No politics today, and yes I know what day it is.
To preface this post, my band has just wrapped up the recording of a new album. Bob Weston from Shellac is going to master it – not because we're cool, but because we're paying him. His website provided me with a wealth of information about the technical side of music production. While I'm not entirely certain that any of this will interest you in the slightest, if you have any sort of fondness for audio, engineering, or the music industry (broadly construed) you may find this as fascinating as I do.
Americans like their iPods. I assume most of the people who would be reading a website like this one are clutching an mp3 player of some sort these days. If so, you're familiar with an irritating inconvenience: when your player is on Random, there's a change in volume – often a dramatic one – when leaping back and forth among tracks from different albums.
It's especially apparent when moving from modern music to pre-1990 recordings. Do you ever wonder why that is? I do. If you're unconvinced, try it with some CDs in your collection. Don't touch the volume knob, and switch between a 1980 recording and one from 2005.
Pretty obvious, no?
I suggest you take a few minutes to read Weston's extended caveat on "loudness" and the mastering process. Like any presentation involving specialized knowledge, the visual aids are tremendously helpful in making the point to rabble like us. Essentially, he argues that the race to be the LOUDEST TRACK ON YOUR PLAYLIST has significant effects on sound quality. While you're at it, you can read more 'How the sausage is made' type stuff about music in What Happens to My Recording when it's Played on the Radio? by audio engineer Frank Foti (a little technical to say the least) or the much more accessible Guardian piece How CDs are Remastering the Art of Noise about the withering loudness of most major label music and the overuse of shitty electronic effects to compensate for the loss of fidelity.
I don't actually get a kick out of being a music snob (really. honestly.) but it's hard to avoid taking on that role when pointing out just how painfully god-awful most new music sounds.
That is independent of the songwriting or musicianship. Those are matters of taste. But the actual sound that gets blared over the radio these days is enough to make blood squirt out of my ears. Leave aside how you feel about their music – try actually listening to an album from something like Fall Out Boy. It's one of the most painfully overprocessed, compressed, harsh, and unnatural sounding things you could imagine. Technology like that could make 1971 era Led Zeppelin sound like shit.
Or you can flip over to the Top 40 or Country, where abominations like AutoTune (which makes your dance hits sound strangely like Stephen Hawking is doing the vocals) are all but ubiquitous.
Does it really help a track to stand out on your iPod in shuffle mode if it sounds that terrible? Talk about pyrrhic victories.
PS: Here's a sample of a raw (unmastered) mega-hit from our upcoming album. It's called "Right Now Your Low Self-Esteem is just Good Common Sense" and it's #2 on the pop charts in Belgium. Be warned that the sound is not going to appeal to you unless you like early Jesus Lizard, mid-career Trenchmouth, and getting punched in the head.