Why does modern music sound so bad?

[SomeGuyDude]

   
Well, it's obvious that people who like underground and indie stuff like you have nothing to complain about.
 
But me, I can actually appreciate the talent in some of the mainstream artists, and their music sounds okay when you see it on TV, or hear it in a party. But when you sit down with your open air headphones, it's unbearable.
 
That's what I'm lamenting right now. All that talent (subjective opinion) wasted by ****ty producers, not to mention all the great old music you were talking about earlier getting butchered with the remastered albums.
 
Just the other day I wanted to get some of the old Guns n' Roses songs I had lost a long time ago, so I got their latest greatest hits compilation... My ears are still bleeding, they destroyed every bit of music, all that's left is noise.
 
Same thing with Chris Rea latest re-releases, the poor guy... they got him good.

 
This is an excellent point, and the blame lies squarely on the record labels trying to court the casual iTunes crowd, unfortunately. I think it started in the 60s when record companies noticed that if they etched the vinyl in such a way that their songs were about 1/3 louder than others, they got played more in jukeboxes than the rest. 
 
In fact, let's not even blame the producers, let's blame the people who buy things that sound like that. They hear "louder" and go "aw yeah this is great!" and it sells like crazy. I was listening to the remastered version of Offspring's "Smash" and had to go back to the original for the same reason. Everything got flattened.
 
What's nice is that the "loudness wars" are coming to an end. It lasted for a little while, but after famed kerfuffles like Metallica's Death Magnetic it's waning. 

 

[Redcarmoose]

This is an excellent point, and the blame lies squarely on the record labels trying to court the casual iTunes crowd, unfortunately. I think it started in the 60s when record companies noticed that if they etched the vinyl in such a way that their songs were about 1/3 louder than others, they got played more in jukeboxes than the rest. 

In fact, let's not even blame the producers, let's blame the people who buy things that sound like that. They hear "louder" and go "aw yeah this is great!" and it sells like crazy. I was listening to the remastered version of Offspring's "Smash" and had to go back to the original for the same reason. Everything got flattened.

What's nice is that the "loudness wars" are coming to an end. It lasted for a little while, but after famed kerfuffles like Metallica's Death Magnetic it's waning. 

With normal consumer grade equipment this sound quality were talking about goes completely unnoticed. We have to remember we are just a small percent of the population. We don't even effect their sales charts.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

With normal consumer grade equipment this sound quality were talking about goes completely unnoticed. We have remember we are just a small percent of the population. We don't even effect their sales charts.

 
And hell, some of us are even a minority amongst a minority. If the percentage of people who avidly research headphones is small, the number of people shelling out the cash for flagships is smaller still, and then the percentage of THOSE people who listen to modern music? That's a fraction of a fraction of a fraction. It'd be like a guy trying to get a petition signed because Papa Johns doesn't offer blueberry/chocolate pizza. 

 

[Noobmachine]

I think this is mainly an issue with not so much modern music, but perhaps the specific genres that you may listen to? For almost all my stuff, I notice that the ones that seem to suffer from this the most is modern rock/pop stuff, whereas a lot of indie/acoustic stuff is pretty much the same. Plus it also has to do with the way the artists and studios master their tracks, I know of a few bands that do a fantastic job with rendering stereo space in their music, even if it's just mid heavy rock music.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Things are changing and labels are aware of the possibility of a full dynamic range recording just being an exciting way to resell older releases. Really the artists themselves may have the most authority in getting the labels to change and to see the travisty they are taking part in.

 

[lamode]

It all comes down to poor production technique, and it's such a tragedy. The best audiophile recordings made today show you what's possible with modern technology and it's stunning. Engineers in the 50s would have killed for today's microphones and digital mastering technology.