Publié le 12 février 2009
Une fois n’est pas coutume, un post in inglis pour nos lecteurs étrangers….
Cd’s, Mp3’s, bits and byte the dust
New music recorded on a computer, mixed with a computer and sometimes mastered with a plug-in tool ends up sounding pretty harsh to the ear in a lot of cases. 50 meg on a CD or 5 meg on an mp3 file ?. It does not matter that much, if it’s sounds bad from the very start, it wont get better… What is the use of « audio surround format » and meticulous listening conditions if the master file is rotten to begin with. I’m afraid that low-cost recording, low income from releases, compression for space saving and easy streaming, generally low listening conditions… etc. might affect the way the world turns around music.
We use to say : « that mp3 file is too compressed and sounds like shit »… but we knew the original sounded great, we could always go back to it… To the real McCoy, the master, the analogical stuff remember ANALOGIC ?… Listen to a re masted John Coltrane album on a good sound system, it’s a great pleasurerable experience no ? Well that’s because the session was great and well recorded in the first place.
Honestly, I don’t know if it will become in later times very popular to record good sounding music for good solid ears… So, few new or old labels will want to invest in it… What everybody is looking for today is « the new business model ».
Good sound does not come cheap. I think art in general will be finance in the future by sponsors or clients who expect no direct gain from production expenses. Music business (the selling phonogram part of it) has been a very good « hit and run » market for 50 years, at least for some, but it is not anymore. CD will still be manufactured one way or another, packaging will get classier and passionate people will buy them in special shops but as a money making product ? Hum. Good luck. Mean while, let’s stream !
Looking for a label for your new project ? Me too !
D.T.