Pink Floyd Engineer Alan Parsons Rips Audiophiles, YouTube and Jonas Brothers

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Pink Floyd Engineer Alan Parsons Rips Audiophiles, YouTube and Jonas Brothers

Posted by timothy on Thursday February 9, 2012 @08:11AM from the projecting-himself dept.

First time accepted submitter CIStud writes "Famed 'Dark Side of the Moon' engineer Alan Parsons, who also worked on the Beatles 'Abbey Road,' says audiophiles spend too much money on equipment and ignore room acoustics. He also is surprised the music industry has not addressed the artists' rights violations taking place on YouTube, wonders why surround-sound mixes for albums never took off, and calls the Jonas Brothers 'garbage' all in one interview."

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Re:Scathing, Absolutely Scathing by elrous0 · 2012-02-09 08:14 · Score: 4, Funny

And another thing, get off his lawn!!!

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SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Audiophiles by sexconker · 2012-02-09 08:17 · Score: 5, Funny

Audiophiles are pretty much the dumbest group of people ever.
No, you can't hear a difference between this $5000 speaker and this $150 speaker.
No, these cables don't sound "warm".
1. Re:Audiophiles by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-09 08:21 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  ++ This. Too dumb to become a real geek? Then become an audiophile. All of the angry nerd posturing with none of that meddlesome knowledge.
2. Re:Audiophiles by SJHillman · 2012-02-09 08:22 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I've found that cheaper cables taste better, especially with a little ketchup.
3. Re:Audiophiles by 0123456 · 2012-02-09 08:46 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Our rabbit prefers the taste of gold-plated cables to plain old copper.
4. Re:Audiophiles by John3 · 2012-02-09 09:52 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Those people.
  People who would buy this cable for example. :)
  
  --
  "We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers." Carl Sagan
5. Re:Audiophiles by ColdWetDog · 2012-02-09 10:15 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  He is talking about the people who clip special piezoelectric rocks in a vial to their cables to suppress, well, something they're sure they otherwise hear.
  Piezoelectric rocks?
  WTF? I thought you were just making it up, but sadly, no. You can't make up this sort of thing.
  
  Fact: Diamonds have good bass but rolled off highs
  Fact: Citrine follows in the similar sound quality.
  Fact: Amethyst has very good top end and upper midrange energy.
  Fact: Diamonds and most other crystals, are thermoluminescent, whereby the crystals pick up stray electrons, trapping them in their latticework, and can release them later along with a photon (QED). This fact is utilized by archeologists to date buried artifacts ( flint and other material normally not datable by carbon), by heating the crystals up to 900 degrees and having a photomultiplier present as they do so to count photons released. Apparently, exposure to even light purges the stray electrons within the crystal thus "resetting" the crystal back to zero, giving a rough time line as to when the crystal or rock was reburied., as the natural radiation i the earth "recharges" the crystal.
  Fact: Amethyst transforms itself into clear quartz when heated to 450 degrees C and into citrine when hated to 550 C.
  Fact: Clear quartz does not quite have the openness of amethyst.
  Fact: In addition to the trace amount of iron, amethysts are supposedly to obtain the darker shades of purple by exposure to natural radiation contained in the soil in which they are buried. The darkest shades seem to come from deeper within the earth.
  Speculation: Being that the piezo effect means that an EMI field hitting a piezo electric crystal can generate movement and thus help dissipate energy, could it be possible that the citrine and diamonds have their unique sound signature because they are absorbing some of the electrons?
  Perhaps amethysts have a lattice work which is "full" and thus more energy is transformed into mechanical motion. While some mineralogists warn that prolonged exposure to sunlight will bleach out the coloring of stones, most amethyst is fairly stable color wise.
  I have tried heating some matched amethyst beads with an alcohol lamp and have succeeded in creating clear and a slight citrine coloration. The experiment was interesting because I could listen to the purple application and then heat the crystals up and reevaluate. One caveat: the crystal can "pop" like popcorn and they are very hot! Theoretically, the crystals remain unchanged except for the application of heat. The molecular structure is supposedly unchanged, but there are distinct differences in color and in sound when applied, with the top end distinctly being rolled off.
  Incidentally, if you missed it over on Tweaks, sugar is also piezo electric and using a sugar cube certainly makes an effect. The cool thing about sugar cubes is that you can shape the cube and it most certainly has an effect upon the sound ( see the post on Tweaks for more information, a reply to FidPup's query about crystal alternatives).
  
  --
  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Re:"Pink Floyd engineer"? by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2012-02-09 08:18 · Score: 3, Funny

Tales of Misery and Confabulation.

--
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Re:Scathing, Absolutely Scathing by tom17 · 2012-02-09 08:18 · Score: 5, Funny

Abuse? Oh sorry, this is arguments. Abuse is down the hall.
No it isn't.
In other news... by GreatBunzinni · 2012-02-09 08:20 · Score: 3, Funny

In other news, Bose, Monster Cable, Bang & Olufsen and other brands announce a entirely new line of room acoustics kits for the audiophile. The kits will be sold for tens of thousands of euros, and are specially engineered for those who wants to hear those bitstreams as if the mp3s were coming directly from the sound studio.

