[dleblanc343]

.

 

[Byronb]

That, at least is good to hear. Maybe the consumer can put some pressure on the studios and fix these terribly engineered selections!

 

[Silent One]

You mean 

... fix their profits?

 

[Byronb]

LOL...Yeah that too!!

 

[BigCabDaddy]

Well said David, I think is a key reason why we see all of these 60's, 70's and 80's bands still able to make a living while many are way past their prime. Because, their music was made by the artist, not the engineer. And yes I know I am showing my age.

Couldn't have anything to do with the baby boomer demographic could it? My 90 year old mother listened to Lawrence Welk until her dying day... I listen to "my music" but try to stay somewhat contemporary too, as well as delving into the past.

 

[Byronb]

I would agree with that if it weren't for the fact that having attended many of these shows, there are an awful lot of 20 somethings in attendance As the saying goes good music is timeless. 
 
I do stay current on music, and nothing is worse than loving a song and being unable to listen to it because the engineering so abysmal. 

 

[BigCabDaddy]

I would agree with that if it weren't for the fact that having attended many of these shows, there are an awful lot of 20 somethings in attendance As the saying goes good music is timeless. 

I do stay current on music, and nothing is worse than loving a song and being unable to listen to it because the engineering so abysmal. 

Meh and shrug. I've come to think of auto-tune as akin to the megaphone of the twenties or the slap back of the fifties or the endless panning of the sixties. It's all just fashion and momentary style. Someday auto-tune will make me smile and think back when I hear it. By the way, I listened to Sigur Ros for the first time yesterday and I'm pretty sure they added a track of vinyl surface noise into the mix at one point... As Kilgore Trout would say, "So it goes."

 

[Byronb]

Quote:

Meh and shrug. I've come to think of auto-tune as akin to the megaphone of the twenties or the slap back of the fifties or the endless panning of the sixties. It's all just fashion and momentary style. Someday auto-tune will make me smile and think back when I hear it. By the way, I listened to Sigur Ros for the first time yesterday and I'm pretty sure they added a track of vinyl surface noise into the mix at one point... As Kilgore Trout would say, "So it goes."

 
I guess you are right there, just wish the current "style" wasn't so contrary to the audiophile hobby.

 

[DavidMahler]

Quote:

Couldn't have anything to do with the baby boomer demographic could it? My 90 year old mother listened to Lawrence Welk until her dying day... I listen to "my music" but try to stay somewhat contemporary too, as well as delving into the past.

I think its necessary to look at the industry as a whole.  The industry is still scrambling for a solution to the fact that most people can get their music on demand via youtube, and if they even want to purchase it, they will spend a dollar on itunes for the single song.  Gone are the days when mainstream artists can really market an album.  That's what makes Adele's and Kanye's achievements so remarkable.  Gone are the days when you need to learn an instrument to record your own instrumental track.  Gone are the days when it really matters if you're tone deaf - you literally just need a computer or tablet and cheap $5 app and you can create songs that sound just about as professional as what you hear on the mainstream radio.
 
So where does that leave engineers, artists, musicians, composers....it's very hard to say. It leaves the industry with a huge void.  And the only solution thus far is to produce a consummate entertainer.  Someone who is attractive enough to be a model, has enough swagger to dance well, has enough acting chops to crossover into movies.  The music industry is selling a package deal now.  They've done this before, but never nearly as focused as they are now.  
 
 
Quote:

Meh and shrug. I've come to think of auto-tune as akin to the megaphone of the twenties or the slap back of the fifties or the endless panning of the sixties. It's all just fashion and momentary style. Someday auto-tune will make me smile and think back when I hear it. By the way, I listened to Sigur Ros for the first time yesterday and I'm pretty sure they added a track of vinyl surface noise into the mix at one point... As Kilgore Trout would say, "So it goes."

I appreciate that analogy, because on one hand its very true.  With every advancement of technology, the artist has more options available and potentially needs less accuracy in their performance.
 
When autotune is used outwardly (T-Pain, Kanye style) they are used for effect - just as Spector would drench his mono recordings in reverb, or the Beatles would put backwards guitar, or Elvis would sing to a slapback echo.  It is an effect.  Now, I think that's understandable and has its roots in achieving an artistic aesthetic not achievable without technology.  

HOWEVER, autotune has made its way into almost every mainstream vocal performance.  Time correction has made its way into almost as many.  This means that even a capable singer has had much of his/her character and humanness filtered out so that it would appeal to a generation of ears that is deeply influenced by robot-like pitch perfection.  
 
An example of a problem this causes:
I'm not saying she's my favorite artist, but do you all remember the days when Whitney Houston's voice was a marvel to behold, she had awesome intonation, a great powerful voice and she seemed to represent for a time the ideal mainstream female pop vocalist.  Take a listen to any of her songs now and you will notice that compared to the songs that make it on the radio today, her vocals are all over the place with regard to pitch.  But in her time, she was considered essentially pitch-perfect.  Now that we've (as a society) have been conditioned to unobtainable pitch-perfection, human-articulation of pitch can feel awkward.  And it's even worse when you see an artist live that uses live-autotune.  

