Is music quality moving away from the "audiophile"

Here's a link to an excellent site, and organization "Turn It Up" that talks about what many recording artist and record producers are trying to do to improve the dynamics on recordings and get away from the wholesale "compression" of recordings.

http://www.turnmeup.org/

Are you surprised that the total gestalt of the culture is turning to crap?

Chasmal - not surprised at all. But these things run in cycles. At one time people painted over perfectly good interior wood, a generation later we stripped the paint off. PC's, Ipod's etc have wowwed the general population in a similar fashion, the onthego culture hasn't helped. But at some point there will be a shift back in the other direction.

First, I am not a fan of audio compression, but a big fan of data compression. Our electronics and music industries has always been marked by convenience over quality. Since the introduction of the car stereo and portable listening devices, we have sought to exploit the mobile listener.

With that said, it is now a numbers game. Music distribution will continue to favor the digital formats, where the bulk of the buying activity is taking place. There is estimated penetration of MP3 devices into all US households at 140 million players, which is approaching 70% of US Households. All audiophile content(including vinyl)is 1.5 million copies pressed in 2008. 140 vs 1.5--it is easy math to see where the bread is buttered. Metalica like most bands are going to reshape their music to where market will be. The next wave devices will move to cell phones.

With that said, a few "cult" bands realize there is an alternative universe in vinyl and are shaping their music accordingly. I can point you to recent vinyl releases by Calexico (Carried to Dust), Shelby Lynne (Just a Little Lovin') and Jenny Lewis (Acid Tongue)that were recorded using old school techniques and sound comparable to anything recorded before the days of compression. I don't see that going away anytime soon, but it will never be but a blip on the revenue side.

I myself have been in the pro touring space for 30 years. I spend a great deal of time on the road with my bands, which is where most of them make their money. I probably listen to music 90% of the time on my iPod and like the next wave of devices that are supporting the Apple data compression formats. The Wadia 170 docking station at home (hooked up to bryston and ATC) does a pretty good job at working around the sonic limitations of Apple (Huge WAF--my wife loves this) and when on the road, I use Ray Samuels minature headphone amp, which are incredible at boosting the output from the iPod. I use inexpensive Sony Pro MDR 7506 headphones which offer some of the best and neutral dynamic playback I know.

I really am not bothered so much--don't feel it is that "crappy" knowing I have access to 8,000 songs at my finger tips. I certainly dont miss carting vinyl and CDs around.