Just a quick blurb concerning audio.

Was reading a Slashdot thread about the long-expected party over the death of the audio CD (and other physical media), which touched upon a related issue (cause?). This phenomenon is sometimes dubbed (ha, ha, pun intended):

The Loudness War

I’ve read about & considered this problem, but somehow the references provided and subsequent surfing left me a lot more disappointed than I had been. Watch this video clip. (Then come back!)

I’ve always always agreed that CD audio was a compromise, but was willing to sacrifice a bit of quality in exchange for the three things vinyl doesn’t deliver: durability, convenience, and clarity (no bacon frying!). However, with this growing trend, the scales begin to tip back the other direction. Many people seem to be waking up to the fact that “something is increasingly wrong” with the sound today … and people like Matt Mayfield are helping put a finger on it.

Once again (no surprise) it is the music labels who are primarily to blame. Oddly enough, it seems as though the largest secondary source for the problem is the artists! But this actually dovetails with a related theory of mine …

I feel that digital production techniques have been also helping to kill a lot of the CREATIVITY in the music biz, and I’ll explain why.

Back in the days when Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play, innovative sounds and ground-breaking production could only be obtained through expertise, sweat, and wisdom. In the day of digital, if a band tells the producer “we’ve always wanted to have a sound like ‘X’ album, ‘Y’ band, or ‘Z’ song” … such tricks are only a plug-in away. I’m not faulting the creative impulses in general … but when everything comes easy … well, you know what Ringo said.

In film & video production, there has been some similar behavior, but (thankfully) those media are complex enough to provide some bulwark against the tide. (As Chuck Derry used to say: “film is the super-art”.)

In the end, I believe such phenomena tend to be self-correcting. The human urge to make art (and receive it) will win out … but I do wonder how much collateral damage will occur along the way. I wish I still had a turntable … I’d put on one of my few remaining LP’s right now.