• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Not testing your patience ;) Modern tunes and bad sounds.

PierreV

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Nov 6, 2018
Messages
1,437
Likes
4,686
Lol! Ariana Grande is way way out of my demographic but since she's on heavy rotation on terrestrial radio I don't mind her. I just played "No Tears Left To Cry" on Spotify Premium to take a listen on my system. Got to say it was a pretty good beat. My subs were working the low notes on that one. My spouse came up stairs and said "what happened to David Brubeck?" haha

Thanks for the tip. Not my style either, but the bass will henceforth be broadcast through the house to alert my teens to the fact that their dad needs some attention :)

1573296883776.png
 

KozmoNaut

Active Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2019
Messages
299
Likes
633
("Boomers", "millennials" are just terms conjured up by marketing folks, they have no clear definition)

The boomers got rich off the foundations laid by their parents, the greatest generation. They had the easiest access to jobs, education and housing, and were able to pay off their debts and invest+save their wealth.

By this consolidation of power and wealth, they have created the current system of expensive healthcare, housing and education, and they fight against efforts like minimum wage and healthcare for all, because "I never had it easy, why should they?". Nevermind that they had basically everything handed to them.

Talk about kicking out the ladder from under them.

Put more succinctly: "OK Boomer".
 

digicidal

Major Contributor
Joined
Jul 6, 2019
Messages
1,981
Likes
4,838
Location
Sin City, NV
The boomers got rich off the foundations laid by their parents, the greatest generation. They had the easiest access to jobs, education and housing, and were able to pay off their debts and invest+save their wealth.

I wanted to point out a mistake in your post (although the rest of it is pretty much spot-on IMO). Sure they "were able to" but very few of them actually did... and now they're boned as a result.
Only 23 percent of boomers ages 56-61 expect to receive income from a private company pension plan, and only 38 percent of older boomers expect a pension. As for personal savings, I’ll make it simple: Most boomers have not saved nearly enough. In the worst case, it is really bad: 45% of boomers have zero savings for retirement.
 
Last edited:

KozmoNaut

Active Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2019
Messages
299
Likes
633
I wanted to point out a mistake in your post (although the rest of it is pretty much spot-on IMO). Sure they "were able to" but very few of them actually did... and now they're boned as a result.

Correct, I don't intend to tar every single Boomer with the same brush. As always, it's the rich elite that has screwed over everyone else.
 
OP
L5730

L5730

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Oct 6, 2018
Messages
668
Likes
435
Location
East of England
According to Wikipedia:
Boomers: 1946 - 1964
Generation X: early-mid 60's - early 80's
Millennial: early '80's - mid/late 90's.
Generation Z: the real young 'uns ;)

So, I'm straddling being part of Generation X and being a Millennial ;)
I didn't care for Brit Pop. I was listening to Pink Floyd's "Division Bell" when Blur's "Park Life" came out.

Lol! Ariana Grande is way way out of my demographic but since she's on heavy rotation on terrestrial radio I don't mind her. I just played "No Tears Left To Cry" on Spotify Premium to take a listen on my system. Got to say it was a pretty good beat. My subs were working the low notes on that one. My spouse came up stairs and said "what happened to David Brubeck?" haha
Haha, a bit of a departure form Brubeck!
That is the only track from the album that stood out to me, the rest maybe a bit better than the usual generic. Nothing getting my attention.
At least, for 2018 it's not ridiculously loud for the sake of being loud, those who like to colour by numbers will find DR values more acceptable. edit: Yeah it is compressed and limited, but at least some of the tracks don't sound as bad as other examples of similar DR. DR values are a weighted crest-factor anyway, just an indicator of limiting. Doesn't tell us anything about the dynamic musical content, which would be loudness range. No Tears Left To Cry at least sounds halfway decent, even if it might sound better with less limiting and a general approach to making it loud.

At least with these new headphones I can listen to all this modern tripe without getting taps on the wall from other, more mature folks in the house.

Wading through some Dua Lipa. Interesting, but those processed sounds are littered all over the place. I don't have the headphones up loud yet it keeps sounding like something has been blown out, or is flapping around and vibrating somewhere. It's extremely distracting. The sounds are utterly unmusical and do nothing but to prevent listening to the track as I go off trying to diagnose what is broken in my audio chain. A big question mark!

Take away track from Dua Lipa for me is easily "One Kiss" (Calvin Harris). I just did not like "New Rules" when I heard and saw it on the Freeview TV 'music' * channels. Hearing it without the video, with some better range than an LCD TV and some bottom end, yeah I don't mind it so much.

* Music channels should stick to music. Those damned Kardashians (I thought it was a spin off series from Start Trek TNG/DS9/Voyager). Some show about 16 years birthday parties. Ooof. I think they had a slot of about an hour a day of playing modern tunes.
 
Last edited:
OP
L5730

L5730

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Oct 6, 2018
Messages
668
Likes
435
Location
East of England
Urgh... Poker Face, Lady Gaga. I don't mind the track, but it's just mush. All that fake-bass. Needs a serious re-working, that or only playing on cheap bass-light earbuds.

