[BC] Cascading Algorithms

[Rich Wood]

------ At 10:32 PM 7/2/2006, John Buffaloe wrote: -------

>All of this reduced data stuff is crap packaged as perfume.  And the
>multitudes are shelling out for it.  Not IBOC, but iPods, Sirius, XM, cell
>phone MP3 players, ad nauseum.  Fine.  That's what they want, then give it
>to them then go home and hug your kids.  Maybe they'll awaken to the
>swinging pendulum and demand more when they hear what good audio sounds like
>in the never ending game of "gadgets."

One of the particularly discouraging things is that live concerts use 
similar processing, compression, limiting, etc. I get almost every 
recording trade magazine there is. One article will feature an artist 
who claims he/she wants clean, natural sound. The next article deals 
with the equipment they rent or travel with. Other than the consoles, 
bazillion watt amps and Hummer-weight hanging speaker arrays the next 
heaviest box contains the processing gear.

It's not new. When I first moved to New York I was invited to a promo 
party at the Hard Rock Cafe. It's purpose was to celebrate the 
Grammys moving back to New York after years in Los Angeles. It was 
followed by a concert at Radio City by Paul Simon and his great new 
discovery (first used on Graceland), Ladysmith Black Mombazo. They're 
a wonderful African acapella group. The sound folks miked each singer 
individually. It took the harmony away since you could now hear each 
singer individually - very, very loud. Radio City has great 
acoustics. I made a joking whispered comment to the person next to me 
before the concert started. Nearly everyone burst out laughing. The 
acoustics are so good my comment might as well have come from the 
stage. The concert was engineered as though it were on the Great Lawn 
in Central Park. Painfully loud and unmusical.

When I lived in Dallas the Boston Symphony appeared at the concert 
hall at SMU. Having worked with the orchestra in Boston I knew their 
sound very well. They were miked for recording, not for 
reinforcement. No reinforcement, at all. It was almost what I 
remembered from Boston's Symphony Hall. All the nuances of the 
orchestra were there. Minus the acoustics of Boston. I listened to 
comments after the concert. "It didn't sound right" was the gist of 
younger folks' comments. Even at that time they were so used to 
Motown "kissing grooves" and radio station smashing and mashing audio 
that that became the standard for "real" music.

Today it's worse. I think that's why I wasn't surprised that young 
listeners spend much less continuous time listening to iPods, MP3s 
and radio (if they listen at all) than they do CDs. It seems they 
need a break. I think I'm going to visit the University of 
Massachusetts and see if I can find someone who deals with the 
brain's response to sound. I think there's something that's built 
into the brain that says "shut that damned thing off. I need a rest" 
when the music is distorted.

As we've discussed here, loudness wars aren't limited to radio. Many 
artists pick mastering engineers who can cram as much onto a CD as 
possible. Looking at most new CDs in Adobe Audition I have to zoom 
far in to see any dynamic range at all.

I'm beginning to think a mosh pit's purpose is to quickly get those 
up front away from the music so the next victims can get close for a 
few minutes.

Rich


Rich Wood
Rich Wood Multimedia
Phone: 413-454-3258