Current state of mainstream music scene (Billie Eilish taken Grammys by storm..)

[xr100]

She is in good company. The other albums did not come above 11. Had to use Audacity to make it listenable.

With all due respect to those who like Adele, it would make no difference to me what value the "DR" calculation spat out for any of her material... (And how does one use Audacity to make it "listenable?")

 

[Martin]

She is in good company. The other albums did not come above 11. Had to use Audacity to make it listenable.

The one way vinyl IS better than CD or digital:

And if you like Adele (as I do) check out her Live at The Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray; it is stunning.

Martin

 

[Wes]

Is this the right thread to diss the S'bowl halftime show also?

 

[RayDunzl]

Is this the right thread to diss the S'bowl halftime show also?

Are you dissing my diss?

 

[Snarfie]

With all due respect to those who like Adele, it would make no difference to me what value the "DR" calculation spat out for any of her material... (And how does one use Audacity to make it "listenable?")

Have to check the settings. The new Dr rating was around 13 14 of someting. The difference is that the fatigue is basicly gone. Will have a look tomorrow. Did put it on ASR somewhere in a topic.

 

[beefkabob]

Is this the right thread to diss the S'bowl halftime show also?

It was a lot better than the Adam Levine snoozer last year. Nothing special though. My favorite recent performance is Bruno Mars.

 

[Celty]

That's a bit snobbish.

Naw, just my assessment of Rap / Hip-Hop. Some like it, some don't, I don't.

 

[HammerSandwich]

Forget about the music. I'm just impressed if she gets her own Nigel Tufnel reference.

 

[beefkabob]

Anything is better than rap / hip-hop, no melody, lyrics about gangsters and asses. Billie is at least original.

Geeze, old man. Shall we all get off your lawn now?

 

[Celty]

Geeze, old man. Shall we all get off your lawn now?

Only if you have rap / hip hop playing at the time. Then definitely or I sic the dogs on ya!

 

[RayDunzl]

Does this qualify as "Political"?

 

[Celty]

Does this qualify as "Political"?

Naw, it qualifies as "Musical" preferences.

 

[gikigill]

Only if you have rap / hip hop playing at the time. Then definitely or I sic the dogs on ya!

Try " Empire State of Mind" by Alicia Keys and Jay-Z.

Since we are discussing Grammys, its A very well written and performed track about New York.

Keys has 15 Grammys just for herself and about 35 combined with her husband, Swizz Beatz, who BTW is a Harvard graduate in Owner/President Management executive program.

I don't listen to hip-hop except the odd track since I 90% listen to trance without vocals.

 

[Celty]

Try " Empire State of Mind" by Alicia Keys and Jay-Z.

Since we are discussing Grammys, its A very well written and performed track about New York.

Keys has 15 Grammys just for herself and about 35 combined with her husband, Swizz Beatz, who BTW is a Harvard graduate in Owner/President Management executive program.

I don't listen to hip-hop except the odd track since I 90% listen to trance without vocals.

Actually Empire State of Mind is a favorite of mine, as is Keys in general. Here is a live version of Empire that I love:

Here's my fav performance of Fallin'

 

[gikigill]

She's one of the few female vocalists I'll listen to and not just tolerate. Provides a good contrast to the rap in Empire State of Mind.

 

[Celty]

She's one of the few female vocalists I'll listen to and not just tolerate. Provides a good contrast to the rap in Empire State of Mind.

I think it says a lot about her talent that live versions of her are often my favorites.

 

[Celty]

Here are two songs I have been listening to lately, the first is a classic by Donny Hathaway:

The second is a recent one by Camila Cabello, who has surprised me with her new songs:

 

[gikigill]

Donny Hathaway is good. Cabello sounds a bit off for some reason.

 

[Snarfie]

With all due respect to those who like Adele, it would make no difference to me what value the "DR" calculation spat out for any of her material... (And how does one use Audacity to make it "listenable?")

In Audacity i use clipfix as i could see mostly the standard setting so Threshold setting 85% an reduce amplitude -6db. you can play around these settings. The loss in transients (if their are any in a high compressed production) are neglectible in comparison with the fatigue loss that is gaind which make the listning experience more bearable IMO. On ASR it is already discussed with comparison material have a look at https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...big-f-y-to-corporate-loudness-war-trend.8537/

 

[b1daly]

Absolutely untrue. The first professional digital synth that sold in units of 1000s was the Yamaha DX7. It uses FM synthesis, which enables very large changes in the harmonic structure during the course of a note, as well as changes with velocity (how hard a key is struck), the modulation wheel (the position of which affects a note that's already started) and came with a breath controller (again, control notes that have already been triggered.) Many professional keyboards also have "aftertouch" which means that again the note is modulated (changed) depending on how hard the keys are pressed, again, after note have already been triggered.

