19-07-2010, 17:42
^ Too early to say where he's heading with this, but I think his point seems to be that since the days of Edison, the manufacturer's claims for recorded sound and playback equipment have been routinely inflated.
In Edison's time that was the case, and the title of the book parodies the claims that CDs would provide "Perfect Sound Forever", which they clearly - in many cases- don't. If they did, why have the industry tried to introduce HDCD, SACD, & DVD Audio ??
Clearly his argument is semantic up to a point, since modern audio is perfectly adequate for the majority of people, but claims of perfection are certainly overstating their case.
To answer your initial point, the other way to hear music is in a live environment, and I think he has a point that the modern standard of studio recordings being stitched together, and pitch-adjusted, before being compressed to death during mastering leave much to be desired.
I'm curious to explore his views on the divergence between what "The Industry" thinks we all want, and what we'd choose given the option...
And i'm not unhappy with the standard of most recordings, but am certainly interested in how the industry seeks to shape popular opinion to their own ends.
I'm actually often surprised that music is produced to the high standard that it is, given that most consumers will never be able to hear the full quality of the music they consume...
In Edison's time that was the case, and the title of the book parodies the claims that CDs would provide "Perfect Sound Forever", which they clearly - in many cases- don't. If they did, why have the industry tried to introduce HDCD, SACD, & DVD Audio ??
Clearly his argument is semantic up to a point, since modern audio is perfectly adequate for the majority of people, but claims of perfection are certainly overstating their case.
To answer your initial point, the other way to hear music is in a live environment, and I think he has a point that the modern standard of studio recordings being stitched together, and pitch-adjusted, before being compressed to death during mastering leave much to be desired.
I'm curious to explore his views on the divergence between what "The Industry" thinks we all want, and what we'd choose given the option...
And i'm not unhappy with the standard of most recordings, but am certainly interested in how the industry seeks to shape popular opinion to their own ends.
I'm actually often surprised that music is produced to the high standard that it is, given that most consumers will never be able to hear the full quality of the music they consume...