Feb 22, 2023
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Sound quality! What is it? Why does it matter? It may be subjective, but I think it is all-important. This episode is a short journey through the history of recorded music.
Early recordings were rough. They weren't great and they certainly weren't high-fidelity. But things have changed since the early days.
First there was mono, then stereo, and now we even have spatial audio. We've come from analog tape, cassette tape, vinyl records, through to compact discs (CDs), mp3s, and all of the various digital formats that we have today. And don't get me started on the 'loudness wars' that began in the late 1990's!
Throughout all of these changes, sound quality has evolved over time. The way that music is recorded, mixed and mastered has a huge impact on the end result that the listener hears. Sometimes it can be glorious and at other times is can be disastrous. Case in point, I can't stand the major dynamic range compression used in much of modern music.
However, when music is recorded and produced well, it can sound incredible. Subsequently, the notion of 'sound quality' is of paramount importance to serious music listeners.
Recommendations:
A compilation album that has great sound quality: Steely Dan - The Definitive Collection (released in 2006).
A song with amazing sound quality: 'Rocket Man' by Elton John.
OBM tip: make sure you find a release of this song from the 1970s to the 1990s, as more recent releases generally have a squashed dynamic range that sucks some of the life out of the song.