Steve Wilson of Porcupine Tree on the Degradation of Audio Quality & the Music Industry

[BoredSysAdmin]

I can't listen to Satellite radio not even for talk shows. The compression in the voices nauseate me. It sounds like I am listening to Decepticons speaking.

If you really must have it, turn down their offer. They will call you a month later and offer you a package for $5/mo. My parents took that deal and they love it. They also have about 70% hearing loss so the compression isn't an issue for them

100% Agree. What do consider good alternatives? Regular FM and HD Radio both mediocre and full with ads. Hauling around your cd collection ? iPod (or another music player) loaded with music to the gills? Or Smartphone (with hopefully unlimited data plan and a subscription to pandora ?

 

[Rickster71]

sorry for off-topic...
I don't know Steve Hoffman, but he uses 3000£ cables (biwired) in his own system...
http://www.stevehoffman.tv/dhinterviews/HoffHardware.htm
http://www.symphonyaudioimport.com/prijslijsten/kubalasosna.pdf

I posted the Steve Hoffman link more for his body of work, rather than his personal tastes.
He's a sound engineer that uses a "Hands Off" approach when it comes to:
Equalization
Remixing
Compression
Reverb
Noise Reduction

The CD's he Mastered and Remastered were well known benchmarks; not necessarily music that fell within my tastes, but always well done from an audio perspective.

I always found this interview Q&A interesting:
Q: So why didn’t the record companies use these master tapes to begin with?

A: "In the old days, you couldn’t just cut a record from the master tape or the stylus would just jump right off the record when you tried to play it. So in the old days, mastering was cutting a record so you could play it on an average phonograph. Unlike the CD’s of today with wide dynamic range (difference between the softest and loudest volume), the LPs had a much smaller range so you had to use a compressor to limit that range to an acceptable level. Also you couldn’t load up the bass too much or the stylus would jump off of the record. So you had to use an equalizer to back off on the low end or turn up the high end and you had to ride the levels so it didn’t get too loud. You essentially did what you needed to in order to have the best sound that would fit into the grooves of the record. And that being a very subjective thing--every mastering engineer had their own way of achieving that. In addition, while they were playing the master tape onto a record lacquer for use in making vinyl records, a tape was running to capture this version of the album. That became the EQ Dub or Cutting Master and was then sometimes incorrectly labeled the Master Tape and they put the real master tape away since it didn’t need to be used. So then any time another lacquer needed to be cut, you just pulled out the "LP master" tape. And depending on how long ago the recording was made, there might be a different tape marked master made for reel to reel duping or 8-track tape duping and that led to a lot of confusion when asking for the Master Tape."

 

[j_garcia]

Here's another one from the Arriving Somewhere DVD on the second disc bonus material. If you haven't seen it, it is pretty cool. MUCH better in 5.1 though

 

[westcott]

I do not think it should be surprising that most of us fat Americans find our music, much like our food, to be something of an act of convenience and quality is a distant second to quantity and low cost.

Just another sign of our eroding culture and the average mans acceptance of mediocrity.

 

[jamie2112]

Yeah ...............true,the original post I ment

 

[j_garcia]

I do not think it should be surprising that most of us fat Americans find our music, much like our food, to be something of an act of convenience and quality is a distant second to quantity and low cost.

Just another sign of our eroding culture and the average mans acceptance of mediocrity.

That's what makes the average person average. "Just getting by" isn't living

 

[STRONGBADF1]

Ok...I'm in. Bought and have listened to In Absentia and The Incident numerous times. Waiting on Fear of a Blank Planet (dvda) and Anesthetize (bluray/dvd) to arrive...






ps I've got like 5 earworms going at once.....Thanks Steve Wilson!

 

[silverlion]

multi channel sound

Just joined up. I've been into dvd audio and sacd since the formats first came out. I have owned an electronic repair shop where I set up one of the rooms to "educate" any and all about surround, or at the least, vinyl. We have analog ears, and analog eyes and I think that is why we cringe at todays electronic noise. Most people not familiar with records are amazed at how smooth or warm they sound. For all of us underground fanatics I think what we need most is "celebrity" spokesperson to draw others back to the uncompressed harmonics of music. Does anyone have info concerning a project Neil Young and Steve Jobs were working on about this subject?

 

[j_garcia]

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/general-av-discussions/81928-neil-youngs-puretone-project.html