lauantai 5. maaliskuuta 2011

What is wrong with music today? Part one

There are not many pieces of music nowadays that are pleasant to listen to. I've tried to listen to something new on the radio, but when the song starts, a horrible sound starts coming out of the speakers. It's a sound that's full of different instruments and sounds from the computer. That makes it nearly impossible to hear the instruments by themselves. The song is too full of sound! What need is there to make the song so full of sound? Music is not about volume, but variation.

There is also something else wrong with the sound of new music. It does not sound real or authentic. Nor does it sound like it's live or alive. The sound sounds dead.

I admit that I haven't listened much to new music. And that is because I usually don't like how it sounds. But I've heard a plenty of new music because it's all around nowadays. It's hard to avoid.

Modern music is often very loud in a way. The tracks are often mixed as loud as possible. The quieter parts are mixed louder and the louder parts are mixed down somewhat. That makes the whole track sound loud, unnatural and like a constant stream of sound. By the way, I just read an interesting article concerning the sound of modern music. Its writer says: "I got distracted because it suddenly dawned on me that an awful lot of recent music, much of which I adore, sounds horrible."
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/weekly_article/imperfect-sound-forever.htm

and here's an other link to a wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

Even Bob Dylan agrees that there's something wrong with the sound of new music. In a Rolling Stone Magazine interview he said: “You listen to these modern records, they’re atrocious, they have sound all over them. There’s no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like – static.” Dylan also said that he doesn't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past 20 years. The year was 2006 when he said it.

However, it's not only the sound that's wrong with new music. It's also the songs. They are written by professional songwriters, not by the performers themselves. The lyrics rarely have any importance, if not for the sound. The meaning of the lyrics is not to tell something, it is to make the song sound good and cool. Something that tells about how small the importance of the lyrics is, is that they are often heard to hear. I think the lyrics should be audible, if they are of any importance.

I listened today to Spotifys Top list. The first song I heard was Born This Way by Lady Gaga. I didn't like it, so I changed to Firework by Katy Perry, also from the Top list. I enjoyd it for a while, but after a short listen to some other tracks of hers I got disturbed by the loudness of the music. It is full of different instruments and it's mixed loud thoroughly. Anyway, Katy Perry is one of the only new artists that are enjoyable to listen to. And ain't that something?

2 kommenttia:

  1. Nice, quick read. And I agree with the context: even music has been corrupted. It's all about profit. All about money.

    VastaaPoista
  2. Looking forward to the other parts :D

    VastaaPoista