{"id":468,"date":"2013-06-09T16:52:17","date_gmt":"2013-06-09T23:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/?p=468"},"modified":"2013-06-09T16:52:17","modified_gmt":"2013-06-09T23:52:17","slug":"audio-music-reproduction-in-reverse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/audio-music-reproduction-in-reverse\/","title":{"rendered":"audio: music reproduction in reverse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TheScraper mused in response to <a href=\"http:\/\/gizmodo.com\/5955067\/listen-to-the-first+ever-recording-of-a-musical-performance-from-134-years-ago\">Gizmodo&#8217;s post about reconstituting an early recording<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I sometimes wonder if current audio recording techniques will ever improve. When we think we&#8217;ve hit a brick wall, something else comes around. I remember when I first saw a film on DVD, I was engulfed by a feeling of amazement, thinking that it was the best thing ever; then BluRay came around&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Sadly music reproduction hasn&#8217;t just hit a brick wall, it is actively getting worse. But &#8220;it&#8221; means several things:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Recording <em>techniques<\/em> are unquestionably going downhill. The &#8220;breathy singer recorded in her bedroom&#8221; music in TV commercials, and Katy Perry 130 digital tracks overlaid on a laptop are both in a different universe from quality recordings made by professionals armed with dozens of microphones and a deep understanding of getting the best sound out of musicians in a custom-built studio room. There&#8217;s a reason people sample Led Zep drum breaks.<\/li>\n<li><em>Producing<\/em> techniques are a disaster. The ridiculous compression introduced by the <a title=\"Wikipedia article\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Loudness_war\">loudness war<\/a> wastes the dynamic range of CDs, and producers consciously aim for lowest-common denominator earbuds in noisy environments. (Although Motown was perfecting their recordings for crappy transistor radios, and many of their recordings come staggeringly alive on a good stereo.) Go to Amazon and read reviews from fans sobbing that the 20th anniversary edition of their favorite recording sounds like crap because the re-release producer couldn&#8217;t help tweaking the sound mix.<\/li>\n<li>Recording <em>formats<\/em> are fine. Hardly anyone can reliably distinguish high-bit rate 320kBs MP3s from CD. Higher bit-depth and bit-rate recordings are available: a trickle of DVD-Audio and SACD disks continue to be released and you can buy higher-rate digital downloads online at places like\u00a0<a title=\"HDTracks high-definition audiophile music downloads site\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hdtracks.com\/\">www.hdtracks.com<\/a>. In my opinion the reason to go for vinyl or hi-def digital recording is not that CD or 320kBs MP3 is a bad format, but because the mixes for vinyl and hi-def are less likely to have the life compressed out of them in the %$#@! loudness wars (<a title=\"YouTube video on the Loudness ar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ\">hear the proof here<\/a>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Audiophiles are simultaneously seeking better reproduction of treasured vinyl and the ultimate playback of high-res digital files. But most music recorded nowadays is not recorded or produced in a way to make it worth bothering. If you like any music from the 50s through 80s then try to hear it on a top-notch stereo in a good room, it can be a thrill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TheScraper mused in response to Gizmodo&#8217;s post about reconstituting an early recording: I sometimes wonder if current audio recording techniques will ever improve. When we think we&#8217;ve hit a brick wall, something else comes around. I remember when I first &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/audio-music-reproduction-in-reverse\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}