Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: You've got to listen to the music

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  • Sacha,

    I can't really hear the qualitative difference

    A friend once played me the same track on vinyl and CD at same time and flipped the sound source back and forth. Difference clear as day - though through a phone or iPod, maybe not.

    And Danielle, I believe it was this beauty we listened to (minus singalong):

    Audio quality not stellar (heh). Click "more info" in user panel for setlist.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    do they still make long player albums on vinyl

    Some dance albums are released as a set of records with around 4 tracks on each.

    I used to DJ on vinyl but have moved to digital. The main problem is that most physical DJ record shops have gone out of business. (The type of place that would ask or know what you liked and give you armfuls of records to select from. There are record shops left, like Real Groovy, but they have no clue what their stock is. At least, not in genres I'm into).

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    not in genres I'm into).

    and what might they be ?

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    i heard some of the original gatherers formed a trust to buy the original canaan downs site. wonder if [luminate] is them

    Almost. The site is, AFAIK, owned by a group of people who encourage festivals up there. Luminate is one such, but I don't think the organisers are in the owning group.

    There is a fairly thriving scene of smallish scale dance parties in NZ. We just had Monster Mash in the Sounds, Madagascar in Auckland, Alien Nation is coming up down south. Getting beyond the few hundred people that attend those is hard - to get to turnouts in the thousands needs a name that your average 19 year old recognises, and they aren't cheap.

    Can I plug Kiwiburn here? Burning Man styled, so nobody gets paid and the music is driven by the participants. But it will be good, and our soundcamp is going to be bigger and better than ever.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    and what might they be ?

    Psy, trance, house, hardhouse sometimes, electro and breaks occasionally.

    The only vinyl outlets in Wellington, to my knowledge, are Groovy, Samaurai (D&B, dubstep) and Slowboat (slow music).

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Alan Perrott,

    howdy Rich, I'll be back at kiwiburn this year.

    I had a blast last year but I'm afraid the bush doof culture rather does my head in, so I've scored myself a generator, trawled through my rekid collection, and will be doing my own thing under my 'house of bamboo' banner; perhaps best described as ironic easy listening.

    should be a hoot, as long as no-one throws rocks when the moog hits me.

    which group are you with?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    which group are you with?

    Illuminati Temple. But I didn't tell you that.

    < kiwiburn organisy stuff>
    Also, register on the website if you want a nice placement, eh!
    < / kiwiburn organisy stuff>

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    kiwiburn sounds like a choice idea. pity its not near nellyville:(

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • Alan Perrott,

    was that the one with the laser shooting out the top?

    and yep, already been having speaks with Alyn.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    some interesting points about music 2.0...

    ...In Lanier's eyes, there is no longer a middle realm in which musicians can make music according to their own standards, sell it directly to fans, and not starve. Musicians are either kids in vans making just enough money for the next gig or dilettantes with a vanity career. The Facebook generation gets its music for free and doesn't expect to pay for it, and this has helped bring about a musical Dark Age. That's not a crazy idea, but it's just Lanier's hunch. When you start to poke around for data, you get a sense of the landscape. According to this U.K. study, artists now make the majority of their money doing live performances, and the total revenue accrued by artists has increased. Today's theoretical middle-class musician would probably have to travel more, but he or she could still make a living.


    here...

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    really...do they still make long player albums on vinyl ?

    Vinyl sales are increasing every year..up some 36% in the US in 2009. It's become the delivery medium of cool. Most largish rekkid stores,if you can find them, have vinyl again, and not just in the niche genres, and in increasing quantities.

    Vinyl will still be here long after the CD is a distant memory, and I'm doing my bit to ensure that. Most bands in the UK release their singles on 7" again.

    The remastered Beatles albums come out sometime this year on 12" plastic and are expected to sell enough quantities to give vinyl another huge boost.

    can't really hear the qualitative difference between a 192 mp3, a FLAC and an LP' thing,

    I gotta say, 2009 was the year when I did start re-noticing the difference. And enjoying it. The jump from Mp3 to well mastered Cd and then to vinyl is huge, and I'd forgotten, having swamped myself in MP3s like everyone else.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    so has there been a decline in the *ahem* mastering standards of mp3's as producers rush their product out to consumers happy to listen on shit equipment whereby the subtle differences aren't noticeable ?

