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Bob Dylan says modern recording atrocious.


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Bob Dylan says modern
recording atrocious





Bob Dylan (?!) is commenting on recording
quality... lol... [:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:$][:D] ... and I heard Ray Charles was quite an art critic in his day...



PS: people who live in glass houses should be throwing stones...

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OldBukster,

Your logic is a bit off. Regardless of your opinions of Mr. Dylans voice, he is certainly qualified to comment on the fact that CDs and digital do not sound as good as records did in the past. Let's see ...he is in the studio and hears the original and then compares it to the end product, and you say "how would he know what sounds good". I think maybe he would.

In regards to your comments on his recordings - virtually his entire catalog is available on high quality SACD and vinyl. In fact I am currently listening to his brilliant "Rolling Thunder Revue" Which was just re - issued on Classic Records. Sounds pretty darn good to me! Also his soon to be released new Album is available on vinyl. Like Neil Young, he is an artist who really cares and is committed to the quality of the recordings that you buy.

My comments about Bob's singing are just MY opinion.........I don't care if anyone agrees....If he's so concerned, why do you have to buy SACD or Vinyl in order to get good recordings? Good recordings are available for a price, is that it? I respect Willie Nelson as a song writer and performer, but he can't sing either...........Doesn't mean that they are not important to Music's History...........Just means I don't like their Vocals .....No More...No Less..............Neil Young is a man that will take a stand against the Recording Industry if he deems it necessary...........He pratices what he preaches.......

Not sure what you are responding to here. Please re read my comments. I did not challenge your opinion of Mr Dylans singing. I challenged your statements regarding his qualifications for judging recordings. And for the record, all of his recordings are top notch. I mentioned the fact that he released his material on SACD and vinyl as an indicator of his commitment to quality sound - which you had questioned. Yes SACDs and Vinyl are more expensive than a MP3 download or a redbook CD but they sound better and I for one am happy that there are artists that make sure their recordings are released in the best media possible. Ansel Adams used large format film that cost more than the alternatives because it provided better definition and contrast - and I dont think he was a money grabber for doing so.

Regards

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Joshnich, you are correct..(like I had to tell you that!)

Some artists are concerned with the way current recording sound via CD..that's why Neil Young fought the urge to re-release five of his favorites on CD as he thought it wasn't a good medium. (On the Beach, Stars and Bars, Times Fade Away and 2 others, names elude me at the moment) He did finally do it, I don't know if someone persuaded him to or not..

Oldbuckster and I enjoy a lot of the same music, by reading this forum. Not speaking for him here, but I think he misunderstood your first statement also.

What bothers me a lot, is although I think LPs (to date) sound better than CDs, why can't someone "perfect" the CD, rather than try to fight each other with supposedly better formats (SACD, DVD A etc). Most of us switched formats once..and to some us, in error. I wish we'd all get on the same page and perfect what we have mass marketed.

Of course, I'm probably preaching to the choir.

Steve

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Steve, I would argue that CD can be done very well....but it rarely is because with the digital age comes a lot more power and a corresponding lack of delicacy with everyone involved. Never in the 70's would an engineer say "we'll fix it on the mixdown" - you simply couldn't do stuff like that back then. Well you still can't do it today, but engineers like to think they can.

The way I see it, every edit takes one more piece of soul outta the music. Multitracking is a great tool, but it should be done with everyone playing at the same time without the intent of rerecording mistakes and adding tracks later. But even then, there is no fear of doing another retake so there is no urgency in the music - it's lazy sloppy crap because you can just keep rolling the dice until something half-way decent pops up. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the newer technology IS better, but the audio industry hasn't mastered the new tools.

It is definetly true that the drawbacks to CD are by nature more difficult to mask with music, which is further compounded by all the older gear built with LP's in mind (like the huge plethora of mics with a tipped up top end and rolled off lows).

I say give it another 20 years and things will be ironed out - though by then the CD fans will be the oldfarts going on about the good old times when music didn't suck [:o][;)]

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I believe Dylans comments were about the Recording Industry as a whole, and CD's and Records, are both atrocious, not just one or the other, BOTH...........As usual, it becomes a CD vs. Vinyl thread.....................Forgive Me, my mind slips away from time to time, and I have a hard time seeing things................but Both forms of Recorded Music are not the Best they could be..............I didn't need Bob Dylan to tell me that, my ears told me that along time ago....................and I don't like the sound of mp3 either............Now Chrome cassettes are a different story.......................

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Dylan and Young are two of my favorite examples of guys who can't hold a note and stay on pitch if you bet 'em twenty dollars.

Then again, hand either of them an accoustic guitar and ask them to play for an hour, and they could go for five hours. They would start with an audience of ten and finish with five thousand. Pretty good resumes for guys that can't hold a note, wear flannel, and will never be considered pretty boys.

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CD can be done very well....but it rarely is because with the digital age comes a lot more power and a corresponding lack of delicacy with everyone involved. Never in the 70's would an engineer say "we'll fix it on the mixdown" - you simply couldn't do stuff like that back then. Well you still can't do it today, but engineers like to think they can.

