Redcarmoose
Headphoneus Supremus
The process of discovery and appreciation of music may be different for each individual? Then again there will be parallels at times. We know the past musical history will direct interests in directions.
1) Take for example the vocalist. This individual may concentrate on the actual performance and think of sound quality as secondary. Imagine a rare recording found which may not be the best quality but would delineate those singing talents which helped propel the singer to notoriety!
2) The professional recording engineer will approach a recording and maybe value it’s ability to actually exist as an example of a musical event.
3) A rock guitarist may focus on the guitar and how the tone was captured.
And of course beyond the examples above your regular music buff is going to start and stop..........with maybe enjoying the whole picture.
Wait......what...the whole picture? The entire attributes of recorded music in general? How do I personally discover the value at hand?
It’s a really big question to say the least. But amazingly most of us here are into headphones for this single purpose. We are trying to get closer to the music. Much of this analysis is beyond a scientific strategy, as it’s intuitive and indescribable. Of course much of what goes on at Head-Fi is making a science and an art of indescribable aspects of music and music reproduction; and we move forward.
So because it’s an art it’s a subjective interpretation of someone’s communication or a group effort at musical transfer of creative elements. As talked about earlier it’s going to be better interpreted on many levels and slightly different for everyone. Then there is question of emotion. When the equipment falls away there is only the existing emotions of music to be felt. At times music is new, at times it’s a replay of older ideas and themes. Yet at the end it holds a specific value for what it does. Actually some is bad and some is good, some great. And we found as a group this stuff does normally get judged in parallel by the group.
As talked about earlier the group opinion IS able to define something as abstract and giant as a piece of music. How is this.
Also remember everyone has their own perception. Some music reviewers need multiple listens. Some pieces of music demand multiple listens to understand. Some music in underrated and some grossly overrated.
Then there are the musical groups. The cliques.....the listening experience/music that somehow becomes correct due to a past history.........only open to those that understand and lived that history.
As individuals we only have enough time to listen to a percent of music in the world. Somehow we actually work to slim down the variables. In these choices we choose what’s good as well as what’s a waist of time.
But what is it?
What is that thing that keeps the music moving along with a presentation which stays interesting and fun? We have all had those front loaded albums where the the first five songs are fantastic, then something happened; why is that?
Then there are the expectations. The single CD recording performance that just has to out-do the previous one. Literally the top that the next music that has to impossibly top. The fact that no human effort could top what came before, just because it was THAT good. Musical groups or even composers can attempt to move forward way ahead of a listeners expected place to a new musical place. The same can be when no innovations are obtained, being left with nothing new or creative brought to the table.
Then there is the recording ideas. The recording processes and goals wanted and obtained. How is it that there is no consistency in the recording process. I’ve heard the new producers just leave all the knobs the way they found them when they walked into the studio. With that all the CDs should sound the same? And while big budgets matter, it seems there is no correlation between recording budget and sound quality? There is no correlation between 1 year or 15 years between albums resulting in sound quality. If anything too long for a recording means we have 900 tracks making everything loose any spontaneity ever created.
So what is it when it all comes together for you? How is it when the planets line up on a piece of music? How do you judge a record. Is there actually a process or this all luck. What would you say outlines those recordings where the producer/artist/artists hit the nail on the head?
1) Take for example the vocalist. This individual may concentrate on the actual performance and think of sound quality as secondary. Imagine a rare recording found which may not be the best quality but would delineate those singing talents which helped propel the singer to notoriety!
2) The professional recording engineer will approach a recording and maybe value it’s ability to actually exist as an example of a musical event.
3) A rock guitarist may focus on the guitar and how the tone was captured.
And of course beyond the examples above your regular music buff is going to start and stop..........with maybe enjoying the whole picture.
Wait......what...the whole picture? The entire attributes of recorded music in general? How do I personally discover the value at hand?
It’s a really big question to say the least. But amazingly most of us here are into headphones for this single purpose. We are trying to get closer to the music. Much of this analysis is beyond a scientific strategy, as it’s intuitive and indescribable. Of course much of what goes on at Head-Fi is making a science and an art of indescribable aspects of music and music reproduction; and we move forward.
So because it’s an art it’s a subjective interpretation of someone’s communication or a group effort at musical transfer of creative elements. As talked about earlier it’s going to be better interpreted on many levels and slightly different for everyone. Then there is question of emotion. When the equipment falls away there is only the existing emotions of music to be felt. At times music is new, at times it’s a replay of older ideas and themes. Yet at the end it holds a specific value for what it does. Actually some is bad and some is good, some great. And we found as a group this stuff does normally get judged in parallel by the group.
As talked about earlier the group opinion IS able to define something as abstract and giant as a piece of music. How is this.
Also remember everyone has their own perception. Some music reviewers need multiple listens. Some pieces of music demand multiple listens to understand. Some music in underrated and some grossly overrated.
Then there are the musical groups. The cliques.....the listening experience/music that somehow becomes correct due to a past history.........only open to those that understand and lived that history.
As individuals we only have enough time to listen to a percent of music in the world. Somehow we actually work to slim down the variables. In these choices we choose what’s good as well as what’s a waist of time.
But what is it?
What is that thing that keeps the music moving along with a presentation which stays interesting and fun? We have all had those front loaded albums where the the first five songs are fantastic, then something happened; why is that?
Then there are the expectations. The single CD recording performance that just has to out-do the previous one. Literally the top that the next music that has to impossibly top. The fact that no human effort could top what came before, just because it was THAT good. Musical groups or even composers can attempt to move forward way ahead of a listeners expected place to a new musical place. The same can be when no innovations are obtained, being left with nothing new or creative brought to the table.
Then there is the recording ideas. The recording processes and goals wanted and obtained. How is it that there is no consistency in the recording process. I’ve heard the new producers just leave all the knobs the way they found them when they walked into the studio. With that all the CDs should sound the same? And while big budgets matter, it seems there is no correlation between recording budget and sound quality? There is no correlation between 1 year or 15 years between albums resulting in sound quality. If anything too long for a recording means we have 900 tracks making everything loose any spontaneity ever created.
So what is it when it all comes together for you? How is it when the planets line up on a piece of music? How do you judge a record. Is there actually a process or this all luck. What would you say outlines those recordings where the producer/artist/artists hit the nail on the head?
Last edited: