[Phlogiston]

Sue found this U-Boob video. It explains a lot about "modern" "music" and I even like some of it. In short, modern recordings are loud with no dynamic range, compressed, all sound the same and are mastered for I-pfone and ear-buds AND are mostly composed by the same people - -

Have a look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVME_l4IwII

[35Z5]

I haven't noticed...

I use a transmitter 24/7 programmed with 50s, 60s & some '70s & '80s music along with various country selections.

[Arran]

It's hard to believe that they went through Hi Fi, then stereo recording, then quadraphonic, and then digital, only to put out rubbish that only sounds good on a pocket transistor radio earphone. Which brings up the question, why do they bother wasting the bandwidth playing it on FM when even AM has more then enough dynamic range to accommodate it?
Regards
Arran

[Paul Philco322]

It is interesting and confirms what I have thought for a while about the similar "sound". Big money, big business, big music, big boring......................you would think with all the social media and tech advances it would be cheaper and easier to publish, play, promote, new and different music.

Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, is more my speed. I have my Rock faves and yes was young and enjoyed a lot of Pop and blues based Rock. I enjoyed going to concerts and hearing music different from the albums, when Eric Clapton jammed it was a different improvisation at least for me a a concert goer. 

I like to hear something different now and then whether a voice or tune but maybe that is possible by going back in time and getting away from the "Homogenization". What happened to singer/songwriters?

Thought provoking information, thanks Russ. 

Paul

[mikethedruid]

If you look around on YouTube you find that there are still young artists who are making some GREAT music. Of course, they are not promoted by the big corporations, which is sad; but they do gather a following, and do produce some good CDs. Here is an example, one of my favorite young musicians, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ojt7e88g2I .

[Phlogiston]

Not to be confused - I like a lot of modern music. I don't think much of modern recording/mastering.

[Paul Philco322]

I hear your point, recording techniques have become packaging techniques for the product.

Paul

[Ron Ramirez]

I can't stand most modern "music".

I have an FM transmitter playing the beautiful "mood" music that dominated FM radio in the late 1950s - mid 1960s, and an AM transmitter (which I only run sporadically) pumping out early rock tunes of the 1950s and early 1960s.

Modern "music" is like modern television - Nothing But Crap.

[rdnzl]

Most music is recorded with iTunes, or some sort of streaming in mind. It sounds horrible. Compressed garbage. Not all of it of course. But most.

These "pop song factories" keep feeding crap music to these flash in the pan artists, like some sort of mass production line. Music industry execs have teams of writers feeding these songs to these "artists".

My feelings are, if you didn't write the song, don't sing it.  Exceptions made for tasteful covers of decent songs. I respect singer/songwriters. They are laying it all on the line.


I listen mostly to old blues, some good old R&B from back when Motown was king, some progressive rock, electric jazz, and very little of today's music.

I have Bluetooth receivers plugged into my vintage radios, and I transmit music and radio programs from many sources to my old radios.

[NostalgiaRadioTime]

It's more about looks and image today than about real talent. If they have some "pop princess" that looks the part, they can digitally create a voice for her, and have her record the song line by line, editing everything together. When it comes time to perform the song 'live', they lip sync. The raw talent is lacking today in so many cases.

Now I'm not knocking all modern music. Back in April, I attended a concert by the country group Little Big Town. It was great concert and I thoroughly enjoyed it (of course, having Kimberly [the blonde member of the group] high-five me as she walked down the aisle to the stage didn't add to my enjoyment one bit  ) Those are 4 talented individuals with some amazing harmony.

I re-edited this post to include a video I shot at the concert in April of them paying tribute to some country music legends that left us last year. This was right after I got the high five

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2KzNHMD-KE]

Take recordings made in the big band era, before editing and tape was available. Every instrument had to be perfect for the entire song. If one horn hit a sour note, it was time to start all over again. And think of how many classics have endured from that era. THAT is raw talent. Take someone whom I know is a favorite of Ron's, Nat King Cole. Nat passed away over 50 years ago yet his recordings have endured and still sound fresh today. You can't have Christmas without his recording of The Christmas Song. And that is due to the raw talent in his voice....and, unfortunately, three packs of Salem's each day

[Phlogiston]

They don't need to be able to sing- really. With AUTOCORRECT, only one instrument need be on tempo and pitch. Remember the old song by Neil Young - Sample and Hold? Well now everything is , sample and hold.

[Paul Philco322]

I like Marty Stuart, most all old country even yodelers, I do enjoy an occasional trip back to "electric Lady Land", Beatles anything, Alvin Lee, Cream, Crazy Neil a good jam guitar with weird singing, Kinks, Elvis, a long list but music is like wine....................the kinda wine to drink is the kinda wine you like. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHnJITSjJIQ


Paul 

[rdnzl]

A lot of folks poo poo Lady Gaga. At first, after only hearing her "hits" on the radio from her first "album", I was one of those folks.

Since then, she has become one of the people on my short list of very talented musicians and singer/songwriters. Once I saw her alone, sitting at a piano, playing and singing, I realized she was much more than what the Music Label company was pushing her to be. She can really sing. A great voice, a piano. That's pure music. No technical shenanigans. then I saw her singing duets with Tony Bennett, and I was totally convinced of her talent. No autotune. Just a great set of pipes.

[NostalgiaRadioTime]

I agree with you about Gaga...she is the real deal vocally. It's easy to understand why Tony Bennett took a liking to her. That whole album they did together of standards is outstanding. Believe it was at the Super Bowl one year she did the national anthem and it was simply amazing. Blew me away.

[Paul Philco322]

I went to the Boston Pops one year and they had a girl from a Baptist Church Gospel choir a local kid and she stood there in Symphony Hall and floored us, wow, who else knows her. So it is a gift ...............and live music is awesome, nothing between you and the artists.

Paul