Things that are pissing you off. - Page 2883

Originally Posted by MrG 

I don't know if it's actually earbuds that encouraged the production change, but idfnl isn't entirely off with his complaint about the way music is mixed now. Music, particularly that of certain popular/mainstream genres, tends to be compressed, and the highs and lows aren't as dramatic as they were in older recordings. Basically, the peaks have been cut off. A friend posted an interesting article about it on Facebook where they broke down a bunch of recordings to show the mixes. I might try to dig it up and post at some point.
Thanks, Stitch. Yesterday was the third interview, and it was definitely a "let's make sure this guy isn't a complete douche" type of thing. It was much less formal, and it was mostly a chance for them to see if I'm a good fit. Fortunately, I'm not a complete douche, so I'm feeling pretty good about it.

Originally Posted by otc 

Honestly, even the sports that I myself enjoy and participate in, I find it hard to follow the professionals...not that being able to talk about professional sailing and cycling would be helpful in any way.

At least I know the rules of most sports and am probably slightly better than average at them (due to being coordinated, 6'2, and in reasonable shape...not because of natural talent or hours of practice).

Maybe I could get into hockey. I hate the violence that comes with it, and all the kids I knew growing up who played it were total d-bags, but damn am I ever in awe when I watch how good those guys are at skating. So smooth and precise...

Originally Posted by romafan 

hockey is by far the best sport to watch live - i'm talking div.i or pro, not my kidz team

Originally Posted by patrickBOOTH 

I don't think it is earbuds that are making them do it, I think it is people ripping things, and downloading tracks at 128 kbps or less. They have to compress the shit out of new music to make it audible. BTW, I hate it too.

Originally Posted by upthewazzu 

Cracked.com had an article the other day about why music sucks nowadays, and it was because studios push loudness instead of clarity. Check it out, the article is probably still on the front page, it was title "5 things you didn't know about the music industry" or something along those lines.

Originally Posted by b1os 

I just reread idfnl's post and I don't get it at all. Are you talking about loudness war? If so, why would the loudness war lead to better (as in passable) sounding music for "earbuds"? Makes absolutely no sense.

So through the years, the louder example is eclipsed by a yet louder example winning the hearts and minds of the artist, the engineer and the A&R person. At some point, the music is so loud and unnaturally compressed that the aural assault on the ear, while very impressively loud, has sucked the life out of the music and makes the listener subconsciously not want to hear the music again.

Originally Posted by idfnl 

You are talking about a different kind of compression. This kind shrinks file size, the kind I am talking about compresses the sine wave then boosts it so everything sounds really loud and at the same volume.

Earbuds are just one reason for the problem, but I never intended to suggest they were the only reason. Its just a physical representation of compression that I can chuck some hate at and it happened to come up here.

The compression problem has developed for a lot of reasons: music streaming, the MP3 type formats, the iPod, 5 and 7.1 and yes, earbuds are a few. The decline of 2 channel audio in a living room properly setup in favor or portability forced terrible modifications to recording. I spoke to an engineer once and he feels like he's committing a crime when he is forced to compress the signal so its loud as hell and has no dynamics. And then they ask him to do some more. Its like a competition to see whose song can play the loudest.

Earbuds have really bad frequency response and generally sounds like absolute shit. To get an earbud to sound passable you need to make every instrument/sound play at the same volume. Try listening to an un-modified 60's folk song thru earbuds compared to the latest pop band, its volume is so low it sounds like its on mute.

Here's an interview that explains the dynamic:

http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/in_the_studio_bob_ludwig_on_mastering_for_earbuds/

Originally Posted by LawrenceMD 



the story about the 12" creamy mountain banana is true... sexual innuendo's notwithstanding.

you can actually get rambutan in the US that tastes great. NYC chinatown and queens has them. So if you can get them in NYC you can probably get them anywhere in asian markets in the US.

the "sugar apple"/atis you mentioned is hit or mis... it can be freaking nasty.

but the mangosteen/pineapple/mango trifecta is something that you can't really find of south east asian experience/quality outside of the region.

I do remember last year finally trying rainier cherries. damn those are good. I got pissed when they were finally out of stock/season at the local trader joes. The last batch was the more expensive/inferior "organic" versions too and they went bad on me erasing my pallet/memory of these glorious US made fruit.

Originally Posted by patrickBOOTH 

I don't think it is earbuds that are making them do it, I think it is people ripping things, and downloading tracks at 128 kbps or less. They have to compress the shit out of new music to make it audible. BTW, I hate it too.

Originally Posted by lasbar 

Me it's cricket...

Originally Posted by romafan 

hockey is by far the best sport to watch live - i'm talking div.i or pro, not my kidz team

Originally Posted by romafan 

hockey is by far the best sport to watch live - i'm talking div.i or pro