One word that caused the downfall of Modern Recording

Pro-Tool's

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I think I'm not making my point very well, I am not here to beat up Bob Dylan, his stature in the Music business is second to none, and my personal opinion of his vocal skills is not what I want to harp on; Let me try this.........The Recording Industry is not making product for the Audiophile, they don't give a rat's nest about what the Klipsch Forum members think, Sorry guys, Audiophiles don't buy the bulk of their PRODUCT, it's for walkman type players, car audio systems, PS2's, and the in the box Bose type systems, they are the main consumers of their PRODUCT...........Audiophile types are a minority......it's the truth and you know it..................think about it......before you jump on me.........

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Holy cow batman! Trashing Dylan and Young? No other rockers of that era have gone to so much trouble to release new material and re-release old material like these guys.

Have you heard the SACD releases of Dylans old albums? They're fantastic! Neil Young's 200 gram Classic reissues? You don't have to like their music or singing but these guys care about guys like us. You should be thanking them and wishing more artists would follow in their footsteps.

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I think Bob's being a little harsh. True, there are lots of crappy sounding modern recordings, but there are many great sounding ones too. Especially if you look beyond pop music. Many jazz and classical CD's sound fantastic. And there are even some country and rock CD's that sound fantastic. But I agree with him in that there are way too many dogs out there.

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Dr Who

I think you're probably right! Of course 20 years from now, I hope the music industry is still around!

OB, I'm with you..wish the industry cared more about the high end, and not just the portable CD listeners, cheap radios etc. Oh well..just have to make the best of what we have I suppose..

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I think Bob's being a little harsh. True, there are lots of crappy sounding modern recordings, but there are many great sounding ones too. Especially if you look beyond pop music. Many jazz and classical CD's sound fantastic. And there are even some country and rock CD's that sound fantastic. But I agree with him in that there are way too many dogs out there.

There are some newer rock discs like Neil Young Prairie Wind that sound great.

The ones that get to me are the Carlos Santana recent releases. Old Carlos was amazing music fairly well recorded. New stuff seems like the music is played well but the compression is so extreme playback from CD seems like white noise to me.

Sad

If I had more time when I buy a crappy sounding disc I should just take it back for a refund. We gotta start a movement...

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If I had more time when I buy a crappy sounding disc I should just take it back for a refund. We gotta start a movement...

Good luck. Due to copying stuff it seems like nothing is returnable anymore.

Copying is the favorite excuse of the Recording Industry...............They always cry Piracy, Piracy, We lose too much money to Piracy..........Enough..........Whatever happened to the Satisfaction Guarntee? We are suppose to accept Poorly Recorded Product at the highest prices ever charged to the consumer? May Audio Flynn has a valid point........

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If I had more time when I buy a crappy sounding disc I should just take it back for a refund. We gotta start a movement...

Good luck. Due to copying stuff it seems like nothing is returnable anymore.

Copying is the favorite excuse of the Recording Industry...............They always cry Piracy, Piracy, We lose too much money to Piracy..........Enough..........Whatever happened to the Satisfaction Guarntee? We are suppose to accept Poorly Recorded Product at the highest prices ever charged to the consumer? May Audio Flynn has a valid point........

If it's not worth paying for, it's not worth stealing. The music industry spends so much time on piracy and monopolization that they forget how to make something that's even worth stealing.

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OldBukster,

Your logic is a bit off. Regardless of your opinions of Mr. Dylans voice, he is certainly qualified to comment on the fact that CDs and digital do not sound as good as records did in the past. Let's see ...he is in the studio and hears the original and then compares it to the end product, and you say "how would he know what sounds good". I think maybe he would.

In regards to your comments on his recordings - virtually his entire catalog is available on high quality SACD and vinyl. In fact I am currently listening to his brilliant "Rolling Thunder Revue" Which was just re - issued on Classic Records. Sounds pretty darn good to me! Also his soon to be released new Album is available on vinyl. Like Neil Young, he is an artist who really cares and is committed to the quality of the recordings that you buy.

it is my understanding that Mr. Young ALSO included ALL of his own recordings in that pile of poo....
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OldBukster,

Your logic is a bit off. Regardless of your opinions of Mr. Dylans voice, he is certainly qualified to comment on the fact that CDs and digital do not sound as good as records did in the past. Let's see ...he is in the studio and hears the original and then compares it to the end product, and you say "how would he know what sounds good". I think maybe he would.

In regards to your comments on his recordings - virtually his entire catalog is available on high quality SACD and vinyl. In fact I am currently listening to his brilliant "Rolling Thunder Revue" Which was just re - issued on Classic Records. Sounds pretty darn good to me! Also his soon to be released new Album is available on vinyl. Like Neil Young, he is an artist who really cares and is committed to the quality of the recordings that you buy.

it is my understanding that Mr. Young ALSO included ALL of his own recordings in that pile of poo....

What is it that you are trying to say? I have absolutley no idea what you're referencing or taking about.

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