Do We Obsess Too Much Over Trying To Get "The Perfect" Sound?

[Boy Wonder]

There was a time when mono recordings were perfectly okay, and records sold.

There was a time when hissy four-and-eight track recordings were okay, and records sold.

There was a time when scratchy 45's and LP's were the norm, and records sold.

There was a time when recordings had out-of-tune guitars and vocalists, out-of-time drummers and bassists, and records sold.

There was a time when hardly anyone knew about spectral imbalances, creating harmonics relating to a vocal's fundamental, using subtractive eq to attenuate any frequencies that make the vocal sound unintelligible, ladder, Korg, SEM, or Steiner-Parker filters, and records sold.

Joe and Mary Partypeople grooving to a track at BOOM or any festival wouldn't stop dancing if they suddenly discovered the DJ was playing music by an artist who used VSTi's instead of hardware, or they heard MS-20 filter in one of the clone synth's patches didn't properly implement the Sallen-Key filter topology.

Do we obsess too much and does it really matter?

[plexuss]

Do we obsess too much and does it really matter?

Yes. And, no.

The good sound is only the good sound because we know what the bad sound is.

The good sound needs the bad sound in order to exist.

No bad sound, no good sound.

Learn to embrace the bad sound along with the good sound.

[jamcat]

Yes. People listen to songs, not sounds.

[sqigls]

sounds MAKE UP songs

people hear songs, they probably have no idea WHAT they're listening to

sound is everything, unless you think MP3 and catchy ooh aahs in mono are the be all and end all. BUT if you're a normie, fishing for normies, then forget sound altogether. just look fabulous and do whatever everyone else is doing. but steal something they haven't heard yet, and smear it in autotune.

[Uncle E]

Reportedly, the unmastered tracks of Daft Punk's Homework sounded horrible and Nilz (Nilesh Patel) at The Exchange saved the record.

Deadmau5's tracks, while always well written, were flat sounding before he linked up with Steve Duda. Steve Duda built the master buss chain that Deadmau5 relied on for most of his biggest hits.

Moral of the story is master your craft and then link up with people who mastered their craft. If you're a writer type, find an engineer type, and vice versa. Nellee Hooper and Massive Attack/Bjork, Karl Hyde/Rick Smith/Darren Emerson, Rob & Goldie, Dom & Roland (har har) the list goes on and on.

[sqigls]

Who cares WHAT Daft Punk sound like, they have cool helmets.
right kids!?
Moral to the story, get a cool helmet. Not a mau$ one, that's been done this decade.

[BONES]

Do we obsess too much and does it really matter?

Yes, we do and no, it doesn't. Well, you lot do, anyway. I just use what works.

sounds MAKE UP songs

A good song that uses bad sounds is still a good song, just as a bad song that uses good sounds is still a bad song.

sound is everything

See above. Songs are everything and a good song will always shine, no matter the sounds.

e.g. Cheesy synths, awful drums and woeful vocals don't ruin this song:

Reportedly, the unmastered tracks of Daft Punk's Homework sounded horrible and Nilz (Nilesh Patel) at The Exchange saved the record. Deadmau5's tracks, while always well written, were flat sounding before he linked up with Steve Duda. Steve Duda built the master buss chain that Deadmau5 relied on for most of his biggest hits.

To be fair, though, they are still awful, even after mastering.

[sqigls]

i listened to Front 242 yesterday, for the first time in a while.
f**k that was embarrassing.

[Azbest]

To be fair, though, they are still awful, even after mastering.

Even though I don't really dig disco / "French" house, Homework is an undisputed classic. And Deadmau5' Strobe is a masterpiece.

i listened to Front 242 yesterday, for the first time in a while.
f**k that was embarrassing.

I think unpolished sound actually benefits this genre.

[sqigls]

i do get it, but stand there listening to some old scratchy shite taking your ears off on a nice big rig. Plenty of shite songs out there that sound sonically impressive.
I see both sides of the coin believe me, or i wouldn't be still listening to old Smithsonian folk recordings and such. but sometimes i can listen to a loop for ages, on a nice rig, great synths through amazing processors, just listen to the electricity doing its thing. triggered by a randomising MIDI unit...
If you want to write hit songs then yeah, do that, if you are interested in SOUND, then do that. I'd like to think i'm somewhere in the middle.

[martinjuenke]

Do we obsess too much?

YES.
Musical quality first, sound second.

[chagzuki]

And Deadmau5' Strobe is a masterpiece.

How do people listen to this stuff? It has neither sonic refinement/interest nor actual music/composition. It's like ordering a Big Mac and only getting the bun.

[carrieres]

i listened to Front 242 yesterday, for the first time in a while.
f**k that was embarrassing.

i saw Front 242 four days ago, for the first time in a while.
f**k that was entertaining

[jens]

Everyone needs to answer that question for him-/herself. Many of you seem obsessed to me over what the others do, think, believe - which personally I find much weider than to keep looking for "the perfect sound", what ever that may be.

Many times it happens to me that I have a - somewhat vague - idea for a sound in my head and then I often struggle to achieve it. Sometimes I can exactly point my finger at what's "wrong" for me and then I need to try and tweak and replace ten phasers, change their place in the change, add a flanger on top, carefully tweak other bits in the chain, re-record the track, record another track, remove some other track, and what not. Sometimes I end up removing it altogether in the end, sometimes I end up with exactly what I am looking for, sometimes I give up and stick with something "mediocre". That is my personal, individual yourney - it's not yours. Yours may be a wholy different one or it may be similar to mine. But whether it is or isn't doesn't affect mine at all.

[whassup]

Who cares WHAT Daft Punk sound like, they have cool helmets.
right kids!?

There you have it. Wasn't that hard.