If it makes you feel any better, I 100% agree with you. I suppose people would rather damage their hearing with distorted treble and clipped wavforms than hear what is actually occurring in the studio. Metal is NOT pop; it should not sound like shit. Again, Opeth are very MINOR offenders in the grand scheme of things, but they are, nevertheless. Let's face it, it's not like their albums are mastered by Steve Hoffman or Doug Sax or Alan Parsons. That is not taking away from Opeth, but the issue still needs to be addressed. Just because we have hit a wall with 16 bit volume, it does not mean that should be "oh well, at least it does not suck even more." Opeth writes music that is much better than almost anything ever released by MFSL, DCC, or Sony Mastersound; I just wish their music received the same treatment.
I would love it if Opeth would tone down then overall volume in the digital domain, and we, as consumers, can get off our asses and turn up the volume with our amps.
I could try to make a recording of the LP on my computer and look at it. I just need a program, anyone that can recommend a free easy program?
Even in the worst produced demo you can still hear the actual ideas, which are the only really important part of music. Anything to do with sound quality is irrelevant to the actual music. Does the quality of a book's contents increase when the words are printed with higher quality ink?
Even in the worst produced demo you can still hear the actual ideas, which are the only really important part of music. Anything to do with sound quality is irrelevant to the actual music. Does the quality of a book's contents increase when the words are printed with higher quality ink?
100% agree.sound quality and production is fully relevant to music. music is sound. production affects how it sounds and how you hear it. i don't care if the ideas are "there". if they aren't being expressed properly, what's the point in listening to the album? if something is supposed to have shitty, grainy static cymbal hits, or is supposed to be boring or have some kind of other annoying or distracting characteristic, then it's a bad idea anyway
Nattens Madrigal's production was perfect for the music iyam. It complimented the raw feeling and minimalism that it was trying to portray. However, I think that certain production methods should only be used for certain types of music.
sound quality and production is fully relevant to music. music is sound. production affects how it sounds and how you hear it. i don't care if the ideas are "there". if they aren't being expressed properly, what's the point in listening to the album? if something is supposed to have shitty, grainy static cymbal hits, or is supposed to be boring or have some kind of other annoying or distracting characteristic, then it's a bad idea anyway
I don't disagree with you.
What we are discussing is production altering the sound of music or actually altering the ideas themselves if/when dynamics are reduced/eliminated in the name of compression for non-musical reasons.
The fact that this can result in a lower 'visceral enjoyment' is, to me, a massive waste.
I see music as being enjoyable on two levels -
1. on a visceral or physical level, this is what people mean when they talk about being able to feel the music
2. enjoyment of ideas represented by and communicated through music
Music, when played, is simply disturbance of molecules with a certain amplitude and frequency which we happen to be able to hear because we have ears, and because of this we can interpret ideas the composer has had. Since the invention of music notation we have been able to interpret it by reading. On another planet aliens might be able to smell it, or taste it - the concept and outcome is no different. Music, through the properties of sound, also happens to create physical sensations in our body - sounds can be described as pleasant or unpleasant. What i'm saying is that the end product, our understanding and interpretation of what is being played, remains unaffected by production, although our visceral enjoyment might be.