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This isn't true of artists on established labels, of course-- their records can generally sound as good as they want them to sound.
But, recording equipment/computing power has gotten cheap enough that that anyone can technically produce an album on her phone. As a guitar teacher and songwriter, I have to hear a lot of music that was obviously recorded by musicians in home project studios. A large percentage of the "indie" recordings the kids bring in-- tunes with 2.5 million hits on youtube, etc.-- have atrocious sound quality (solo guitar with way too much boom in the low end/poor vocal edits that cut off in the middle of breaths, etc.,-- recording errors too numerous to name.)
It isn't an obstacle to the kids' ability to enjoy the songs, but the sound is objectively terrible. This seems like an entire ecosystem that is dependent on the fact that 99% listen through their phone or laptop speakers. I don't play the stuff at home, but I can only imagine how bad it would sound on even an adequate system.
Even though it was done with one mic, we can listen to "Freewheelin'"-- even in mono-- and tell whether Dylan was playing a Martin or a Gibson, and how close his pick was to the sound hole, etc. The RVG small group jazz records were recorded in his house, but we can hear how far back and to the left Paul Chambers was standing in relation to the horn. On these new tracks, the entire world of sound quality is lost, along with whole dimensions of musical depth. For me it is a total deal-breaker.
Have you folks run into this in your travels checking out new music?
But, recording equipment/computing power has gotten cheap enough that that anyone can technically produce an album on her phone. As a guitar teacher and songwriter, I have to hear a lot of music that was obviously recorded by musicians in home project studios. A large percentage of the "indie" recordings the kids bring in-- tunes with 2.5 million hits on youtube, etc.-- have atrocious sound quality (solo guitar with way too much boom in the low end/poor vocal edits that cut off in the middle of breaths, etc.,-- recording errors too numerous to name.)
It isn't an obstacle to the kids' ability to enjoy the songs, but the sound is objectively terrible. This seems like an entire ecosystem that is dependent on the fact that 99% listen through their phone or laptop speakers. I don't play the stuff at home, but I can only imagine how bad it would sound on even an adequate system.
Even though it was done with one mic, we can listen to "Freewheelin'"-- even in mono-- and tell whether Dylan was playing a Martin or a Gibson, and how close his pick was to the sound hole, etc. The RVG small group jazz records were recorded in his house, but we can hear how far back and to the left Paul Chambers was standing in relation to the horn. On these new tracks, the entire world of sound quality is lost, along with whole dimensions of musical depth. For me it is a total deal-breaker.
Have you folks run into this in your travels checking out new music?