Quadrophenia not only sounds good, it IS good in the sense that it shows the capacity of The Who both to make incredibly energetic rock-music with inspiration from symphonic music and telling a story about an English sub-culture. For me it is their masterpiece.
I believe that "POP" is an abbreviation of "popular" such that it is not meant as a denigration of the music.
In my first para, I was referring to the intrinsic capability, perhaps I didn't express that well, but my later reference to the human use of the technology differentiates the hardware from the human usage.
Does it really matter whether or not the engineers don't understand the formats, bearing in mind they are sound recordists, and use their ears, and these should tell them if they've got it right or not?
Current evidence of popular music says it does matter...
Here is a link to a data base of music and the dynamic ranges used... Loudness War Info
Just look how much of the recent stuff has 10 db or less of dynamic range, it goes on page after page...
Does that look like their ears are guiding them to success?
Seriously, how can someone engage in a high tech industry without understanding how any of it works?
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My point is really that if current pop sounds dreadful, then those making it are not using their ears properly.
A car can be driven really well without an understanding how the car works., and an airline pilot doesn't have a deep thorough understanding of the aircraft's underlying engineering, but of course some degree of understanding can be beneficial.
The loudness war is in the domain of human choice, a compromise of artistic expression for the sake of the attention demanding which loudness produces, probably demanded by managers of the economics.
This is political, and reflects our increasingly aggressive society.
A car can be driven really well without an understanding how the car works., and an airline pilot doesn't have a deep thorough understanding of the aircraft's underlying engineering, but of course some degree of understanding can be beneficial.
The loudness war is in the domain of human choice, a compromise of artistic expression for the sake of the attention demanding which loudness produces, probably demanded by managers of the economics.
This is political, and reflects our increasingly aggressive society.
That we can definitely agree on.
I'm guessing you've never seen the training that pilots get... they are trained to do much more than simply "drive" the airplane. Too many people's lives are at stake for anything less.
Also: My career was in electronic service. How far do you think I would have gotten without an in-depth knowledge of how things work?
There are many cases were a person simply cannot do their job without theoretical training and practical experience. There is a reason why so many studio engineers are also musicians and many are electronics technicians as well. They simply could not do the job without some background in audio and music.
And what choice do I have in it?
Face it, it's about money, greed and profits just like everything else and you are probably right that it is demanded by the company's bean counters.
Agreed ...
Your career, as mine was defined as dealing WITH the technicalities, the need was intrinsic.
I have said that some knowledge, ie overlap is useful, but there are limits to what is helpful
I don't need to know what the alloys are in my veg knife, or which wood the handle is made from in order to be able to cut vegetables.
I have said that some knowledge, ie overlap is useful, but there are limits to what is helpful
I don't need to know what the alloys are in my veg knife, or which wood the handle is made from in order to be able to cut vegetables.
If you are willing to venture into areas not mainstream anglo-saxon pop, there are some beautifully produced albums out of France, Italy, Hawaii.
Have a look at Claude Nougaro, Johnny Hallyday Paulo Conte, Paris Combo, Serge Giansbourg and others.
From Hawaii most of the albums by Iz Kamakawiwo'ole sound nice, if a little over produced. An all time favorite for me is an old live recording from the 60s called "A Beachboy Party by Duke Kahanamoku". Just a lovely recording of the old timers playing and singing down in Waikiki.
Have a look at Claude Nougaro, Johnny Hallyday Paulo Conte, Paris Combo, Serge Giansbourg and others.
From Hawaii most of the albums by Iz Kamakawiwo'ole sound nice, if a little over produced. An all time favorite for me is an old live recording from the 60s called "A Beachboy Party by Duke Kahanamoku". Just a lovely recording of the old timers playing and singing down in Waikiki.
But you do need to know how a mixing board works to mix music. There, as in my career, you are dealing directly with the technicalities of recording music. It's not a simple matter of stringing some microphones and twiddling a few knobs, you know.
Trust me on this one ... Deeper insight is always better, especially when things don't go as planned. I never have and probably never will understand why some people just offhandedly reject knowledge, especially when it's relevant to their tasks, but I am seeing it more and more as time goes on.
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"But you do need to know how a mixing board works to mix music."
That is an ambiguous question open to interpretive definition; the degree of depth needs defining and you probably don't need to know the base current in a transistor in the desk.
We agree that the knowledge is useful, and I'm not rejecting any knowledge.
That is an ambiguous question open to interpretive definition; the degree of depth needs defining and you probably don't need to know the base current in a transistor in the desk.
We agree that the knowledge is useful, and I'm not rejecting any knowledge.
Maybe not that ... but you do need to know it's limits, input sensitivity, output drive, equalizer capability, programming options and so on before you're going to produce anything but noise.
Also in the digital realm you need to understand the way dynamic range works with a hard ceiling on output levels. To use it in the same way as an analog board would result in massive clipping and very bad recordings.
So, no matter what the protest... yes you do need to know how the thing works.
I would say that in a field as technical as music production, knowledge is essential. As I said before, I'm betting that a lot of the crap music coming out these days is from guys who failed to adapt to the new formats.
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