Sparty
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|  | Evolution of Contemporary Western Music
« Thread Started on Aug 6, 2012, 1:41pm » | |
It would be interesting to hear Ian's (as well as other music veeterans') thoughts on this article from Scientific Reports: http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/120726/s....P-631-20120801. If this link doesn't work, just Google the subject title for report in July 26th issue of Scientific Reports.
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kcrvrrnnr
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| | Re: Evolution of Contemporary Western Music
« Reply #1 on Aug 6, 2012, 10:47pm » | |
As simply a music listener and not a musician/student of music, I found that article brutal to try and read/understand regardless of its merits.
There should have been a succinct conclusion in laymens' terms to explain the conclusions drawn from the study.
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Sparty
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| | Re: Evolution of Contemporary Western Music
« Reply #2 on Aug 7, 2012, 2:25pm » | |
Aug 6, 2012, 10:47pm, kcrvrrnnr wrote:As simply a music listener and not a musician/student of music, I found that article brutal to try and read/understand regardless of its merits.
There should have been a succinct conclusion in laymens' terms to explain the conclusions drawn from the study. |
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Agree. My best take is that they're suggesting 'music' -- in this case let's just stick to 'rock' -- is progressively becoming more compressed, louder, and if I read correctly, less dynamic. I seem to recall Ian making similar observations, though I can't point to where or when -- more just a collection of general statements he's made over the years concerning evolution of modern rock music. It's interesting to note, though, that elsewhere on this site someone posted a link to a Planet Rock review of TAAB2, ranking it the #9 album of the year or some such, where the reviewer makes a similar observation, stating that "...[With TAAB2] you really do get the various nuances of light and shade, where space is as important as noise. Modern records - especially rock records - seem to lack the subtlety of pre-digital era productions. The loudness war is a real issue these days, and producers need to work a lot harder to remember that there's more to making a great rock record than maxing out those dials for extreme dynamic compression. Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson worked on TAAB2 along with engineer Mike Downs and mastering engineer Peter Mew, and they deserve a standing ovation for their stellar work." I agree with this reviewer's observation, and I suspect that the Scientific Reports article confirms it to some extent. Still, one's left to wonder whether there's ever any going back, whether the music we cheerish so deeply (and more specifically its mixing and production) has become an evolutionary relic, or whether the direction described in the article is, instead, an evolutionary dead end, itself doomed to a brutish Neanderthal-like extinction -- at one time powerful and dominant but ultimately overtaken by those for whom 'sensitive and caring seemed the lighter, brighter way to be.'
Thanks for ploughing through the article, kcrvrrnnr. I'm much like you -- a simple music listener. Still, I find stuff like this interesting, even if I don't really know what it means. 
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Tomn
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| | Re: Evolution of Contemporary Western Music
« Reply #3 on Aug 8, 2012, 10:56am » | |
I think this is certainly true for the popular music produced for mass consumption. But that's always been somewhat formulaic - this is just the current formula. There remains those bands and individuals flying well below the radar [and radio stations] who don't subscribe to it. It just requires a lot of work to root them out. Thank god for Ian. 56 days until TAAB 1&2 in Boston!
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