[Dixielandjazz] NPR.org - The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse

Bert Brandsma dixieorkest at hotmail.com
Wed Jan 6 00:54:08 PST 2010


This was a very interesting story.

However, there have been a lot of other changes as well in the total music industry.

An example is the brightness in sound coming out an instrument.

Take a vintage recording of the early Count Basie band with Joe Jones on drums. His cymbals have a low pitch, they are like a warm coat around a soloist. These kind of cymbals are not being made any more. So the soloist kind of has to fight this sound to project his tone above it. This is esp. for tenor saxes, you have to cut through the sound of the cymbal. It kind of invites you to forget playing the lowest register, since you don't hear yourself there anyway.

Same with saxophones, probably they even have to be made more bright in order to cut through a modern type big band with backing with these kind of cymbals and brass that also is playing much higher than they did before the 1940's.

If you work very hard you can get a vintage sound out of a modern saxophone, but in the old Conns and Bueshers from the 1930's that sound is in the horn naturaly it self.

Now the horns are brighter, but they loose some other qualities like warmth.

 

Big Band scoring before 1940 had the saxes more or less in the same register as the trumpets, but now trombones are low, saxes in between and trumpets an octave above the saxes.

A lead trumpeter nowadays starts above high C, it's almost his lowest note! (Little joke)

 

But you really hear and feal these differences, big bands in the end of the 40's started to play much higher and aggresive.

It almost looked like a battle, may the loudest band win. Probably this even is what actually was happening.

 

And that was before they started to put microphones for every single player in a BIG BAND.........

 

Nice subject.....

 

 

Bert Brandsma

www.dixielandcrackerjacks.com

 


 
> From: nvickers1 at cox.net
> Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2010 17:13:36 -0600
> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] NPR.org - The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse
> CC: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
> To: dixieorkest at hotmail.com
> 
> To: DJML & Musicians and Jazzfans list
> From: Norman Vickers, Jazz Society of Pensacola
> 
> Here's a link to the NPR story feature about changing in recording techniques, MP3 and "why music sounds worse." The story seems to make sense to me, but I am not a "sound" expert and I have some decreased hearing acuity consistent with my age--mid 70s. Some of this has been discussed, in part, on these lists before, but, I'd be especially interested in what Jim Kashishian and other experts have to say on this.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse
> http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122114058&sc=emaf
> 
> 
> *Listen/Watch on NPR.org*
> Many stories at NPR.org have audio or video content. When you visit the link
> above, look for a "Listen" or "Watch" button.
> For technical support, please visit NPR's Audio/Video Help page:
> http://www.npr.org/help/media.html
> 
> --end--
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