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Does Going Digital Mean Missing Music?
arlanTLDR writes "The Seattle PI is running a story about how the MP3 format is the sign of a musical apocalypse. Apparently, many top music producers are 'howling' over the fact that files in a compressed format contain 'less than 10 percent of the original music on the CDs.' Is this just sensationalist FUD, or is there something to the assertion that listening to an MP3 is like hearing music 'through a screen door?'" The article mentions that the iPod and its cheap earbuds bear some of the responsibility for rendering this degradation in sound quality less objectionable.
Saying that MP3s sport less than 10% of the music of a CD is just plain stupid. Perhaps 10% of the data, but frankly that would only be a low bit rates. That is a little like saying that radio is destroying music because it is not CD-quality. Everybody has a different tolerance. For me 128 just won't do it but up that to 256 and I can't tell the difference. These people are just dinosaurs afraid of the future. I'd take a high bit rate 6-channel AAC file over a CD any day of the week,
If music is only stored as an MP3 than yes we will be loosing some of the music. Flac would fix that. Now to the question, are MP3s and cheap earbuds ruining music? I would say the lost of dynamic range in modern CDs, the nightmare that is Clearchannel, and the general decline in the quality of music are much greater threats. Let's not forget the draconian tactics of the music industry also seem to come into play. It has gotten to the point that I hate the record companies and just don't want to pay their prices.
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Couldn't the RIAA have found a better spokeperson for their argument than Phil Spector?
Phil Spector, as a producer, is best known for the Wall of Sound--creating an effect by cramming as many instruments into the studio and on the master tape as possible. I suppose his music would be an edge case in data removal--if you could actually hear every detail in his recordings, then the Wall of Sound would really be overwhelming.
But the Wall of Sound works best in mono; it doesn't fully work in stereo. Hearing more detail makes it less effective, and that kind of music tends to get called "overproduced" regardless of merit.
Spector is also responsible for producing the original Let It Be. Spector laid an orchestra on "Long and Winding Road" that, in remastered Redbook CD detail, drowns out every other non-vocal instrument on the track and nearly swamps Paul's vocals.
In short, the man often puts more detail in his tracks than the average ear can hear, on purpose.
There is also the problem that Spector is on trial for murder right now. This makes no difference to the validity of his theories, but it would have been nice if the RIAA had tapped a famous producer who was not at risk of going to San Quentin.
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
You listen to some old records, and I mean old ones from the 1960s, and the sound is infinitely superior. The last time I listened to Sgt. Pepper on vinyl, after years of listening to it on CD, I was just blown away by it. Those old engineers, with the limited analog equipment at their disposal (Sgt. Pepper was recorded on 8 track equipment), performed miracles. That entire body of knowledge has evaporated, and now, even for old catalogs, the words "digitally remastered" send chills up audiophiles spines.
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I've bought five or six ear buds in my lifetime, spending anywhere from $5 to $30, and the earbuds that came with my ipod are significantly better than any of them. I own better headphones, to be sure, but the point is that ipod earbuds are definitely not $0.50 cheapies.
Now, if you can't hear the difference, by all means, keep listening to MP3's. Heck, I usually listen to them. However, most people can tell the difference in a blind test.
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(Sgt. Pepper was recorded on 8 track equipment),
Nope, Not even 8 tracks. It was recorded on multiple 4 track machines. In one of the great hacks of all time, All the tapes were marked for their starting point with grease pencil and one track of the master machine recorded the the line current. They used the 100 volt outs from a Macintosh amp to drive the capstan motors of the slave machines. This kept the machines in sync. The engineers (and I do mean engineers complete with with lab coats and pocket protectors)at EMI really did work miracles with what machines they had to work with. EMI was very slow to adopt new technologies. While the Beatles worked on SGT Peppers with 4 track machines, the Beach Boys blazed the Pet Sounds trail with 8 track machines. Or so the story goes. I must admit I wasn't there.
Something i only became aware of after having done a real, double-blind ABX test, is that anyone who says things like "the CD sounded more alive" has never done a real, double-blind ABX test.
If you had, you'd have failed the first time (at probably 96kbps) and then read up on and trained yourself what to listen for: things like pre-echo and ringing on the high frequencies. The "liveliness" of the recording is not really identifiable past about 96kbps - 128kbps with a modern codec.
Jeremy
Theodore Sturgeon said it all: 90% of everything is crap.
To me there seems to be some problems with the psycho-acoustic models that are being used for mp3, because those artifacts make my ears feel itchy. To me it sounds low resolution, especially cybals and other high frequency audio. It sounds pixelated and annoying, low and midrange sounds ok, but the high end sounds so annoying and obvious that listening for problems in the low and mid-range is irrelavent.
The other thing is the capacity of flash devices keeps increasing and the fact that most car stereos have usb port I wonder if mp3 is useful any more, is there a point to having a massive music capacity, when you can have slightly less quantity and much better quality especially when the capability of technology increases. A 4Gb flash is enough for roughly 6 cd's at full resolution, or 12 at half resolution (approx fm radio) without lossy compression such as mp3.
Another thing is the psycho-acoustic model, why is the ambient components of music not important, who decided that? Those seemingly redundant components of music are very interesting components of the piece, the echo, reverberation and some harmonic components are the character of the music. With all due repect to engineers, they are not musicians or producers. Writing and producing music is not a science, it's an art. Engineers involved in the production of equipment to produce music are constantly striving to create equipment that is capable of accuratley recording the musicians and producers intentions. Sampling rates on the recording side are increasing, 96khz sampling rates at 24bit are common place for recording and many other technological advancements, but the use of the technology, placement of microphones, type of microphones is similar to the way a painter uses paintbrushes.
I would never listen to mp3's on my home hi-fi. High-fidelity music is a joy to listen to, and high resolution hi-fi sound is astounding. To draw the oposite analagy, at what point does lowering the resolution of a picture make it unviewable? It's the same with sound and that's the choice the listener has to make.
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