Why Do All Records Sound the Same? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Do All Records Sound the Same?

#81

Post by baddox » Wed, Jan 14, 2015, 4:53 AM UTC

baddox wrote: post #32

Jgrubb wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's hilarious, but it sounds like those tunes were pitch shifted into the same key. Nashville producers have more skill than that. Oh, and FL/GA line is frigging awful.

The pitch and tempos are shifted, but more nefariously, the pieces of the songs which don't fit the VI-I-V progression are removed and replaced by pieces of other songs which do fit. It's deliberate and meticulous cherry-picking. The only thing all the songs have in common is that they're in 4/4 and the verses and choruses all start on the VI chord. I should make a table showing the actual chord progressions from eac…

(replying to self) I charted out the chord progressions of the six songs for comparison:

http://baddox.github.io/six_country_songs.html

Re: Why Do All Records Sound the Same?

#82

Post by baddox » Wed, Jan 14, 2015, 4:55 AM UTC

Jgrubb wrote: post #64

baddox wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pitch and tempos are shifted, but more nefariously, the pieces of the songs which don't fit the VI-I-V progression are removed and replaced by pieces of other songs which do fit. It's deliberate and meticulous cherry-picking. The only thing all the songs have in common is that they're in 4/4 and the verses and choruses all start on the VI chord. I should make a table showing the actual chord progressions from eac…

That would require you to listen to and chart out these 6 mediocre songs. I wouldn't ask you to do that. You've got a music background, I take it?

And now I've done it: http://baddox.github.io/six_country_songs.html

Re: Why Do All Records Sound the Same?

#83

Post by sideshowb » Wed, Jan 14, 2015, 10:45 AM UTC

SwellJoe wrote: post #77

sideshowb wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main weapons in raising perceived loudness are brickwall limiters such as Waves L3 which raise RMS (root mean square) amplitude while keeping peak levels constant. I think soundcheck is based on RMS, please correct me if I'm wrong - if it were based on peak levels then as you say it would indeed be useless. I don't know how much or whether the other technologies you mention really help to boost perceived loudness…

That's if they can cheat RMS anyway - I'm not sure they can but if you do have data on that I'd be interested to see it. RMS is a measure of power, not of perception. You don't have to defeat RMS to defeat perceived loudness. But, you're right that a playback device could take measures to defeat the perceived loudness baked in (though they'd get quite complex, as the tools for baking it in are extremely complex these…

I agree with most of these points. I should have been clearer in what I meant, RMS is a measure of power and a proxy for perception - according to you, a worse proxy than I thought, so thanks for educating me on that point.

"I don't know if it would actually improve listener experience to do so, though" - except inasmuch as it would remove the incentive to master albums too loud. And if it were the default in all playback devices (digital radio, codecs) it would also remove the incentive in broadcast. The only catch is it relies on the broadcaster not owning the means of playback, which with internet radio they sometimes do. But if it's someone like Spotify they are in a position to prioritize sound quality - are people really going to leave Spotify because it's too quiet when the thing has a volume control you can just turn up if you want? It's not like surfing analog radio channels used to be.

Re: Why Do All Records Sound the Same?

#84

Post by soylentcola » Wed, Jan 14, 2015, 4:04 PM UTC

TillE wrote: post #39

bobstobener wrote: post #28

Live mics. Live guitars, bass & drums. One take. Play loud. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iaINsgFHVs&spfreload=10

I love all the Beatles songs where you can hear the guitar amps causing the bass drum to rattle a bit. Reminds me of when I played in bands. More recently, Greg Graffin's folk album "Cold as the Clay" was very deliberately recorded with everyone in one room. It sounds good.

Off topic but thank you for informing me that Greg Graffin made a folk album. Had no idea even though it's apparently not new at all. Just goes to show that for all the access I have to music these days it's still easy to miss something due to just not hearing about it.