Why most recordings sound like crap....

[Da5id4Vz]

[/QUOTE]

Of course I make no great clames to expertese with most of the material I post here. I just enjoy trying to share interesting ideas with interesting poeple.

Hey it keeps me honest! Thanls.

[fdegrove]

Dave,

Hynde resides with her husband, artist Lucha Brieva, in London, which the Akron, Ohio native has called home for more than twenty years.

A quote from the website you referred to...

That 'splains my confusion + the fact that their first album sported the British flag on the pocket.

BTW, they're back releasing music.

Cheers,

[nobody special]

Of course I make no great clames to expertese with most of the material I post here. I just enjoy trying to share interesting ideas with interesting poeple.

Hey, no accusation intended... sorry if I came across with that tone. I was just amazed that anyone outside Akron was talking about it, and that there was something as interesting as the "Akron" sound! Since you posted, I researched a little, and came up with a couple websites dedicated to the early punk/new wave stuff from around here during the late '70s early '80s. Rubber city rebels, Devo, etc.
It was kind of funny... my wife (then girlfriend) had an apartment in Cuyahoga Falls that was owned by the uncle? (can't remember, but some relation-I think it was his uncle) of Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo. Not that it really matters... one of those my brother's friend's sister's uncle's cousin kinda things.
I have run across all kinds of amazing talent around here. A friend of mine from chicago came here to study music at Cleveland Institute / Case western, and he seemed to think we had a pretty good scene around Cleveland. There are A LOT of people around here that are still living in 1982.
Has anyone noticed (where you're at) that the local music scene is all but dead now? There is just NOTHING going on right now. I don't know if it's that the American Idol no-talent types are so big, or what, but there is no demand for rock bands of any sort right now! In the 80's at least people wanted to hear good music being played live (not lip synced with the latest dance moves- what a bunch of SH!T!)
Don't even get me started... It's totally depressing.
Steve

[Da5id4Vz]

I always figure that if there is something going on around me, that I'll be the last to know about it.

DC had, or perhaps still has, a big live music scene built around something called Go Go. I only once really heard it. A band called Kilimanjaro was playing at a street festival in DC. It was kind of like listening to Big Twist and the Mello Fellows meets the P-Funk All Stars. At least 8 guys playing all kinds of brass, a whole bunch of other guys too all playing fast, loud, and tight.

I think the live music scene lost the last of its allure for me after the Big White fire. Its just too sad thinking about how all those people lost their lives due to the sum of the actions of a couple of idiots.

I guess I decided to change my signature line as a realization came to me about a lot of the acrimony that’s been floating around. One of the things I really never warmed up to about broadcasting and audio were the verbal pissing wars and dangling egos.

Its probably best to go work someplace were you are sure that everyone you work with is smarter than you. It does wonders for humility, and makes everyday an adventure. I'm always learning something new. On rare occasion I get to share something with someone that they hadn’t experienced before, those days aren’t too bad either. I find I don’t have much use for trying to impress people these days; it’s really enough just to get along and help out wherever I can.

[Fusor]

I have often thought that 'rap music' [non sequitur, I know] came from the boom of poorly designed bass speakers.
A design failure of the cheap equipment used as a punchy rhythm instrument.
Wasn't 'Owner of a Lonely Heart' by Yes recorded specifically for low fidelity AM car radios?

[Da5id4Vz]

Wasn't 'Owner of a Lonely Heart' by Yes recorded specifically for low fidelity AM car radios?

Most studios used to have a set of small speakers sitting on top of the console made by a company called Auratone. They were almost universally recognized as the low fidelity reference. Once a project was mixed on the mains, it would be cross-referenced on the Auratones to check for low-fi compatibility.

The advent of the Meyer HD-1 and Genelec 1031-A used as near fields while the consumer is often now using better equipment at home and in the car has resulted the Auratone mostly falling out of favor. Its been a while since Ive seen a set, and I'm not sure that the manufacture is even around any more.

[mrfeedback]

Its been a while since Ive seen a set, and I'm not sure that the manufacture is even around any more.

Nah, all modern cheap surround systems use little cubes pretty much the same as the Auratones.
They haven't died - just gone to peoples houses.

Eric.

[Da5id4Vz]

They haven't died - just gone to peoples houses.

A good hard laugh to start the day,
Thank you so much. This is what friends are for.

The ironic thing here is that a few years back (3?) I almost bought a used set, not because I wanted them, but because they reportedly came from Frank Zappa'a "Joes Garage" studio.

I still figure that if or when the right set comes along, I'll likely pick them up. There's just something about them.

A bout 5 years ago I mistakenly bought a set of two-way Auratones. With the grills on they looked the same. Problem with tem was that they sounded way to good. I had to give them away and buy a set of the originals...

[fdegrove]

Hi,

Some contoversy...

No, not all recordings sound like crap....most pop recordings?
Yes, I agree.

Some pop recordings are fine though (according to those standards) , note : it seems that quality costs money: Rolling Stones: great recordings...,Dire Straights: fine,
but sounds too digital to me.

There are good multi miked recs out there, assuming you accept that kind of compromise.

Can a pop or rockband be recorded by a simple stereo pair and still sell ?

Absolutely, yes, yes and yes.

Will it have as much impact without all these technical manips?

Yes.

Will this give us more artists and less technocrats?

I'd certainly hope so,

[Gregm]

miked recordings are too expensive, acoustic & electrical instruments require musicians -- even more expensive

Why spend all that money when we can have synths do the sounds-making job -- AND record direct in glorious digital.

Of course, you'll need an "artist" (i.e. a voice of sorts), but hey -- nothing is free in this life!

OTOH, classical is a bummer: mikes, mastering; orchestra, conductor, virtuoso(i)... Not cost effective at all! No wonder there are so many reissues of the "new, remastered version using proprietary xyz technology" variety.

OK, Ok this is just another inconclusive comment on a foreclosed subject: forget superlative recordings of artistic merit, for now at least.