Autistic ear for music

[Human Avatar]

I agree with your assessment of vinyl. I think there are some features of the medium that make it sound more realistic than the stale nature of CD. A lot of music these days spends most of its time in the digital realm and then (hopefully) it is mastered for vinyl. But back in the days where it was all analogue I think it really was the best.

I agree you have very valid points you are able to word it much better than me .

People really need to know how to get the best out of it and work within it's limitations. So I think often this results in a more careful and precise mix for the vinyl.

Yes have noticed that too , the mixes seemed much more open and the instruments and vocals seem to sit much better in the overall picture.

I have Jeff Buckley's Grace on vinyl and on the title track you can stand between the speakers and I swear you can hear the slap of the kick drum pedal resonating through the drum kit. It's almost like a holographic drum kit in the room. That's the best way I can describe it. It has presence, position and depth.

Nice ! I feel the same with Tue Album house of the Holy by Led Zeppelin - I can hear the bass drum pedal squeaking . Was Ludwig speed king pedal , very common problem with them .

I think the reason why casual music listeners all jumped to CD in the 80s and 90s was because you can buy pretty much any CD player and get a consistent listening experience. Even cheap stuff didn't have distortion and static.

Agreed and I have enjoyed that convenience as well . Even mor me so now because phones and computers . No tube to overload so no distortion .

A turntable takes time and effort to set up properly to really get the best out of a record. It appeals to me, but I doubt most people want to sit down with protractors, micro scales and calibration records. Far easier to just chuck in a shiny disc into a drawer and have something that sounds good.

Yeah that’s for sure

I think the vinyl playing process, being mechanical introduces little nuances. The quality of the sound is correlated, not only to the care put into the production, and cutting the record. It is also correlated to the quality of the turn table and it's set up.

Yes - and it seems all that care is gone the productions today seem very rushed . Maybe I am wrong could be just how I perceive it from an Audio experience.

Like you I have a similar experience with music. I kinda see it like a cloud in my mind and bits of it light up. It only really is coherent when I'm listening, though it is still quite vivid when the playback is in my mind. I always thought that everyone experienced this but as I got older, I realized it's not particularly widespread.

Wow! That is great me too I thought everyone hears this way . Never new it was something different. Glad to find the similarities between us this

I can also listen to one track on repeat for hours. The novelty doesn't wear off.

One track I can listen to over and over is a song called Desperados Under The Eaves by Warren Zevon. I highly recommend it. It was also recorded at a time where the target medium was vinyl so it's got a really lush orchestral sound at the end that really you just don't get these days. Dynamics have disappeared, panning is a dying art and subtly just rarely makes an appearance in contemporary music. Louder is better apparently :-(

Ok I will check it out , I really like Warren Zevon never heard that one . Yeah I agree the stereo spread is smaller . Maybe we just go back to mono. I actually do like some older mono mixes . They have something different. Especially pertaining to the Beatles .

 

[MildredHubble]

I agree you have very valid points you are able to word it much better than me .

Yes have noticed that too , the mixes seemed much more open and the instruments and vocals seem to sit much better in the overall picture.

Nice ! I feel the same with Tue Album house of the Holy by Led Zeppelin - I can hear the bass drum pedal squeaking . Was Ludwig speed king pedal , very common problem with them .

Agreed and I have enjoyed that convenience as well . Even mor me so now because phones and computers . No tube to overload so no distortion .

Yeah that’s for sure

Yes - and it seems all that care is gone the productions today seem very rushed . Maybe I am wrong could be just how I perceive it from an Audio experience.

Wow! That is great me too I thought everyone hears this way . Never new it was something different. Glad to find the similarities between us this

Ok I will check it out , I really like Warren Zevon never heard that one . Yeah I agree the stereo spread is smaller . Maybe we just go back to mono. I actually do like some older mono mixes . They have something different. Especially pertaining to the Beatles .

Some new vinyl isn't made with the best of care. Often times a CD master is thrown right onto a vinyl record and it sounds awful. The good news is that there's often a consumer backlash and the record company goes back and does it properly.

Amongst the best new vinyl/reissues in my opinion are the Tom Waits albums from the 70s 80s and 90s. Tom Waits loves vinyl and was involved in the remastering for the new versions of his classic albums. They are a real treat to listen to. The saxophone on Closing Time just sounds like it's in the room with you and you can hear the clicks of the valves and breathiness of the performer. That before we get onto the unique vocals.

