As some of you already know I managed to procure a nice shiny Bose system a while ago, the only problem I have with it is that it is "bass heavy" with no tone controls which got me thinking...
There are people out there who can listen to anything as long as it's what they like, they can listen to a radio half tuned full of white noise as long as they enjoy the music that can be barely heard at times, I need to hear it in a more pure form (but maybe I'm a fucking snob), Or perhaps it could be the invent of CD quality, when CDs first came out they were recorded with digital quality, CDs used to have a marque on them "DDD", "ADD", "AAD" Digitally recorded, Digitally remastered and Digitally reproduced, substitute Analogue for Digital and you get the message, There was a part in a cd, INXS' Kick where there is a break in the music, where you can hear nothing, no hiss, no scratch nothing (It may be Need You Tonight) and at the time 1989 (Yes CDs are not that old) it was strange, but I feel since then we've actually gone backwards.
With the invent of mp3 and FUCKING itunes, they have realized that they don't have to have a high quality (in terms of a actual sound and production) product because people will buy it anyway, I may be old fashioned but I like sleeve notes and the feel of a phsyical object in my hands as opposed to a tune floating in cyberspace.
I feel at the moment this will be the death of high quality recordings, but it won't matter cause the sheep will get what they want while the companies will save money on actual printing, plastics, CDs and if I'm not mistaken they probably will save money by making tracks lesser quality as they'll be quicker to download.
Anywat the original poit of this post was to ask, what music would you play and at what volume...??
As most of you know I like to listen to a very wide range of stuff most of which gets paid quietly but since I got the Bose sometimes it's not possible, I listen to Rave at high volume, possibly some Punk and Metal too, but as you guys know I return to Cocteau Twins & Mogwai most of the time.
In conclusion what should be loud and what should be quiet, or even what's youre favourite to Blast or what's your favourite to turn down low...in your opinion of course.
Thanks
Dubz
Eta: I know this is the ramblings of a man bored but nobody else is saying fuck all so...
I have only ever bought one album on iTunes, and the quality was good - but I think that's more a credit to the band as the tracks were recorded in a bedroom :-)
I still love buying CDs, feeling the object, digesting the sleeve notes, the lyrics etc. There's some amazing artwork on CDs of the past, you just don't get that with digital media. It feels as though the artist has put more effort into a CD than a digital download, you feel like you own a part of that hard slog of however many months/years that album has been in the making. And if I were an artist I'd much rather someone have my CD in their collection than be just another byte on an iPod.
My LOUD song is still Doves Kingdom of Rust - not a track that should be played quietly.
I was listening to Paul Simon yesterday and there's something about Something So Right that means it should be plyed softly.
I think most of us know instinctively at what volumes to play different songs. Sort of what it would be if it were live. (So long as you are in a normal, not overly loud environment.) If the song has heavy drums and electric guitars and the singer is practically screaming, it is natural to want to turn it up because quiet screaming sounds unnatural. Like Sunny said, Something So Right is a quiet song that needs to be played quietly. Paul Simon sings it softly and it would be unnatural to have someone singing softly but LOUD. It would be like having a whisper recorded but playing it at the max, or having a scream turned way down low. You just know it's not right.
As for the other topic, there was a time in my teenage years that I spend hours pouring over the liner notes that came with the tapes I bought. Though some had none at all. I have always disliked records and I seem to be in the minority for that, but they were always getting scratched or skipping and they were terrible for being static-y and attracting dust and I hated all the snap, crackle, pops. Tapes were so much better! Then when CD's came out, it was like going back to having a delicate record. I LOVE having an iPod and having my whole music collection right there. If I get a CD, it gets loaded up and with all that's going on in life, I probably never look at the CD or its cover ever again. It's just clutter. I embrace the download! Nothing to get tangled in a machine, no static, it won't melt in the car, it doesn't skip if you jump. I'm sure I'm hearing music at a better quality than I was ever before.
I like a balance of both. I still buy cds because I also like having thay physical thing, and reading liner notes. But I also download. More often than not, the cds I'm buying are from bands I have a long standing history with and want to support, although in the last year or so I've also bought albums for the first time from a few bands. I really do want to build an actual record collection, but right now it is pretty small. I'm slowly working on that. There previously wasnt much motivation with my only record player at my parent's cottage 4 hours away, but...a record player of my very own is quickly moving up the must buy soon list.
As for actual volume, I would say the slightly louder side. Especially if I am driving. I drove to Ottawa a few weeks ago, and didnt notice until the last half an hour of an 8 hour drive that my brakes were REALLY loud and in need of repair because until I got off the highway and into the city I had music on so loud that it drowned them out.
Generally if I am alone, in a car or at home, the music goes louder. Especially if it is for a kitchen dance party.
As a bit of an audiophile (i cant bring myself to tell you the cost of my hi fi)
I think the whole invention of mp3 is just junk.
To me its not a question of volume but more of clarity , soundstage etc.
Mp3 seem to me to be part of the whole disposable society which to some degree pop music has always been. But mp3 takes that to an extreme.
We now have the capability to have digital music with great resolution (studio master level) but it isnt being made available to the consumer.
The sooner this is made available in download form the better.
As a bit of an audiophile (i cant bring myself to tell you the cost of my hi fi)
I think the whole invention of mp3 is just junk.
To me its not a question of volume but more of clarity , soundstage etc.
Mp3 seem to me to be part of the whole disposable society which to some degree pop music has always been. But mp3 takes that to an extreme.
We now have the capability to have digital music with great resolution (studio master level) but it isnt being made available to the consumer.
The sooner this is made available in download form the better.
I'm much the same, have seperates in the Living Room and a Bose System in the Bedroom, so quality is important to me, I absolutely hate when people listen to radio stations that are half tuned, I'd rather listen to nothing to listen to bad quality.
Mp3 is a pain, I've been looking for things on CD recently and can't find them, soon they'll only be available to download. I could transfer back to CD but it loses even more quality in the transfer. DJs these days are turning up with a laptop and mixing programs that mean they don't even have to mix in the tunes.
I'm sure the technology etc is there to release Mp3s in "HiFi" quality but it's probably a marketing/money thing. I remember reading somewhere that when CDs were developed the original concept meant you could fit 11 albums on one CD (I suppose the average album was 35 mins long at the time) without any loss of quality, however they went with the 70min version. Beta versus VHS all over again ??
when I saw the band SLEEP . they wrre so loud i felt my fillings vibrate
Mogwai's been my loudest and most gut shaking live experience, I was sure people could hear it a few blocks away (Ufomammut was pretty tame compared, but in that small space it was definitely better that way).
When I still had an access to a car (dad's), I used to play music really loud. Once I got so carried away, that I nearly crashed in a snow storm, when I realised the drifts were just too big to move safely back to the outer lane in the speed I was going.
Generally, I like music rather loud than quiet, but I'm no hi-fi person, contents is more important than the medium. I find it interesting how telling apart instruments or hearing lyrics vary according to how you listen to the music, with some bands lyrics come out more clearly on my kitchen cd player, and with others iPod separates elements better.
As for buying music, anything from iTunes to preordering special versions of an album, depends on the band. A wonderful way to acquire new music in a cheap way is the library, I just got three Rubik cds out, just paid 1,50 € for reservation fees, as they came from various libraries of the capital area to my local branch.
