The Distortion of Sound or Why Music Sucks Today

[imcarthur]

Why your music doesn't sound as good as it should.

Ian

[nostatic]

Even with AAC/mp3, other parts of the signal chain can help. I've been running Steely Dan tunes for a gig and listening to them through the Focal monitors reminds me of a bunch of nuanced parts that you just can't hear through ear buds.

Nice video. Though they are conflating different types of "compression."

"we're not talking about filling your stomach...we're talking about filling your soul."
- Hans Zimmer

[flipper35]

Some of it starts out bad. That and auto tune makes marketable bodies into almost mediocre singers but they still play the songs on the radio.

[imcarthur]

Yes, compression is good when used artistically in the recording & mixing realm but the MP3 total squash syndrome during mastering is not.

Ian

[flipper35]

In the car I don't mind an MP3 or as background music. You have enough other noise you can't hear the subtleties anyway.

[imcarthur]

The trouble is that it is not just subtleties. Highly compressed music sounds hard, bright & thin - on ANY device you play it through. So it will suck on your car-fi, with your earbuds & even your Bose Wave radio . . .

Ian

[HardDrive]

Its seems like the goal of modern mastering is to simply make it as loud as possible, even if you have to lop off the top 10% of the sound to get there. Its sound terrible.

[rusnak]

Only a rare person will notice the difference between MP3 and ACC.

I would buy music on Amazon that was more expensive and more detailed for sure, but to be honest, there is no market because music does not sound worse today than 5 years ago. It sounds better.

I play MP3 files outdoors in a 90' x 80' environment all October long, using QSC K8s and an Allen and Heath mixer. And quite honestly, at normal volume levels MP3s are certainly acceptable.

[Gogar]

As a side note to Todd's comment I'm really amazed when working with people in the industry how many people confuse data compression with audio compression; also how many people confuse recording bit depth vs. the processor depth in their computer.

[Jolly Amaranto]

I wish I could still hear as well now as I could as a teenager. Now I am mostly deft in one ear due to a congenital condition (Otosclerosis) and old age loss in the other. For the life of me I can't tell the difference between a CD and an Mp3 I have made of it on my PC. I really miss being able to listen to stereo hi fi on my "top of the line" head phones.

[kang]

There have been numerous blind tests between CD's, Lossless, and AAC's and MP3's at various bit rates. Do a Google search for that and see the many results. In very general terms, I've heard that about half the people can distinguish a difference.

Here's one study, an A/B comparison:
BLIND TEST: Lossless vs. MP3 320

A is Lossless 26% (38)
B is Lossless 42% (61)
No Difference 30% (44)

And the results of another:
http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~hockman/documents/Pras_presentation2009.pdf
Conclusion
- Trained listeners can hear differences between
CD quality and mp3 compression (96-192 kb/s)
and prefer CD quality.
- Trained listeners can not discriminate between
CD quality and mp3 compression (256-320 kb/s)
while expert listeners could.
- Ability to discriminate depends on listeners’
expertise and musical genre
- Artifacts can be verbalized and do not depend
on musical genre

I did an A/B comparison on myself. I can plug my phone into my home stereo. I had previously ripped a CD into 256K AAC. I compared a track on my phone to a track on the CD. It took a moment to do the switch, and after several switches, I concluded that I could barely tell the difference. I had to listen to specific things, like a cymbal or particular lyric to distinguish it.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Gogar

As a side note to Todd's comment I'm really amazed when working with people in the industry how many people confuse data compression with audio compression; also how many people confuse recording bit depth vs. the processor depth in their computer.

Just to expand on that:

data compression - you throw away data that an algorithm decides isn't important. In other words, the computer does some math to determine what is "good enough." That happens in music (e.g. mp3 and aac), photos (e.g. jpg, png), video (e.g. h.264). It is a strictly digital process.

audio compression - takes a waveform and reduces the dynamic range, mostly by limiting transient spikes (though can also expand quiet passages as well). This allows one to "even out" the sound of a recording and optimize for a particular medium or application. In extreme cases it can be used as an effect (breathing/pumping). Old school this was done analog, both by compressors (by design) and by recording tape (an artifact that people liked). It is often done in software now, but it is looking at the audio waveform as opposed to the data structure.

[JavaBrewer]

Old school data compression. Too many notes. Just cut a few and it will be perfect.



This topic is way over my head. Just bumping my post count. Carry on

[john70t]

The Amazing Stuff: Auto Tune is considered one of the 50 worst inventions ever!
Auto-Tune - The 50 Worst Inventions - TIME
5 worst tech inventions ever | SimpleTuition

For pure sound, I put on the MIDI.

[lane912]

Originally Posted by rusnak

Only a rare person will notice the difference between MP3 and ACC.

I would buy music on Amazon that was more expensive and more detailed for sure, but to be honest, there is no market because music does not sound worse today than 5 years ago. It sounds better.

I play MP3 files outdoors in a 90' x 80' environment all October long, using QSC K8s and an Allen and Heath mixer. And quite honestly, at normal volume levels MP3s are certainly acceptable.

I do-

[rusnak]

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

Old school data compression. Too many notes. Just cut a few and it will be perfect.



This topic is way over my head. Just bumping my post count. Carry on

Oh man! I just loved watching the clips of Amadeus. Thank you!

[M.D. Holloway]

My 11 year old is into Ed Sheerer's music. I listened to him and found his lyrics good and his voice a combo Nevile / Conick Jr. Music today isn't bad - artists are good. Just have to find them.

[stealthn]

Just give me an audiophile edition of Outlandos d'amour record on an Oracle turntable, nothing beats that sound...

[aschen]

People seem to not care about audio quality these days. I'm not sure if data compression is to blame, but just how it is. The audiopile is almost dead hobby.


I still have the dynaudio speakers I saved to buy when I was in college 20 years ago and they sound fantastic, as good as anything available today. In fact you can assemble a stereo from 70s era components that is as good as most anything commercially available today.

It is one of those rare technologies that hasn't improved at all, at least in fidelity.

[stealthn]

MacIntosh cones to mind...