Music is served dead, and processed for the average consumer

[Naer]

Much like the bucket of chicken is served to you dead at kfc, the bits in mp3's are dead for easy mass consumption

If you want to hear music in a more natural unprocessed state as someone who wants fresh produce goes to a farmers market, you need to hear live artist. but even live acts get processed

But what is wrong with being a consumer of intellectual art? Nothing. just know what you are getting into before listening to the radio or your favorite artist. It's something that was once live and is now dead. At least it taste good. That's all that should matter

 

[Naer]

sorry, i did not mean to post this three times, delete copies

 

[Exterous]

Depends on the acoustics of the environment. I've been to some god awful 'concert' venues where the sound was just complete shit.

But yeah a lot of the big artists have overly processed music that sounds bad on an audio system capable of above average frequency ranges

 

[cbrunny]

what?

 

[MrDudeMan]

The problem with live shows is often the person in control of the soundboard, not the person playing or mixing the music. The last two concerts I went to registered over 120 dB at my seat. I bring my own SPM because I value my ability to hear and the morons who control the volume knob seem to not know the setting has values other than maximum. IT DOES NOT SOUND BETTER WHEN IT'S LOUD ENOUGH TO KILL YOU. I had to yell because I went to see Elton John six months ago and I still can't hear 100% even though I was wearing ear plugs. The peak volume was 134 dB. No, I'm not kidding.

 

[NutBucket]

I think that just means you're old. But now that I think about it I'm not sure what the loudest concert I've seen is. Might have been AC/DC.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Loudest I felt I was ever at was Ministry(speaking of processed)...but I don't think the issue was the loudness so much as the high frequencies. My ears rang for weeks. Pretty sure it screwed up my hearing for good. The actual loudest was probably Pink Floyd. It was football stadium and I was in the nodebleed seats and it was still crazy loud.

I've shot off real cannons in amplitheaters at my own shows before and that was pretty deafening

Being someone who likes distortion and processing in music, this does not bother me. I appreciate all kinds of music. I love live music but yes, bad venue, bad sound guy, etc can ruin even the best musicians. Also, .mp3 is a convenience. CD was already digital. Mp3 is just a logical (and far superior when done right) next step. Considering the decades of radio listening that most people have done, even low bitrate mp3's sound better.

 

[NutBucket]

Huh? Low bit-rate MP3s sound terrible compared to FM.

 

[JM Aggie08]

I'm convinced that both you an Mayne have some form of 'high' functioning autism.

 

[JimKiler]

what?

agreed.

OP is this a question or statement?

 

[Scarpozzi]

Sure....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5YPiBx9MJs

 

[Kaido]

Much like the bucket of chicken is served to you dead at kfc, the bits in mp3's are dead for easy mass consumption

If you want to hear music in a more natural unprocessed state as someone who wants fresh produce goes to a farmers market, you need to hear live artist. but even live acts get processed

But what is wrong with being a consumer of intellectual art? Nothing. just know what you are getting into before listening to the radio or your favorite artist. It's something that was once live and is now dead. At least it taste good. That's all that should matter

1. I've hated the sound of nearly every band I've heard live. Except for Huey Lewis & the News. They were awesome live. That's the power of love.

2. I like the convenience of services like Spotify. Millions of songs, custom playlists, instant access to virtually any song you want to hear. Vinyl is fun, but if you're in a certain mood and want to be selective about what you listen to, it's far more of a hassle to have to change things out manually.

3. It's popular to hate on modern music, especially pop music. I don't agree with that. If I like the song, then I like the song. I would much rather hear a cleaned-up version of a song than a garbage recording.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Huh? Low bit-rate MP3s sound terrible compared to FM.

Maybe in your part of the world.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'd actually argue that a proper recording may actually be better than a concert. At a concert, it's just super loud. It's still digital, the sound is still being processed through a PA system etc. With a recording, it's done in a more controlled environment where they can do many takes to get it perfect and fine tune everything. I don't think most people go to concerts for the sound though but for the experience.

Though some people go overboard and process the hell out of the sound when recording, that's different and I agree it's probably not as good as live. Autotune etc.

 

[MrDudeMan]

I think that just means you're old. But now that I think about it I'm not sure what the loudest concert I've seen is. Might have been AC/DC.

