This is an interesting article from The Rolling Stone.
“Over the past decade and a half, a revolution in recording technology has changed the way albums are produced, mixed and mastered — almost always for the worse. Producers and engineers call this “the loudness war,” and it has changed the way almost every new pop and rock album sounds…”
I blame Phil Spector and his “wall of sound” audio engineering technique. He is a dangerous animal that has wrecked many lives. His destructive impact on contemporary music is but another victim in his crimes against humanity.
That’s one of the best statements I’ve noticed since I’m doing music.
Contemporary music is trash. Or at least, most of it is.
It occurred to me when I was at a concert recently with my cousin, and as I was watching the lead guitarist (with his distortion turned all the way up) it occurred to me that if he made a mistake, I wouldn’t be able to tell, as opposed to classical music (which I had also seen live the same morning) in which the standard is much higher because a mistake would be quite obvious and disastrous.
Well, I think part of the allure of contemporary music, or at least rock and even blues, is that it is easily accessible and easily played to some extent. Classical music and jazz just don’t seem “open” to the average teenager. I know I tried to like both as a teenager, because I thought it would make me a better musician, etc. but they almost seem like secret societies to someone just beginning to listen to those types of music. I have more appreciation now that I’m older, but I still can’t listen to long stretches of classical or jazz.
Today kids don’t have a clue what a good mix should sound like in any genre, because everything is mixed for earbuds, computer speakers, and mp3. Everything is just mixed to be loud and bass-y.