5 Worst Audio Trends of the Noughties

[arXter]

Kevin Becka
December 18th, 2009
Link

#1 The End of Hi-Fidelity – Digital distribution of music has lowered the fidelity bar to new levels offering consumers less quality than ever. George Massenburg recently spoke out on the effects of compression formats that introduce distortion, destroy stereo image and generally sound awful giving us something to think about and the knowledge to fight back.

#2 Illegal Downloading – The popularity of illegal peer-to-peer music “sharing” eroded the power of copyright and greatly affected the bottom line of our industry. The Supreme Court came down on the side of copyright holders but not before the damage was done and an entire generation grew to feel they were entitled to free music.

#3 Pitch Correction Abuse – Pitch correction software is nothing short of amazing, but in many cases it created a music culture where talent is optional and production is driven by “fix it later” instead of “get it right.”

#4 The Death of Dynamics – While audio pros continue to fight the misconception that louder is better, it keeps rearing its ugly head, even in mainstream media where Metallica fans cried foul when they realized that Guitar Hero: Metallica game mixes sounded better than the record because the songs had more dynamic range.

#5 Staying Inside The Box – There’s no question that digital audio workstations, modeling software and plugins are here to stay and have changed our industry. But completely eschewing analog processing and recording in favor of staying “inside the box” denies adding a flavor and color to music that can never be modeled. Case in point, The Dead Weather’s Horehound which was recorded on 2″, 8-track analog tape and is a feast for the ears.​

 

[Superstition]

Everyone is doing auto-tune, but then everyone is doing canned beats too, so no harm in the long run, I guess.

Downloading may be a bad thing for some people, but its been a blessing for me. I got into so much music by downloading, and I've bought more music than I would have otherwise because of it. An illegal download of "Innervisions" five years ago is the reason I then bought a $189 digital boxset on iTunes 4 years later and have taken trips to difference cities to see Stevie Wonder. Of course, I've since bought all of Stevie's material on disc.

High-Fidelity... while I appreciate a good clean vinyl coming through some loud speakers, I tell myself I hear a difference, but I don't dare do a blind test because I'd fail it. The truth is 99.99% of music listeners can't tell a difference between a properly-encoded mp3 and a CD, and most of the remaining people tell themselves they hear a difference. There is a small minority of people who can truly tell the difference, but listening in a car, listening on a train or even a living room doesn't give one the correct environment to properly hear those higher frequencies. Today's lossy encoders do their job well: they reproduce the sound of their source at a smaller file size.

Of the three, I'd agree with 4 and 5 the most. The first three are debatable and certainly understandable, though the first two moreso than the third.

 

[IvoryKeys]

I love the Death of Dynamics one! Soooo true!!! Everyone just likes loud and in your face sound. I'm so tired of it too. I have too much of a broad range of music that one loud level simply won't do...sorry "iGeneration", as I now like to call it.

As far as illegal downloading is concerned.....guilty. However, I do disagree with it and would very much rather have a physical copy in my hand. I plan to do so too. I just may take me 20 years to complete it.

I want to burn auto-tune at the stake. And not because of the misuse of it by rappers and R&B artists. On the contrary, it's for artists like Rihanna, Britney Spears, and any other artist who can't sing on pitch the first time (i.e. Disney, Nickelodeon singers). If you can't do it, you shouldn't be famous for your music. I'm kind of a hard ass about this. Besides....as far as global music is concerned, is someone gonna auto tune a Qawwali or some Arabic musician because it may sound slightly off pitch to Western ears? I'd better not see the day. I'm exaggerating I know, but still...