--
Slashdot, fix your code or at least hire someone who is competent at it to do it for you.
Re:"Pink Floyd engineer"? by virgnarus · 2012-02-09 08:21 · Score: 5, Funny

I know him most for a giant death ray entitled with his name.
Re:Scathing, Absolutely Scathing by squidflakes · 2012-02-09 08:21 · Score: 3, Funny

Yes it is.
Re:Audiophiles don't listen to music. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-09 08:25 · Score: 2, Funny

Real audiophiles only listen to pure sine waves!
Well, he's as good as dead... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-09 08:35 · Score: 2, Funny

Audiophiles? Ok. Youtube? Fine. But bashing the Jonas Brothers?? Do you have aaaaaaaaany idea what army of girls they command? They will eat you for breakfast...
then again, there's Beats by Dr Dre by sqldr · 2012-02-09 08:42 · Score: 5, Funny

Sorry Dr Dre, but having you design speakers is like having an acoustics geek make a hip-hop record.

--
I wrote my first program at the age of six, and I still can't work out how this website works.
Re:Scathing, Absolutely Scathing by jamstar7 · 2012-02-09 08:51 · Score: 5, Funny

Hey, us Trekkies have always been interested in keeping up with the Cardassians. Er, wait...

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Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
Re:"Pink Floyd engineer"? by gstoddart · 2012-02-09 09:01 · Score: 3, Funny

Ah, my apologies ... upon re-reading, that is exactly what you said.
Sorry about that, chief.

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Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Re:Scathing, Absolutely Scathing by Beriaru · 2012-02-09 09:02 · Score: 4, Funny

I simply don't understand why it's slashdotted if nobody RTFA.
Re:Those audiotechies killed dynamic range by Threni · 2012-02-09 09:02 · Score: 3, Funny

Yeah, both jazz cds and all 7 classical releases sound fine to me.
Re:How audiophiles can fool themselves by Minwee · 2012-02-09 09:32 · Score: 3, Funny

The crazy thing, and I'm not making this up, is that some audiophiles claim that double-blind testing "doesn't work". They claim that you introduce errors that mask the superiority of the expensive equipment.
But they're right. The problem is not with the audiophiles, but with the testing.
A _proper_ double-blind test would involve you, the tester, telling the test subject the names of two competing brands of audio equipment, but not their price. The subject would then hold lengthy conversations with his peers about how much better the equipment makes everything sound without ever plugging it in. Whichever brand leaves him feeling more superior at the end of the test is clearly better.
If you're just going to bring stupid crap like listening to music into it then you're completely missing the point and your testing methodology is doomed to failure.
Re:Scathing, Absolutely Scathing by Moryath · 2012-02-09 09:39 · Score: 3, Funny

This show would SO be more popular than their show.
Re:I agree on his point about the room. by gmhowell · 2012-02-09 09:46 · Score: 3, Funny

Great, now I expect crappy contractors to excuse their lousy builds with the statement "we did it for the acoustics".

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Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
Re:"Pink Floyd engineer"? by tippe · 2012-02-09 09:53 · Score: 2, Funny

Their called "klipschorn" speakers, you insensitive clod, and of course there isn't much loss as long as you use $7200 Pear Anjou speaker cables with proprietary hybrid geometry and ultra low electrical reactance... They're very danceable cables, don't you know, and totally worth the price.
*ducks*
Re:Scathing, Absolutely Scathing by TeknoHog · 2012-02-09 10:02 · Score: 4, Funny

Surely you mean the Calrissians?

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Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
Re:Noisy-environment mode by yurtinus · 2012-02-09 10:21 · Score: 4, Funny

Notice how most cars have a button to turn on and off "loudness?" That's essentially the way car stereos do it. But, if it's already compressed, you can make it more compressed, AND MORE LOUDERER!!!

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+1 Disagree
Re:"Pink Floyd engineer"? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-09 10:46 · Score: 5, Funny

Ask 100 Slashdotters if they can figure out what the fuck you're trying to say in your posts.
Re:"Pink Floyd engineer"? by dna_(c)(tm)(r) · 2012-02-09 10:53 · Score: 5, Funny

Sorry, I wasn't clear in my narrative.
Me: Did you read that article about Alan Parsons?
Average music listener: Alan who?
Me; Alan Parsons. He was the recording engineer for "Dark Side Of The Moon".
Average music listener: ???
Me: You know, Pink Floyd?
Average music listener: Ah Pink, but she's sooo 2005 - and who is Floyd?.
There, fixed that for you.
Re:Scathing, Absolutely Scathing by Swampash · 2012-02-09 15:25 · Score: 3, Funny

Given that this is Slashdot, I'm surprised that the article wasn't headlined "Engineer for Apple Corp Artists Rips Audiophiles, YouTube and Jonas Brothers, Mentions Apple Itunes. Apple."