Well, my old headphones broke last week, and I went out and purchased a
really really nice pair of Sony In-Ear buds. These are the headphones
that have rubber tips that go inside your ear and act as a subwoofer.
It gives gorgeous bass and crystal clear highs. So what's my point?
Well, after listening to a good 3 to 4 dozen cds of all genres, I've
noticed that maybe five cds out of the dozens had no peaking or pops or
some mixing/mastering errors. The worst cds? IDM artists, of course.
Aphex, of course, has peaked in quite a few of his songs, most notably
"next heap width", the last track on I Care. But after listening to a
bunch of other artists, I noticed certain songs and at times, whole
albums, had horrible quality mixing with numerous instruments peaking
and creating ugly pierces and pops that were obviously not intentional
(if they were, it wasn't used in a creative tasteful context). The
thing is, it's hard to hear these errors on normal speakers, and lower
quality headphones, too.
So, who were the perpetrators? Well, Marumari's The Wolves Hollow album
was damn terrible in this area. Muziq's Lunatic Harness and Full Sunken
Breaks (as Kid Spatula) were not bad overall, but in certain songs,
worse! Now my question... what's the deal here? I also dabble in the
field of writing wanky electronic music, and have been doing so for more
than a couple years and have been able to keep peaking near or AT zero
without any digital distortion, unsavory pops, etc! Certainly I can see
that maybe Mike P recorded a keyboard lick melodically perfect, and
decided not to redo it for the sake of perfect tone, but isn't that what
I pay these signed artists for? Aren't they using a lot of software
nowadays, too? I write my stuff all on software, with the occaisonal
sample, and I have no problem with ill bred pops and distortion.
Granted, I am a texture hobbit and love my crisp clean sound, but to
hear professionals put out great songs that could sound better kind of
gets me down. I nearly spend as much time mixing stuff down and
mastering as writing the track itself. Any unintentional distortion or
pop really fucks my shit right up. It's not complicated to clean up.
It does take some extra effort. Just some thoughts for debate. Maybe
this should have gone on IDM making, but I think its an issue big enough
for all to be concerned about.
Of all the artists in my cd collection, one has consistently put out
absolutely crystal clear, spotless recordings, as well as amazing
music. I won't tell you who they are, but their name rhymes with
Raw-Neck-Er.
btw, get those headphones... it's like listening to an album all over
again. you hear shit you've never heard on any speakers or headphones
(including overlooked mistakes)... fucking unbelievable.
-Mark
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