Recording Quality - All those of you who care about music have heard this term before ... yet how many of you really know what this means? Honestly, I bet that less than 5% of you do. Most people have NEVER heard a well-recorded song played back through a quality sound system good enough to produce the fidelity that a properly recorded CD can reproduce. An mp3 wont come even close to cutting it, and listened to over typical headphones or an Ipod - fuggedaboutit!
And if you think that a CD played over your stereo is giving you good sound quality, think again. You would've had to have spent a MINIMUM of $1,000 on your stereo to BEGIN to hear all of the information contained on a well-recorded CD. Oh - and you would've had to have picked your system very carefully - most $1000 systems wont cut it either.
Nope ... most of you are listening to what equates to watching a movie on VHS tape on an old 25" TV set as opposed to watching a DVD on a hi-definition 50" plasma monitor.
Get it?
I hope so, because my parents still can't see the quality difference between videotape and DVD.
And it's not just the fault of bad headphones, bad stereos, or the detrimental effects of converting a song into the very bad mp3 format. No, the record companies are to blame as well - because fully THREE QUARTERS of commercial music released by the major labels (and independents too) is poorly recorded. I'm being too nice here. It's CRAP sound quality-wise. But unless you have an audiophile-grade stereo system to play your CDs back on, you will never hear the difference between the crappy sounding quality CDs and the amazing ones.
It's like watching a Blu Ray DVD on an old, small, TV with a fuzzy screen. Under those conditions you would not be able to tell if your source was a DVD or a videotape - because the quality on the disc is being masked by the TV.
This unfortunately is the way it is for 95% of people listening to music. If they had a good system to hear their CDs back on, they would hear that MOST of them are "VHS Videotape quality", and only very few of them are audiophile quality.
Why are most CDs of poor quality? Well that's a topic that I will address in another blog, but anyone who has visited my recording studio or my home has heard the difference - and usually for the first time in their life.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
RECORDING QUALITY
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3 comments:
Hello Ray,
I just happened to stumble upon your latest blog and while I agree with your assessment regarding the quality of today’s music production, I have to go back to my early days of engineering, which was over 20 years ago. This is when I was told “It’s 95% the song and 5% sound”.
If the song/music can grab the listener’s attention the rest will fall into place (within reason of course).
Imagine recording a big band in mono in one take. My engineering roots are from analog multi-track tape, so I don’t go back to the “mono” days, but remember, there were plenty of timeless classics made back then as well as hit records.
I’m right with you though, I wish there were more emphasis placed on the quality of the recordings and mixing as there used to be. But the bottom line is, it simply doesn’t matter nearly as much as it used to.
Greetings Ray,
I too have just stumbled on your blog and website as well.
So this comment is going 2 be quite late. LOL
Before I begin, just let me say that the pics of your studio are incredible.
I love the set-up and the atmosphere. I could just live in your recording area and be content
in that environment for days.
:-)
I am an independent music producer. (mostly Hip Hop) Probably one of the last in a dying breed who still prefers hands on hardware when tecording.
I just started exploring software about a year ago.
I agree with what U said, but I also have to agree with the last blogger when he said, "It simply doesn't matter as much as it used to".
(sad but true)
Not to put down 'this' generation of young listeners, but many of them have become somewhat like zombies. They just want music.
They want it 'loud', 'thumping' 'constant' and 'free'. With no 'real' regards to quality or the work it took to bring it to them.
With the age of mp3s and iPods being the rage. Music has lost a lot of repect for the producer and engineer and even the hardware for that matter.
Kids now can get on a laptop and make a beat with a small keyboard conroller and a computer mic and put a song on the internet for the whole world to jam to right from the comfort of their bedroom.
No mixing, no mastering, and no clue of what compression, warmth, range, or depth is.
Since a lot of labels know this, they have pretty much dropped the ball and ran with quickness as well. Producing and marketing music just good enough to feed the zombies and make a buck.
With the exception of maybe Dr. Dre.
Dre has taken the time look at what kids are doing and decided to slip some 'qualty' in on them while getting back a lot money he lost on record sales due to outlets of file sharing.
Enter the "Beats By Dre" brand.
He created what he deems as better headphones to hear his music the way he recorded it on the studio, as well as a better laptop to do your beats on.
What other Hip Hop producer do you know even care enough to do it?
No one, really.
In my opinion, music has gotten to be a lot like the drug trade.
Why spend qualty time perfecting your product when the next guy is stealing your customers and giving them a cheaper product in half the time?
The bottom line is,...they all just wanna get 'high'.
(sorry about comparing today's music with drugs, but unfortunately thats where we are right now worldwide)
Thank God though, there are still some folks around like you who have more respect for the art and is willing to keep working to ensure its done properly regardless of the 'zombie feeders' out there.
:-)
I have to admit, I almost fell into the same trap years ago because of economics but I held on. My mind just wouldn't let me become like every other producer out there.
Sure I lost, bit I kept my dignity.
In fact, a lot of young producers that I meet today tell me that they respect the fact I still do my music using the vintage stuff.
I have been doing this so long that I have seen a 'slight' turn around. A lot if our youth are longing for 'old school' music again and embracing 'analog recordings' as if they have found a gold mine.
(and 'yes' they have)
:-)
Sorry to be so long-winded on the subject Ray but I guess I get so passionate about ut that I get carried away. LOL
I'm just glad that you still do what you do despite the ever changing attitude of the listening public.
I can still remember my first time hearing a song on a CD through a pair of headphones.
I literally jumped because there was no lead in crackle or hiss before the music came on.
I then found a whole new appreciation for music technology and have been smiling every since.
:-)
Peace
Hello Ray,
Sound quality is an arcane subject.
The simple and sad fact is: people don't care about sound quality. And that's OK. Perfectly OK.
And it won't change either.
Sorry.
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