rapidroy wrote:
mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:
Feyokien wrote:
Sort of I guess, I think the better question is can my ears handle it. I really dislike growling but I really like the instrumental parts, but as long as the bass isn't overwhelming. I kind of like Opeth. I also occasionally listen to some folk and symphonic metal as well. Most days I listen to prog, alternative, and soundtrack/symphony though.
I've noticed that a lot of music nowadays overuses what I call "wall of sound"-style production, where everything is so densely packed together that it's hard to savor individual notes or other little details. It's not just a problem with metal, it's a problem with ALL genres nowadays. I like it when the individual parts of a song are allowed to have some "breathing room", instead of everything being LOUD all the time.
Nightwish is an example of a band that I think could hire a better producer. Their music has some epic instrumentals and arrangements, but their crescendos could be so much more dramatic if they didn't use as much compression. As well, you're not really supposed to use much compression for symphonic music in the first place, so while I could see the use for it in symphonic metal, it doesn't mean a symphonic metal record should be produced like a death metal or metalcore record.
I find metal can be a fatiguing genre to listen to sometimes, mainly after extended periods and when physically feeling a little off. It takes a considerable more mental concentration to take in and break down what I am hearing compared to your typical easy listening type of performer. The thing with the constant wall of sound is it becomes easy to forget just how heavy the music is after an extended period, like your ears kind of adjust to what your hearing? The same thing happens when driving fast on a freeway, you get used to constantly going 100km/h when you head for an exit and slow down to 50km/h yet it feels like 5km/h, naturally many people crash because they take the exits too fast because they can't properly sense the speed until they get used to driving at varying speeds again. Young Drivers invented a word for that in velocitizing(sp?). Anyway I wonder if the same thing doesn't happen when taking in sound waves.
Have you ever heard about this thing called the "loudness war"? Basically, it refers to this ongoing trend in music production, where producers will try to master songs as loudly as possible, so that they stand out more on the radio and leave a bigger first impression. The problem with "loudness war" production is that it not only deteriorates the overall dynamics and sound quality of the music, it also leads to listener fatigue with prolonged exposure.
I like heavy, intense music, and even I find a lot of metal albums hard to listen to because their lack of dynamics becomes grating after a while. Dynamics and variety are what give music its liveliness. For this reason, I typically prefer older music that hasn't had the life squeezed or of it.
Now, I will admit, loud production does work for certain things, when used the right way. Merzbow, a Japanese noise artist once made an album with some of the loudest music ever printed on a CD, this album is called "Venereology". It is an incredibly intense listening experience, and most people would not enjoy it, but I consider it to be a masterpiece. It's not something I can listen to every day though. Another example would be System of A Down, they just wouldn't sound the same without their obnoxiously loud production.
Un aware of the term however I had noticed its effects, although most radio stations seem to equalize the volumes so all it did was make those recordings sound awful. Likely one of the many reasons I prefer live recordings because to me they sound better in that raw form. I don't buy a lot of studio metal records because they often suck at household volumes.
Compression as an effect period can really suck the life out of music and I wish more novice musicians would realise this. Or learn to play so they could turn it off.
06 Jan 2015, 10:33 pm
