance, the fact that The Mountain Goats songs were all recorded on an old boombox from 1991 to 1997 in order to preserve the lofi sound.
posted
I used to love that sound of vinyl LPs crackling before the music started. It was just so full of promise and anticipation. But I actually prefer the cleaner sound of music today and don't want to go back.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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