[realmusicians] Re: Sorry, I Ran Across this And couldn't Resist!
- From: Chris Belle <cb1963@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: realmusicians@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:50:18 -0600
You said it bud.
I don't mind a little slick pop now and again and it's ok to be young
and look great, but the focus used to be on the talent and the art
and the integrity and now it's completely all about the money.
but in small corners of the musical universe, on the Americana market,
on xm radio which i don't have because I think it's such a rip-off,
you can't just buy one subscription like you do cable and have radios
all over the house, but folk festivals and blues festivals, and all
sorts of little and medium venues all over the place and in our
little studios the flame is being kept alive.
It all went to shit when mtv came around, that's when everyone had to
have a video and it didn't matter how you sounded so much as you looked.
Of course that element has always been there, you know those slick
shows from the 70s, band stand, and what was that black music line-up
I forget where all the great artists of color for that time showcased
their stuf?
But still, even if there was dancing and showmanship going on, the
music was the main deal.
soul train, yeh, that's what I was trying to think of.
We all loved soul train.
But there's still a few good things coming out of top 40, you just
really have to look for it.
I like adele,
on the pop side, and i like Gretchen Wilson,
but man, they ruined her laast album with the volume wars thing, it's
getting ridiculous.
Absolutely no dynamic range, everything hugs 0 all the way through
with clipping all over the place.
These corporate cats have lost their mind and all sense of reality,
or people just are that desensatized and don't care?
I can hear audible distortion artifacts in the music.
The atacks of the drums and fiddles are so smeared, the fiddle sounds
like a synth.
they've done stuff to it with their million dollar processors to make
it sound better and still be loud, but how nice it's be if they just
let it be -5 db quieter and let it breathe.
i know we've had a lot of conversations about this sort of thing, but
I was doing a comparison of some different artists, and it really
came home to me how bad it was.
It's so sad.
I've officially joined the other side,
and unless I'm asked to, I'm letting my music be quieter on purpose,
and trying to educate my folks about what really happens when cds are too loud.
So far, it seems to be working.
YOu know those loud cds are actually quieter when they hit the
transmitter at radio stationsl which are designed to squash peaks,
and bring stuff up, well, if everything is maxed out, guess what happens?
Those pushed to 0 db tracks get turned down.
Recently I placed an ad on a local gospel station and I did use some
compression, but my meters are bouncing around -3 -4 and when it
played on the radio it was nice and loud, wasn't an;y quieter than
the other stuff they were playing, as a matter of fact, it was
probably louder than other commercials they were playing.
that's because the transmitter had something to do and and someplace to go.
Now I'm not the best engineer on the planet, but seems like someone
would figure this out but nobody has in the last well say since about
92, but on the independant market, and off the beaten path, you'll
find albums which are starting to be a little less compressed.
So I think atleast a few folks are starting to wig to the big lie.
i hope it keeps going that way.
I've got tapes I recorded of albums from back in the 70s when they
used to spin albums all night without talking so you could record
some great albums and I used the best tape I could afford, tdk and
maxells, and those tapes are clear and sound better than the super
squashed over processed signals they're pushing out the transmitters today.
Another thing, it makes it so much easier to mix when you don't have
to make things over loud, because you don't have to compensate and
frequency balance stuff to try and make it sound good or something
approaching good again, not to mention the stereo imaging gets
smaller when you squeeze too tight.
so for my country stuff, I'm using one mastering limiter,
just to take maybe 3 to 5 db off the peaks, and of course everything
going in is processed nicely as much as it needs to be, splitting the
difference between compressing and using lots of hand automation
like they used to do, ride that fader and spend some time doing it,
but it's amazing the mix sounds lively and kick drums thump you in
the chest, and the highs shimmer but don't shriek, and you can listen
to mixes a long time and your ears don't get tired.
that's what happens to me when i hear a modern over processed cd,
after about 3 songs, my ears just feel worn out.
Long live dynamic range we're trying to bring it back around here 'grin'.
At 01:28 PM 11/14/2011, you wrote:
Yeah, that's real country all right. It's amazing how much that
genre has changed in a relatively short amount of time. heck, tune
in a country station today and you'll hear what we heard on rock
stations in the 70s; The Eagles, Alabama, and most of the rest of
what we called southern rock. And I love the guys who come out of
New York or L.A. and suddenly develop the sweetest southern drawl.
How pathetic. Country music of today seems so fake. I'll take the
grand ole opry any day. Today's country is just an offshoot of the
pop genre. The top priority is that you've got to be a deva or a
stud muffin. We'll worry about that thar music thang later. First
let me take a look at your ass.
Tom
On 11/14/2011 11:28 AM, Indigo wrote:
Now, here's my idea of real country.
Did anybody ever beat this, sorry about sound quality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DqEIBmGZxAhg&rct=j&sa=X&ei=DD_BTtWmFIKAgweS4N20Bw&ved=0CCIQuAIwAA&q=jimmy+rogers+blue+yodel+1&usg=AFQjCNFWuQYHfesfla1xx75dbjrI6GHPMg
For all your audio production needs and technology training, visit us at
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Chris Belle
cb1963@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Stephie Belle
stephieb1961@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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