Definitely worth picking up if you are looking for something new!

Mono sound is an interesting field. There were many people who felt it was superior to stereo. Objectively it's not really how humans hear things. But it does throw up some interesting challenges in terms of production. You can also get that "wall of sound" effect (Phil Spector). A lot of Motown hits were mono. They don't always translate well to stereo.

Often they did it by panning half the studio tracks into one channel and the rest into the other. Drums were perhaps recorded on one or two microphones so in a stereo field they kinda feel like they are coming from a single point and sound a bit weedy and thin. But when played back as a mono recording everything sounds more coherent.

Personally I like stereo. I don't see the point really with surround sound. If you do stereo right, it should be able to fool your ears into believing the sound is 360°. I understand why people like it in cinemas and I've converted some mono recordings into 5.1 surround and it almost works as well as the mono recording. Like it's come full circle. It's amazing how much of a stereo field, or even surround field you can create from a mono recording using a few simple tricks!

 

[Human Avatar]

Some new vinyl isn't made with the best of care. Often times a CD master is thrown right onto a vinyl record and it sounds awful. The good news is that there's often a consumer backlash and the record company goes back and does it properly.

Amongst the best new vinyl/reissues in my opinion are the Tom Waits albums from the 70s 80s and 90s. Tom Waits loves vinyl and was involved in the remastering for the new versions of his classic albums. They are a real treat to listen to. The saxophone on Closing Time just sounds like it's in the room with you and you can hear the clicks of the valves and breathiness of the performer. That before we get onto the unique vocals.

Definitely worth picking up if you are looking for something new

That sounds good to me !I will check it out

Mono sound is an interesting field. There were many people who felt it was superior to stereo. Objectively it's not really how humans hear things. But it does throw up some interesting challenges in terms of production. You can also get that "wall of sound" effect (Phil Spector). A lot of Motown hits were mono. They don't always translate well to stereo.

Yeah I have read some articles about that . I really like the wall of sound and Phil Spectors early productions . And of course Motown was great before they moved to California lol . In my opinion. It’s amazing they did all of that on 4 Track .

Often they did it by panning half the studio tracks into one channel and the rest into the other. Drums were perhaps recorded on one or two microphones so in a stereo field they kinda feel like they are coming from a single point and sound a bit weedy and thin. But when played back as a mono recording everything sounds more coherent.

Yeah I hear that in the Beatles stereo mix . I need to get the New Revolver remix .

Personally I like stereo. I don't see the point really with surround sound. If you do stereo right, it should be able to fool your ears into believing the sound is 360°. I understand why people like it in cinemas and I've converted some mono recordings into 5.1 surround and it almost works as well as the mono recording. Like it's come full circle. It's amazing how much of a stereo field, or even surround field you can create from a mono recording using a few simple tricks!

I agree I like stereo since most of my life is spent with headphones on because sensory overload with my hearing . But I would like to experience more 5.1 , because it is cool as hell . I would like to check out your mixes someday . Had no idea one could do that with mono songs . Well except with out having the masters lol

 

[MildredHubble]

The Beatles definitely had some wonky mixes for stereo. Some don't sound too bad. You can do a cool trick to get "alternative mixes" by hard panning the balance knob on the stereo

You can create a rather convincing multitrack by reversing the phase of a track in different ratios. So you can take a mono track and essentially extract certain parts by messing with the phase and summing the two together. That's essentially how I did it. Just layering things together, and then panning them in the best places. I may still have some of my mixes on a hard disk somewhere. But my ex employer has the actual 5.1 files. I doubt I could get them back :-(

You can play around with the technique I mentioned quite easily using Audacity. Just load two copies of the same mono track and experiment with changing the phase of one and summing them together. If you change the phase 100% then when you sum them you get silence. But try highlighting sections and using different phase positions and what you can do is, is layer them with copies upon copies to pick out different elements. Then you can use EQ on one to experiment event further before summing/phase shifting.

Of course nowadays there's software that can pluck things out of the mix (more or less) without you having to do any work. But it's still a neat trick and cool to experiment with!

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I like rock and roll music, hard to find bars that have live bands that play it any more even harder to find bands that play it live. The one bar I did find kids play attributes to the stuff I listened to years ago, just not the same.