It's possible with digital synths to have an essentially arbitrarily complicated system of modulation which allows for as much expressiveness as desired.

It is true that the basic controller interface (and feedback, or lack thereof) hasn't really progressed beyond piano-style keyboard (plus knobs.) Different kinds of controller do exist, for example the Haken Continuum, the market for "different" controllers has tended to be, shall we say, modest. The breath controller that came with the DX7 wasn't used much, either.

(Caveat: I admit I'm not entirely up to speed with the market, e.g. there are various controllers from the likes of Native Instruments.)



In response to user input, they generate PCM streams which are a digitally coded form of the sound, yes.

BTW, synthesis actually began in the analogue world. (The old modular Moogs and the like barely kept in tune, or some have said they were a real pain to get and keep in tune, if you want "expressive!")

Also, "programming" can be done at different stages--when creating a sound itself (e.g. how it evolves and how it responds to modulation commands) or conversely inputting notes into a sequencer and adding modulation to control the sound in the sequencer, too.

Anyway, this is at risk of completely losing the plot. There have definitely been changes to the way music is made, but "studio" recordings are not "live" recordings. Every trick in the book has always been used just as soon as it was possible to do so, from compiling multiple vocal takes, double tracking vocals, to erasing the start of a bass guitar note to be in time with the kick, and long before "Auto-tune," adjusting tape speed to get vocals in tune!

For example, Blondie, apparently, were NOT happy with producer Mike Chapman when recording "Parallel Lines," as never ending takes were required to get everything perfectly timed.



"Pop" music, at least by my definition, is not "rock" (i.e. guitar band) music.

e.g. This is pop music...

This is not:

OK, so I've cited "bubblegum" pop vs. "progressive" rock. But the point remains: Teenage girls don't buy Pink Floyd records and sing along to them with a hairbrush... wrong market!

If you can point me to performances on the Yamaha DX7 that even approach the musical evocativeness that that can be achieved on a real piano, then I will modify my thesis.

Arguably the most musically expressive performances on synthesizers are cool solos on a mono synth with the mod and pitch wheel used.

What you describe with the use of higher resolution controllers is an attempt to make more expressive digital instruments. But there remain serious limitations even with this approach.

The biggest is that there is the lack of innate connection of the physical properties of the controller, the stream of control data generated, and the programming that determines how the sound is modulated. The simple example of this is that weighted keyboards do not have the ability to use the weight of the keys to affect the sound.

IMO this is why more advanced controllers never took off. Without the attempt to mate the controls to the sound, and tune it over many design iterations, the interface remains hard to play.

That’s why these new mega-sampled pianos that run on computers don’t play that well, compared to the sampled pianos found in commercial digital instruments. The sound designers at companies like Korg and Roland actually know how to make playable instruments.

To really have a fully expressive synthetic performance instrument, it needs to be designed and optimized from interface all the way to speaker.

Anyway, I’m telling you, modern pop, including country and rock, is moving away from musical performance as we’ve known it for thousands of years.

There’s a confluence of factors, but I think the economics of digital instrument production, how cheap they are to develop, are inexorable.

Companies are developing more complicated attempts at replicating expressive instruments like strings, by using switches, continuous controllers that can be linked to things like the mod wheel or aftertouch, and other tricky methods.

But no one bothers to learn to play these instruments. They learn to program them, and through careful listening can get them to sound expressive.

One of the biggest problems remains that digital instruments are still “deterministic,” generating the exact same signal for the same input. Some instruments attempt to use randomization to introduce variability, but the leads to less musical expression, not more.

An acoustic instrument has complex interactions between notes, and chaotic elements, that are under the control of the musician. The resolution of an acoustic instrument is essentially infinite.

Getting closer to effective digital instruments is going to require much more computing power and complex programming, or some kind of paradigm breakthrough.

The DX7 is interesting in that FM synthesis was a newish idea, and the instrument did get some take up. Brian Eno was into it for a while. But I always found the sound kind of “sterile” for lack of a better word. It lacked the harmonic richness of subtractive analog synths.