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    The Facebook generation gets its music for free and doesn't expect to pay for it, and this has helped bring about a musical Dark Age.

    So I wonder who's handed over the cash for the 1.55 billion (yes billion) music transactions in the US last year. I get fucked off when I read this sort of doom-laden ill-informed drivel.

    When you start to poke around for data, you get a sense of the landscape. According to this U.K. study, artists now make the majority of their money doing live performances

    Drivel Pt.2. Perhaps this study could tell me a time when 99% of acts haven't made most if not all of their money from live?

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    So I wonder who's handed over the cash for the 1.55 billion (yes billion) music transactions in the US last year.

    uhhh...not the facebook generation, maybe the corporate licensees ? perhaps he shoulda said bebo generation...

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    so has there been a decline in the *ahem* mastering standards of mp3's as producers rush their product out to consumers happy to listen on shit equipment whereby the subtle differences aren't noticeable ?

    No I don't think so. that would assume that most producers / artists don't passionately care. They do, and my experience is quite the opposite: the toughest part of making a record is getting the technicians and music makers to stop trying to improve it: Ok, it's good..it doesn't need another mix...can we please release it now..yes I know that you think that the hi-hat will really leap out if you just get that new toy and have a few more days, but please...

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    uhhh...not the facebook generation, maybe the corporate licensees ? perhaps he shoulda said bebo generation...

    No, because most of those transactions are kids buying tracks from iTunes and other online stores. Single track purchases by fans.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Darlington,

    So I wonder who's handed over the cash for the 1.55 billion (yes billion) music transactions in the US last year. I get fucked off when I read this sort of doom-laden ill-informed drivel.

    So, read any Bono this New Year? :)

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 949 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    So, read any Bono this New Year? :)

    Unfortunately I have.....

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    most of those transactions are kids buying tracks from iTunes and other online stores. Single track purchases by fans.

    are you predicting a downturn from the recession as people spend less on music from having less to spend ?

    No I don't think so. that would assume that most producers / artists don't passionately care. They do, and my experience is quite the opposite: the toughest part of making a record is getting the technicians and music makers to stop trying to improve it: Ok, it's good..it doesn't need another mix...can we please release it now..yes I know that you think that the hi-hat will really leap out if you just get that new toy and have a few more days, but please...

    while the software might be standardised with plugins and DAW updates, the hardware like monitors/soundcards will vary according to the type of producer eg... bedroom, semi pro, fully pro, so the standrds would be markedly different despite the constant tinkering that might be percieved to be an improvement.

    ive never really been sold on the difference between vinyl, cd and mp3 cos lo fi indie guitar wank sounds just as shit no matter how expensive your hi fi and especially if recorded in some skodie bedroom in dunnerz on a four trak cassette player back in the 80's :)

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Ah, a little Friday musical provocation..

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    you cant polish a greasy turd applies across the board.

    some kiwi hiphop, as simon will tell you, also sux balls

    i think he previously mentioned dawnraid mastering ?

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    are you predicting a downturn from the recession as people spend less on music from having less to spend ?

    I think that hit came in the last 12 months figures:

    Breaking out total transactions, digital tracks grew 8.3% to nearly 1.16 billion units, which is down from the 26.7% growth the configuration generated in 2008 when that years total was 1.07 billion downloads versus 2007's 844.2 million units.

    And I guess the fact that music purchasing has increasingly moved from US$15 albums to US$0.99 tracks kinda buffered it from the worst of the recession. Although the one thing that really hit me, spending time in the US in the depths of the dark part of the downturn was how it didn't seem to deter anyone from the worst aspects of gross over-consumption of anything.

    if recorded in some skodie bedroom in dunnerz on a four trak cassette player back in the 80's :)

    Heh, what may be the warmest, most comforting and blissful record I own was recorded on cassette in a Chicago bedroom.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Heh, what may be the warmest, most comforting and blissful record I own was recorded on cassette in a Chicago bedroom.

    Awww yeah. You just made me crank up 'Can You Feel It' in the iTunes. What music.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Just thinking,

    If the predictions of doom come true about the collapse of millionaire musicians and movie stars, will it also lead to a collapse of the tabloids which follow them and an end to the blandness of Hollywood?

    I'm still looking for the downside here.

    Music doesn't die, it just changes format.

    Putaringamotu • Since Apr 2009 • 1158 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    The fab new UK stamps in all their glory.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

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