Uechi-Ryu.com

Ever gone into the mall and noticed that the music blasting out of all the pop-culture stores is never recent? That's because no-one listens to current music, good or bad, these days, and here's why:

http://www.cdmasteringservices.com/dynamicrange.htm

_________________
There's a bit of Metablade in all of us.

Point well taken about Dynamic Range here.

Beethoven's fifth symphony is the classic example of excellent dynamic range. Disco music is the antithesis. Nothing is dynamic about disco. The beat is the same, the mix of instruments is the same, the volume is the same, etc., etc. So really this dynamic range thing goes beyond just volume. It gets into the texture of the sound, the instruments being played, the character of the singing, single voice vs. harmony, constant beat vs. programmed pauses, etc., etc.

Funny you should bring this up on a martial arts forum, Meta. The problem exists BIG time in Uechi kata performances as well. And who is at fault? The teachers. Getting everyone to do kata in groups "on count" absolutely kills the individuality and dynamic range of forms. And it's particularly bad when you get generation after generation teaching this way, and homogenizing their practice. Before long, we might as well bring in the disco queens in their latex and have them do Uechi aerobics.

BTW, not all modern music *****. I have Jet in my car CD player right now. Check out this album. These guys rock. Sometimes they remind me of early Who, sometimes of early John Lennon. Their style has range, there is range within a song, and the lead singer's voice is the most amazing I've heard in a long time. Talk about going from soft to "scratch" in a second...

It's also worth mentioning that music with excellent dynamic range requires a most excellent sound system. You need mega-wattage, and you need a subwoofer. Unfortunately most modern music is "dumbed down" to the lowest common denominator - those infernal iPods that can't possibly give you the full music experience. All they're capable of doing is killing hair cells in your ears.

- Bill

It's more because it's cheaper to get old hits to play in the mall than it is to play current music. But now that you mention it, the last few times I've been in a mall store (and let me emphasize few) I've noticed that the music was far more current than I expected it to be.

Also, as for dynamic range, while that's true of the biggest pop-hits, the genre "Indie" (as opposed to the circumstance for which the genre is named) tends to have a lot. Sufjan Stevens seems to be gaining popularity, I heard "All Things Go" on the radio the other day, and that at least has some dynamic range. Not as much as Beethoven's 9th, 5th, or pretty much another other symphony, but not the highly normalized.

I think the over-compression is much more prevelant in pop, pop-punk and similar styles. It doesn't have so much to do with the genre though, as the artist. A band like System of a Down is generally considered noisy, but some of their songs have a significant dynamic range.

Also, I think the author of that article way-overstates the effect of compression. It's rather absurd to say that because albums are recorded hot that they're suddenly noise with a beat. Still, I agree with his central point, that the musicality is damaged by pointless efforts designed just to make the album loud, and that mainstream music suffers from this.

_________________
- Justin Powell

Dynamic Range...

Dvorak 9th
Mahler 2nd
Debussey

And if you want a wonderful experience, buy a DVD-audio player. Dual-Discs are better than CDs, but true DVD-audio is heavenly.

(Dvorak 9th playing on the 5.1 right now brings emotion to my eyes everytime!)

Justin's correct, Chop Suey certainly has dynamic range... the wife uses a SoD string-T for a nightie in the summer sometimes... we got it at the Pledge of Allegiance tour a few years back. Pretty outrageous stuff, but I have to be in a special "head-bangin'" mood, unlike classical...

I hear you, brother.
Three words on that note:

Vivaldi : Four Seasons.

Pure Sublimity.

_________________
There's a bit of Metablade in all of us.

Nice selection Bill! I got hooked on this band when I first heard "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" on WBCN in Boston. This band, reminds me of a mix between Black Crows and the Rolling Stones (in their prime). Just foot stompin', head bandin', air guitarin' rock-n-roll!

Personally, I think most of the problem is the with pop music bands. As much as he is hated today, Michael Jackson is ten times of performer of a Britanny Spears and even if you HATE pop, you have to admit there was at least some talent avaialble in the 80's (Whitney Houston springs to mind).

I think Modern Rock and Country still have quite a bit of vocal and musical talent and are still cranking out some pretty good music. See: Jet (per Bill), 3 Doors Down, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Big & Rich, Dixie Chicks, LeAnn Rimes, Dropkick Murphys (don't like these guys personally), and Staind.


chewy

It's all about emotional investment. Frank Sinatra... I don't want to hear his crap because he didn't write it and he doesn't care about it. It doesn't matter how good a singer he was supposed to be (I think he was a god awful singer anyway), it doesn't matter how well the music was supposedly written, no one cares about it. Even when he sang it sounded like he was bored of the song.

Underground hip hop artist Immortal Technique has no musical training that I know of, has almost no dynamic range in many of his recordings, but DAMN his music is powerful. He's got something to say and it obviously came from his heart. "Dance with the Devil" damn near makes me cry everytime I hear it.

There is so much more that makes good music than dynamic range. That's just one element out of hundreds of ways to communicate through music. Good artists just plain have it. No matter what you do to them they still just have it.

If only youd left Frank out of it ....... , great p[ost however

Now Dean Martin theres a crooner

sometimes the best things take only just enough effort , and saviour the time to appreciate the simple things ....

If you are like me, I like Frank Sinatra, to Frank Zappa, Classical to Punk, Country to Rap, Eletronika to Blues, well, you get the point.
In my view, music is an expression. I means different things to different people. There are some which speak to me more than others, but all in all, I feel that the messages in music as an art are all worthwhile, even if I don't agree with the message.

Viva La Musica!

_________________
There's a bit of Metablade in all of us.