 

[tkcartoonist]

I have yet to hear a version of "The 15th" by Wire that comes close to the version that's on their album 154. Even other versions by Wire themselves sound off. I don't usually have that kind of experience with music, but this particular song is an exception.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I actually love music and I am quite useful in naming songs and artists. I can even recognize songs in the form of mechanical music box movements.

 

[abby normal]

The Beatles definitely had some wonky mixes for stereo. Some don't sound too bad. You can do a cool trick to get "alternative mixes" by hard panning the balance knob on the stereo

You can create a rather convincing multitrack by reversing the phase of a track in different ratios. So you can take a mono track and essentially extract certain parts by messing with the phase and summing the two together. That's essentially how I did it. Just layering things together, and then panning them in the best places. I may still have some of my mixes on a hard disk somewhere. But my ex employer has the actual 5.1 files. I doubt I could get them back :-(

You can play around with the technique I mentioned quite easily using Audacity. Just load two copies of the same mono track and experiment with changing the phase of one and summing them together. If you change the phase 100% then when you sum them you get silence. But try highlighting sections and using different phase positions and what you can do is, is layer them with copies upon copies to pick out different elements. Then you can use EQ on one to experiment event further before summing/phase shifting.

Of course nowadays there's software that can pluck things out of the mix (more or less) without you having to do any work. But it's still a neat trick and cool to experiment with!

george martin's limitation were the relatively crude REDD consoles they had to use which basically forced them into hard left/center/right.

 

[Mr. Stevens]

As it could be easy everyone got different tastes, not all the version of the same song from the same musician are playing the same.

Does it happens to someone to don't like a song you love because isn't played with the exact metrics in your "head"?

Probably, though I can't think of a great example. I do hate the trend of taking rock songs and slowing them down, doing a vocal/piano version. That isn't wrong or bad in itself, but it usually reveals little. Or just shows someone doesn't seem to grasp the song they're playing. I heard a version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" like this that just baffled me. It's a song making fun of rock music and subcultures--our need to pretend we're outsiders while seeking acceptance. The fact that it's a great rock song just adds to that. Why would you slow it down and make it mournful?? Tori Amos kind of does this with her version, but at least that cuts out some sections, revamping it. I can appreciate that.

Do you like live performances or studio version?

I tend to prefer studio versions, unless the song is different enough. With jazz I'll listen to live stuff, of course. Or The Grateful Dead, because they would turn different songs into jams. Lana del Rey will change lyrics and make subtle, emotional changes to songs live. And MTV Unplugged had some great episodes.

Otherwise, if it's live, I prefer a concert video, since the visual adds to the experience. Without that, I feel like I'm usually getting a sloppier, thinner-sounding version of the record.

When you search some music on the web, do you listen the first version found or do you search for your "personal" version?

Depends on if I know what I want, I guess.

Do you like listening "your music files" or turning on "your favorite" radio station?

I hate most radio because I don't control it and won't like much of what they play. And so many stations just have a very rigid playlist now. I know where to go if I want to hear "Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark every day at 7 AM. Which just leads me to ask, "Why?" on so many levels (even though that song is kind of dumb fun).

 

[Mr. Stevens]

george martin's limitation were the relatively crude REDD consoles they had to use which basically forced them into hard left/center/right.

Interesting, I didn't know that. I always wondered if they were imitating the hard panning in jazz mixes, which seemed to make more sense for jazz than rock/pop. But, maybe they were all using consoles like that.

 

[Progster]

I sometimes hear that autistic people prefer repetitive or minimilist music, but I'm the exact opposite. I love complexity and detail. That's what draws me to prog rock.

 

[Outdated]

That's one of the things I loved about Led Zep too, they had a 22 piece orchestra hiding behind the stage. Too much audio compression in your recordings and half the sounds are missing.

 

[Judge]

Growing up in the 60s and 70s I became accustomed to hearing all the top songs played live being lip-synced and recorded. Rarely did I ever hear any vocalist or group play live for real. And if they did, it was usually a disappointment.

Leaving me with a distinct preference for carefully crafted and controlled sound through a closed studio. Which frankly, I still prefer today.

Weird to see years later those few artists who were caught lip-syncing and paid a high price for it. Yet I also have a lot of respect for those few musicians who excel at live performances.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

My son plays base and just recently I found a u-tube video of a Italian guy called Davie 504, what a character swear he must be one of us, amazing playing amazing sense of humor.