 

[Dubstep Girl]

interesting  ideas, i was actually thinking of autotune a few days ago. and thinking how it ultimately affects music as a whole.

 

[cyborg00900]

Quote:

interesting  ideas, i was actually thinking of autotune a few days ago. and thinking how it ultimately affects music as a whole.

autotune is a buzzkill.

 

[LugBug1]

luckily we have an auto 'off' button as well, for when Adele comes on the radio.... She annoys the hell out of me. Really don't see or hear the appeal. 
 
Anyways, mainstream music, is constantly changing. Evolving? No, devolving? perhaps in the ears of some. I think its always been bad. Its easy to look at yesterday with fond memories and compare how bad it is now. But I spent my teens in the 80's and believe me it was bad. Very bad haha the early days of electronic pop with bad hair and production values.. but the knock on effect was that it forced me to discover the Beatles,Doors,Zepplin etc.
At the end of the day the way I see it is this; crap music is still crap whether its auto-tuned or not. You either want to buy it or you don't. The people who buy mainstream music are the same people who buy into the latest fads. Whether its clothes, food or music. If its popular, they want it. And remember music is a learned 'thing'. We learn to appreciate it. If it were not this case then there wouldn't be such a contrast in musical styles across the globe. Bad pop is poured onto our children from mtv. They are inevitably either going to give in to it or rebel against it. Luckily we do have more music channels both tv and radio then ever before. So we aren't stuck with one mtv channel or Top of the pops. You do have alternatives. 
 
If all music appealed to your own subjective ideal, then there would be no such thing as 'taste in music'. Someone's crap is also someones favorite. Just like someones favorite book maybe '50 shades of grey' but just because you prefer reading Tolstoy doesn't mean its any better. Better for your tastes, maybe. But to scoff at someone elses taste is to show nothing less than ignorance.   
 
I love Beethoven, but do I think he is better than Justin Bieber? Your damn right I do. But then I am an ignorant *****  

 

[miceblue]

Quote:

Quote:

I went to a local Head-Fi meet and in an after-after meet, I got to try out the Stax Lambda Signature and Sigma Pro earspeakers.
 
@ DavidMahler, what amp did you use with the Sigma's? I found them to be very bassy and congested, not ideal for orchestra nor acoustic tracks from my listen. They had a LOT of mid bass and not much extension. Looking at your review for the Sigma, it almost seems the opposite experience I had. XD
 
I found the Lambda Signature to be much more transparent and open-sounding in comparison.
 
[pics and video snipped]
 
 

---

I also tried the LCD-2 with an Objective 2 amp, as I stated I would do earlier in the thread, and I have to re-evaluate my preferences for them since they sounded really great! Most of the rigs here pair it with tube amplifiers and I NEVER liked the LCD-2's with them. With the O2, I actually enjoyed it so much as to give it a good amount of head-time. Now if only they weren't so heavy.....I had to keep it on my head with two hands since they kept sliding off my head.
 
[video snipped]
 
 
I tried the HE-500 too. With a Woo Audio WA7, the sound was smooth and pretty neutral. On the Objective 2, which is what I would use were I to buy the HE-500, I noticed an annoying treble peak at around 10 kHz, which is the case from what I see in Tyll's Innerfidelity measurements.
[video snipped]

strangely, I missed this wonderful post! Curious, do you know if your Sigma was the Pro, standard version or the version to incorporate 404 drivers?  Either way, I use the BHSE with it.  I agree with you tho that there is a mid-bass bump and the bass overall is sort of a mixed bag.
 
Nice videos!

EDIT: Never mind, I have noted that you are using the Sigma Pro

Ah I've heard a lot of good things about the Blue Hawaii amp. The person who owns the Stax gear I tried is kind of a vintage audio gear guy. I must say, the Stax amps that he has look pretty neat in the retro sense, hahaha.
 

---

I saw that you posted in the new Shure SE846 thread. Are you planning to purchase one? I'm really curious to see how it stacks up to their previous SE535 flagship earphone and to other earphones in the ~$1000 USD range.

 

[TheWuss]

my analogy would be this:
 
autotune is to music what steroids are to athletics.
 
all artists today who would be considered great singers instead have an asterisk next to their name in the long run.
because they have been using performance enhancers. 

 
give me the pre-steroid Bo Jackson.
or the pre-autotune Whitney Houston.
 
you can keep all the current crap on the radio...

 

[Byronb]

Quote:

my analogy would be this:
 
autotune is to music what steroids are to athletics.
 
all artists today who would be considered great singers instead have an asterisk next to their name in the long run.
because they have been using performance enhancers. 

 
give me the pre-steroid Bo Jackson.
or the pre-autotune Whitney Houston.
 
you can keep all the current crap on the radio...

 
+1