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So what. People listened to music on mechanical gramophones and enjoyed it. Too many audio engineers think it's all about the sound, when in the end it's about

So what. People listened to music on mechanical gramophones and enjoyed it. Too many audio engineers think it's all about the sound, when in the end it's about the music and the feelings it expresses.

a-french-anon 2y ago
You're naïve if you think that 1) Good enough prevents better from existing for some people, 2) Technological advances had the same consequences for all material. For example, orchestral music massively benefited from CD's increased dynamic range.
lukan 2y ago
"People listened to music on mechanical gramophones and enjoyed" Herman Hesse (or rather Harry Haller in Steppenwolf) used to get enraged by that - distorted garbage and a blasphemy to the godly componists. But then eventually he overcame it because of exactly that reasoning - if people enjoy it and are touched by the music - it works good enough. That is the purpose of music, not arbitrary perfectionism.
sevensor 2y ago
The way I think about recorded music is, the instrument being played is ultimately a set of speakers. That’s a musical experience to be encountered on its own terms. Live music is a wonderful thing, and presenting an illusion of live performance is certainly one thing a recording / reproduction system can do, but that doesn’t mean fidelity is the only thing we value when listening to a recording. Consider the punk music fans who enjoy a cheap stretched out cassette tape; I’m not going to deny them their enjoyment any more than I’ll deny the golden eared audiophile. They enjoy listening to different instruments. And this brings me to my point: the engineer is no mere technician whose job is only fidelity. The engineer is part of the performance through speakers, an artist no less than the musicians being recorded.
- mrob 2y ago
  Even the best stereo speakers have an inherent weakness: comb filtering between the channels. You can easily test this yourself by generating some mono pink noise in Audacity (or your favorite audio editor) and playing it on stereo speakers. Move your head and you will hear changes in the sound like a flanger effect. This is most obvious if you are close to the speakers and in an acoustically dry environment. Compare with the same sound hard panned to a single speaker. This is one reason why a real physical center channel improves clarity for movie dialogue.
8bitsrule 2y ago
Absolutely. Good music isn't about fidelity. Lots of people in the 40s and 50s enjoyed listening to Frank and Elvis' songs broadcast by AM (mono) radio (10kHz bandwidth) and reproduced by one or two oval 2x6" speakers of their cars. The 1939 Carnegie Benny Goodman concert was recorded with mikes and lathes cutting aluminum acetates with no better than 5 kHz fidelity. They were lost until the 50s, then released on an LP that sold over a million copies. It sounds great on Youtube; I was wondering what else sounds that good with a first-order roll-off at 5k.

a-french-anon 2y ago

You're naïve if you think that 1) Good enough prevents better from existing for some people, 2) Technological advances had the same consequences for all material. For example, orchestral music massively benefited from CD's increased dynamic range.

lukan 2y ago

"People listened to music on mechanical gramophones and enjoyed" Herman Hesse (or rather Harry Haller in Steppenwolf) used to get enraged by that - distorted garbage and a blasphemy to the godly componists. But then eventually he overcame it because of exactly that reasoning - if people enjoy it and are touched by the music - it works good enough. That is the purpose of music, not arbitrary perfectionism.

sevensor 2y ago

The way I think about recorded music is, the instrument being played is ultimately a set of speakers. That’s a musical experience to be encountered on its own terms. Live music is a wonderful thing, and presenting an illusion of live performance is certainly one thing a recording / reproduction system can do, but that doesn’t mean fidelity is the only thing we value when listening to a recording. Consider the punk music fans who enjoy a cheap stretched out cassette tape; I’m not going to deny them their enjoyment any more than I’ll deny the golden eared audiophile. They enjoy listening to different instruments. And this brings me to my point: the engineer is no mere technician whose job is only fidelity. The engineer is part of the performance through speakers, an artist no less than the musicians being recorded.

mrob 2y ago
Even the best stereo speakers have an inherent weakness: comb filtering between the channels. You can easily test this yourself by generating some mono pink noise in Audacity (or your favorite audio editor) and playing it on stereo speakers. Move your head and you will hear changes in the sound like a flanger effect. This is most obvious if you are close to the speakers and in an acoustically dry environment. Compare with the same sound hard panned to a single speaker. This is one reason why a real physical center channel improves clarity for movie dialogue.

8bitsrule 2y ago

Absolutely. Good music isn't about fidelity. Lots of people in the 40s and 50s enjoyed listening to Frank and Elvis' songs broadcast by AM (mono) radio (10kHz bandwidth) and reproduced by one or two oval 2x6" speakers of their cars. The 1939 Carnegie Benny Goodman concert was recorded with mikes and lathes cutting aluminum acetates with no better than 5 kHz fidelity. They were lost until the 50s, then released on an LP that sold over a million copies. It sounds great on Youtube; I was wondering what else sounds that good with a first-order roll-off at 5k.