Why most recordings sound like crap....

[Jocko Homo]

This thread has nothing to do with:

1.) Why I hate AES/EBU.

2.) Why I think that most studio engineers are deaf idiots.

3.) Why studios are full of mixing boards that are "op-amp" farms, and wretched horn-loaded monitors.

No, dear friends, the problem is much more odious.

Jocko

[Jocko Homo]

Several years ago, I built some custom gear for a buddy who worked at a recording studio. He was given the task of going through a certain artist's library, and picking out the "essential parts" for the 3- (or was it 5-) CD box set. He wanted something better sounding than what they currently were using for this supposedly important project, and I was chosen to build some gear.

My buddy had to get this artist to listen to countless variations and remastered versions of his works. The project could not continue until the artist singed off on everything that was being chosen for the set.

Problem is.........he was not the least bit interested in listening to any of it. He apparently had done all the drug-induced partying he cared to due in his youth, and had more than enough money to do what interested him now. Which was seemingly nothing.

One day, my buddy managed to go for a ride with this guy in his old pickup truck......a '48 or some such vintage......with a tube radio in it. They listened to the radio while they talked. (Probably to some old redneck oldies station, what else can you play on a radio that old anyway?)

"Hear that? You hear that? That is what music is supposed to sound like to me. That is what I grew up with. All the radios sounded that way. The ones in your house, your car, your truck, the corner store. They all sounded that way. That is what I want my stuff to sound like. You can keep all this new stuff. I don't like it."

I'm not sure the box set ever happened. The check had cleared the bank months earlier, so I did my share.

Jocko

[Jocko Homo]

One of my famous audio designer buddies received a call one day from one of the band members of..............

Twisted Sister.

Seems that a group of them heard his stuff, probably in artsy-farsty audio salon in NYC, and were impressed by it. Enough so to call him up.

"Yeah, we heard your stuff and we really like it. We would like to get some of it into our studio and make some really good sounding music for a change. Problem is......if it sounds too good, then no one will buy it. It has to sound rotten, or no one will buy it

Yep, that's our job: to make rotten sounding music. And mess up teenagers' heads.

That, and **** off their parents.

Yep, just a job to us. Too bad we can't use your stuff to make something good. But we still want to buy some. To take home to listen to. We really like it."

My friend was horrified. He calmed down some after the person he assumed was a crazy lunatic started talking about all the classical music he was very familiar with. Seems that he really did have good taste in music. He just chose not to make it.

Jocko

[dhaen]

My goodness, we seem to have touched a nerve....

Keep smiling Jocko... but don't stop

[Da5id4Vz]

So uhm, is this going somewhere, or are we just trying to help you get the next 48 posts out of the way until you make the big 1K?

Are we talking about the degenerate state of western civilization as it affects the publics taste in popular music?

Is this about why we were all so often disappointed with the CD release of those old LP's we loved and coveted? What’s wrong with 16 bits?

[Duo]

Lol. I prefer 24bits. But still, a good vynl has way more warmth and musicality than a CD any day. Sure, a CD is clean, but it's missing out so much information.

[Bricolo]

Originally posted by Da5id4Vz
So uhm, is this going somewhere, or are we just trying to help you get the next 48 posts out of the way until you make the big 1K?

Are we talking about the degenerate state of western civilization as it affects the publics taste in popular music?

Is this about why we were all so often disappointed with the CD release of those old LP's we loved and coveted? What’s wrong with 16 bits?

My opinion is that quantisation kills some details
You can use 16Bit, 24Bit or even more, there will always be a little quantity of information, say 0.6, that will be fixed to 1

[till]

please examples for crap and noncrap

[Steve Eddy]

Originally posted by Duo
Lol. I prefer 24bits. But still, a good vynl has way more warmth and musicality than a CD any day. Sure, a CD is clean, but it's missing out so much information.

Guess it depends how one defines "information."

Technically, noise and distortion are not information. Yet noise and distortion can give a sense of more information even though technically there is less information.

se

[Steve Eddy]

Originally posted by Bricolo
My opinion is that quantisation kills some details
You can use 16Bit, 24Bit or even more, there will always be a little quantity of information, say 0.6, that will be fixed to 1

Well, at 16 bits, it doesn't really kill any more details than analogue kills. And in a properly dithered 16 bit system, you can encode information below -96dB.

se