Bob Dylan: modern recordings sound "atrocious"

[ttiwguitar]

http://today.reuters.com/news/artic...2476890_RTRUKOC_0_US-DYLAN.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

Bob Dylan says modern music is worthless

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bob Dylan says modern recordings sound "atrocious," and even the songs on his new album sounded much better in the studio than on disc.
"I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past twenty years, really," the 65-year-old rocker said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
Dylan, who released eight studio albums in that time, returns with his first recording in five years, "Modern Times," next Tuesday.
Noting the music industry's complaints that illegal downloading means people are getting their music for free, he said, "Well, why not? It ain't worth nothing anyway."

"You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them," he added. "There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like ... static."
Dylan said he does his best to fight technology, but it's a losing battle.
"Even these songs probably sounded ten times better in the studio when we recorded 'em. CDs are small. There's no stature to it."
Reuters

 

[Mulder]

Bob, a twenty year old cd player isn't that good, get a new one. And at 65 you do lose some HF hearing. About half of it.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

He is old and ugly and I don't care about his opinion. And I have never liked his music, save for Mrs. Robinson, but only because of the movie that it was featured in.

 

[~BURNY~]

save for Mrs. Robinson, but only because of the movie that it was featured in.

Wasn't it Simon & Garfunkel?
I like some of Bob Dylan songs. But I could not care less about what he thinks about "modern sound".

 

[Kazrog]

And all of Bob Dylan's recordings sound atrocious too. Fuck you, Zimmerman and your egotistical ignorance! Your songs suck (at least with you singing them.) Take some of your own advice:

"He who is not busy being born is busy dying"

 

[Lopes]

And at 65 you do lose some HF hearing. About half of it.

Dead on. The static that he hears might just be a bad case of tinnitus.

 

[sparkyness]

sonically (the writing was shite), i like the stuff he did with Lanois .....only because it's more Lanois than Dylan. Apparently they recorded the entire album (Out Of Time....I think) in the kitchen of the studio.

Maybe they should've used the crapper instead.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Wasn't it Simon & Garfunkel?
I like some of Bob Dylan songs. But I could not care less about what he thinks about "modern sound".

Honestly, same difference. Yeah, I know I look stupid, but really that whole era of music deserves an Ether-style GHEY label to it IMHO.

 

[Aaron Smith]

"CDs are small"? I can kind of understand how an oldie like Bob Dylan would rather listen to raw, old recordings that come from a long-passed time where he actually mattered, but when he says something as downright stupid as "CDs are small", for me that pretty much takes credit away from everything else he just said. He's just a bitter old guy who is sad that the times have changed, and I'm SURE that he's got a load of still impressionable fans who will now begin to dislike modern recordings, also.

 

[sparkyness]

An old ex-gf dragged me to see Dylan in Sydney many moons ago (thank god she paid) as no one else would go with her and I actually fell asleep. Now I can't sleep on long haul flights, or anywhere unfamiliar, but put me in an arena with Bob Dylan and 8000 suckers and I was out like a light....

Patti Smith was the support and at least she kept me awake, but my god, Dylan was boring as hell.

 

[Kazrog]

Now I can't sleep on long haul flights, or anywhere unfamiliar, but put me in an arena with Bob Dylan and 8000 suckers and I was out like a light....

LOL. I had a similar experience at OzzFest 2002 during P.O.D.'s set. I got some seriously good sleeping time in on the lawn with my beach towel.

 

[006]

"The times, they are a changin'" - Bob Dylan...from back in the day. 'Nuff said.

~e.a

 

[trym^^]

blonde on blonde is such a great album and i
respect dylan for his heritage and influence.
dare i say that i even like his voice, but its more
a lyrical appeal to his songs i think.
so yeah his statement is kinda over the top,
nothing i wouldnt expect from him.
but in a way i have to agree, modern records
are more and more digitally processed, aseptic sounding.
back in the days there were people like phil spector,
true geniuses who really handcrafted sounds and
dealt with complicated studio mechanisms unlike
todays ability to squash a sound with just one mouseclick.
the vibe within music is subsequently lost to a fast workflow.
plus from my own experience modern technology like my ipod
makes me listen to music with less attention and i barely
listen to any of the gigabytes of mp3 i have while not buying
a record and concetrate on it. sorry for my blabla but this
is a discussion forum right ?

 

[Radd]

Dylan & his recordings? uke:

Don't care.

Patti Smith is pretty cool.

 

[Kenneth R.]

To some degree I must admit I see where he's coming from, to be fair.

A lot of modern recordings are so polished that they blind you, and the music hardly gets a second thought. it's a snooze fest. the dynamics are smashed so thin to achieve ultimate loudness of apocalyptic zomg and it just, well... sucks. that and about CDs... while vinyl isn't perfect either, i'd say CDs tend to be pretty 'throw away' these days. why else would everybody jump on the itunes (ugh) bandwagon?

that said, technology isn't the devil, and it can make getting a good recording a whole lot easier.

just my two cents.

 

[Mulder]

Dead on. The static that he hears might just be a bad case of tinnitus.

From What causes tinnitus:

"Marijuana usage may worsen pre-existing cases of tinnitus."

So don't smoke Marie Joanna or you'll all end up as Bob.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Obviously, nobody ever soloed his vocals on playback with him in the studio.

 

[sorceron]

yea i wonder who was translating for the interview

 

[Razorjack]

From What causes tinnitus:

"Marijuana usage may worsen pre-existing cases of tinnitus."

So don't smoke Marie Joanna or you'll all end up as Bob.

Reaching orgasm can temporarily worsen it too, maybe Bob's just spending all his time wacking off while toking on a bong?

 

[xmarcelx]

Bob, a twenty year old cd player isn't that good, get a new one. And at 65 you do lose some HF hearing. About half of it.

It's like a lowpass at 15KHz or I guess even lower coz most people over 40 seem not to hear the
15.6KHz beep of a tv! Btw I could even hear 19kHz!