It has nothing to do with being old. There is no reason whatsoever to risk permanent hearing loss when the music sounds just as good at lower volume. I'm not saying make it quiet, but 100 dB is plenty loud and still potentially harmful while being way, way, way less harmful than 120+ dB. It doesn't bother me if people fail to understand this concept because they are the ones who ultimately suffer. Going to a concert without earplugs is just asking for it these days. I especially love how the vast majority of systems aren't capable of playing music that loud without significant distortion. The last Muse concert I went to sounded downright awful, which I verified with a portable oscilloscope because I knew my friend wouldn't believe me. You can literally see the amplifiers and speakers saturating and clipping due to volume. It's not even the same music. I understand the experience is part of the reason people go, but life experience should tell you something is wrong when your ears immediately hurt. For reference, I left the Elton John concert after 20 minutes because, even through I had ear plugs, it was so loud I couldn't even hear his voice. Tons of people were leaving and complaining about the volume when I was walking out of the arena. So, so stupid.

Night clubs are often the same. My friend plays in a jazz band and he gets so pissed at the sound guys because no one in the audience can have a conversation with people sitting right next to them. It makes his instrument sound worse and people can't even socialize. I hate it just as much as he does because sitting there quietly and/or needing to scream to talk to someone is fucking stupid.

 

[Billb2]

I just want to hear what the artist(s) is (are) intending me to hear. If that's a lot of distortion, so be it. As for live music, yes, ear plugs.

Also most pop music you download these days is mixed to sound as good as possible on cheep stereo systems. If you play it back on a quality sound system you say - What the heck?

 

[Gryz]

When an artist makes a recording, he has full control over how he wants the end-result to sound. He can try over if he doesn't like it. He can slightly change the sound. He can add or remove instruments. He can change individual tracks of the full recording. He can change the tone, atmosphere, everything. He can do it 10 times and pick the best try. In the end, the recoding sounds exactly like the artist intends it to sound.

Live concert ? Anything can go wrong. Lots will go wrong. Acoustics will never be perfect. Members of the band might have changed, be inexperienced, or less skilled than the original musicians, might be drunk or stoned, or just having a bad day. Sound-mixer might be bad, or not be the best sound-mixer for this particular artist.

Live concerts are basically for hippies and drunk people.

 

[KMFJD]

When an artist makes a recording, he has full control over how he wants the end-result to sound. He can try over if he doesn't like it. He can slightly change the sound. He can add or remove instruments. He can change individual tracks of the full recording. He can change the tone, atmosphere, everything. He can do it 10 times and pick the best try. In the end, the recoding sounds exactly like the artist intends it to sound.

Live concert ? Anything can go wrong. Lots will go wrong. Acoustics will never be perfect. Members of the band might have changed, be inexperienced, or less skilled than the original musicians, might be drunk or stoned, or just having a bad day. Sound-mixer might be bad, or not be the best sound-mixer for this particular artist.

Live concerts are basically for hippies and drunk people.

And I find most studio recordings are stale, i'll take most good live performance over their studio counterparts any day, i'm way more impressed by what someone can do live than in a studio.

 

[BD231]

Headed to KFC right now to get to the bottom of this Naer, if that chickens dead im calling the police.

 

[lxskllr]

And I find most studio recordings are stale, i'll take most good live performance over their studio counterparts any day, i'm way more impressed by what someone can do live than in a studio.

Depends. I like *good* bands live, where they change it up, and stretch out. Sometimes it's crap, but sometimes it's magic. You pay your money, and hope for the best.

If you're gonna just show up and play the record, why bother? I can sit in my house, turn the stereo up, and look at a picture. It'll be better than what that band's doing.

 

[MrDudeMan]

And I find most studio recordings are stale, i'll take most good live performance over their studio counterparts any day, i'm way more impressed by what someone can do live than in a studio.

I like the final product when a song comes out of a studio, but there's no reason I can't enjoy the live performance as well. It's a different ballgame in my opinion. I still hate when it's so loud that all sense of balance and nuance is lost, though. I want to hear the little details of how a person plays instead of pushing the limits of physics to see how close I can get to having a stroke due to sound pressure.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I disagree with the OP. A good performance is a good performance whether it is done live or stored as a recording.

It's also much easier to capture a good performance in the studio where you control the acoustics and don't need to over-amplify to reach the cheap seats or deal with crowd noise.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Much like the bucket of chicken is served to you dead at kfc,

Loudest I felt I was ever at was Ministry

Some KFC and a Ministry concert brings me right back to 1990. Great memories.

 

[Boris Morozov]

Music is now secondary. It's all about how good you can twerk and show off your "goods" to some terrible electronic beat and garbage lyrics.

Music is getting the same treatment as movies and tv shows. How degenerate one can be is now most important.