Thursday, June 9, 2011

Vol. I No. 1

Talking Heads is a band whose career illustrates and reflects the significance of the transition to digital audio processing in the recording industry.

From their first album through Speaking in Tongues we hear a band with great passion, authenticity, and creative self-fulfillment. Suddenly with Little Creatures we hear a methodical quality. We hear a band that had gone from 'pushing the envelope' to a pedantic or condescending school-teacherishness. This band has gone from enthusiasm to a bored and boring pretentiousness.

I attribute this to the advent of digital audio processing in the studio. Consider how the advent of digital audio is reflected in the career of the Clash. This band's last album, Combat Rock, was made just before digital processing had overwhelmed the industry.

I loved the next thing I heard from Mick Jones, The Big Audio Dynamite LP, but to me it reflects digital processing in its lack of the passion and wildness of Combat Rock and the Clash's other, earlier records.

This may be a good time to point out that it should come as no surprise that a digitally-processed song will very frequently 'sound better' than an all-analog production due to the fact that the digitalized material is nothing more than a sketchy, non-infinite extract of the original sound and, for that reason, it is a much simpler matter to control and manage the tonal balance of the final playback output.

Remember that in the case of all-analog audio, you are dealing with an infinite non-discontinuous 'echo' of the original sound, which, because of its tonal richness, can be difficult to play back with a perfectly pleasing tonal balance. A multi-band graphic equalizer is highly recommended for those seeking to enjoy all-analog audio to the very fullest extent.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Vol. I No. 2

A great deal of confusion exists because of the difficulty in distinguishing between records and tapes that are true all-analog productions and those which have been digitally processed at some point in the production sequence.

In my own case there was a period of years when on numerous occasions I obtained vinyl and magnetic recordings and listened to them without realizing that, despite being in an analog format, these recordings were not truly analog because they had been subjected to digital processing.

If you, the reader, are a music lover it is possible or likely that you have had similar experiences. What I recall is a feeling of dissatisfaction with the music on those occasions, a thought to myself of 'where is the magic?' or 'somehow this record just isn't grabbing me.' I recall making continuous, repeated efforts to try to 'get into' the music with limited success. Whereas the case with a favorite recording in all-analog playback is that typically it will powerfully move you with an overwhelming feeling that can be described as contagious, infectious, enchanting.

What I often get with digitalized music is a kind of prickly sensation in my nerves and spine. I suspect that may happen also to other listeners and they may tend to attribute this to the presumed quality of the sound.

It may be hard to remember for older readers, while younger ones may never have had this experience, but when all-analog reproduction of a favorite song occurs, the listener will typically feel a whole gamut of emotions and may in some cases be 'swept away' by the feeling the music engenders.

Digitalized music, as the superficial simulation that it is, irritates the nervous system rather than inducing the powerful motions and emotions formerly always associated with music.