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Is music quality moving away from the "audiophile"

I recently read an interesting post on the production of the new Metallica album and how its sound has been catered to the Ipod generation. Formatting the sound of the album toward the ipod itself. With computer downloads, mp3's etc, etc. it seems that "compression" over quality is becoming the norm.

In the Metallica example, I have been a fan since 84. Now, i know they are not a good example for the so called "audiophile", but that being said the production on this album is terrible. Actually, worse than their previous album St. Anger. Who makes the call on this? The band, engineer, record company? A combination of all?
zigonht
kmulkey
173 posts
 
...and then there's Mr. Tom Petty...who made sure that in the recent Mudcrutch release, NO compression was used. Classy guy...
slikric3000
638 posts
 
Is there 1 or 2 of these type of post a week?
aball
1,994 posts
 
It's not a big problem for me. I turn down the treble a bit, goose up the bass, and then enjoy the music! It is amazing what an EQ can do for compressed recordings. It doesn't make them perfect of course, but I listen for the music and not the recording quality anyway.

Arthur
markphd
667 posts
 
Slikric3000....there's one or two of EVERY type of post each week! :)
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
I hope that the music quality is headed away from the "audiophile" many of which embrace the music of the jazz lite vocalists Krall, Barber, Cole, Monheit, Jacintha etc., as well as the soppy folk lite vocals of a deceased "singer" who's name will remain unspoken.

As far as sound quality goes, the hobby is dieing, as we are not enlisting young recruits in sufficient numbers to sustain it. If dynamic range compression improves the sound of music on i-pods and car stereos to the point where more young people become interested, I am all for it.
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