Lol! Ariana Grande is way way out of my demographic but since she's on heavy rotation on terrestrial radio I don't mind her. I just played "No Tears Left To Cry" on Spotify Premium to take a listen on my system. Got to say it was a pretty good beat. My subs were working the low notes on that one. My spouse came up stairs and said "what happened to David Brubeck?" haha

I stuck some Brubeck on. I could get into this :)
 

dmac6419

Major Contributor
Joined
Feb 16, 2019
Messages
1,246
Likes
770
Location
USofA
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s a bit unfair to judge him for not being a good singer. Hip hop ain’t singing. And I don’t mean this pejoratively.
Of course, my view might be coloured by the fact that I think hip hop is largely performed by people who can’t sing, so maybe I am being pejorative. Unsure. Still, I’m pretty sure there are plenty of ‘real’ singers who are just as bad as Kanye in live performances. Let alone trying to do a Freddie.
The music genre that I don't like I don't listen to it,that's why I don't judge it.example heavy metal
 
OP
L5730

L5730

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Oct 6, 2018
Messages
668
Likes
435
Location
East of England
^ But there is merit in judging things one doesn't like, and then posting their judgement online. Probably means one can turn their winter home warming thermostat down, as the internet will be providing plenty of heat! :D I'm just messing about, of course.
 

RayDunzl

Grand Contributor
Central Scrutinizer
Joined
Mar 9, 2016
Messages
13,201
Likes
16,983
Location
Riverview FL
One of the basic rules here at Neverland East:

If they ain't daid, they ain't played*.

*as with all really good rules, there are copious exceptions
 
Last edited:

timothyo

Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2019
Messages
20
Likes
26
This is a bit off topic, but this post (and avatar) reminded me of this classic interview with pink Floyd: :D
 
OP
L5730

L5730

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Oct 6, 2018
Messages
668
Likes
435
Location
East of England
This is a bit off topic, but this post (and avatar) reminded me of this classic interview with pink Floyd: :D

I'm trying be a little less pretentious than that guy. I also didn't grow up listening to a string quartet.
 

Ceburaska

Active Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 30, 2018
Messages
250
Likes
301
Location
Gloucestershire, England
Boomers? Millennials? Whatevs. 18th century harpsichord is where it’s at :p
 

xr100

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Jan 6, 2020
Messages
518
Likes
237
Location
London, UK
[Boney M]IMHO some of Frank Farian's best work, though you have to be in the right mood for it.

Dreadful sound quality. But catchy, for sure... and some of those tracks have definitively become "standard" classics.

Incidentally, IIRC Farian himself sings on some of those tracks, like "Daddy Cool."
 

xr100

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Jan 6, 2020
Messages
518
Likes
237
Location
London, UK
they have created the current system of expensive healthcare, housing and education

Expensive housing is a product of (the absence of) land availability. Increasingly land has various "protection" statuses attached to it, which is why (of all places) residential property has become very expensive in parts of Australia. Ditto California.
 

xr100

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Jan 6, 2020
Messages
518
Likes
237
Location
London, UK
I'm in my mid 30s - does that make make a boomer? I don't have a smart phone and only recently got a tablet. I think I am now classed as 'old' :p
Gimme Patsy Cline over Taylor Swift, or Sam Cooke over Drake.

Hmm, is Taylor Swift the artist, or is that the "producer"...? (In fairness to Swift, I have no idea how much input she has.)

Quite like a couple of tracks on her "1989" album. But Max Martin, the "King" of catchy pop songs, had a hand in that and to my mind it's more "Max Martin et al." with Taylor Swift as the "guest vocalist."

One could also regard Janet Jackson's "Control," for example, as "Jam and Lewis feat. Janet Jackson." Of course it was created FOR her... but at their peak those cats "had it"...
 

xr100

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Jan 6, 2020
Messages
518
Likes
237
Location
London, UK
Thankfully, the loudness war mastering is not nearly as bad as it was in the early 2000s. Mainstream music is still mixed rather loud and compressed, but at least the compressors have gotten a lot better, and the techs are much better at using them, especially sidechain compression.

Whilst overall "overcompression" is regrettable, "dynamic range" alone won't tell you if something sounds "good" or not, i.e. whether the instruments sound good and the overall mix "gels." And, it is in this respect that too much of the current crop of music just isn't of a professional standard.
 

A800

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Dec 22, 2019
Messages
734
Likes
615
You really shouldn't call this "music".
Or "artists" or probably even "songs"...
I can't listen to this ****.
Most of todays noise is far away from real music imho.
 

xr100

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Jan 6, 2020
Messages
518
Likes
237
Location
London, UK
You really shouldn't call this "music".
Or "artists" or probably even "songs"...
I can't listen to this ****.
Most of todays noise is far away from real music imho.

Hmm, what is "this"?
 
Top Bottom