It seemed like a concern for foodies, something that would only put amateurs capable of arguing for hours about cables or speakers, a subject without interest.
Sound?
It will have been improving, like everything else, thanks to technology.
We have the certainty, after all, that the devices on our desk or in our pockets are increasingly powerful, useful and sophisticated.
It's been more than a decade (the first iPod appears in 2001) that hardly anyone wants to have at home one of those huge hi-fi systems - those Pioneer amplifiers, those Technics turntables - that teenagers born in the fifties and sixties dreamed of. and that, with the first salaries, they invaded the living room of the homes of the
boomer
generation
(today the shelves specially designed to house the modules of those "chains" are accumulated in the storage rooms, the most optimistic announce the devices in Wallapop).
Now, although collectors keep their CDs waiting for their return as a cult object and vinyl, so fetishized, are back in fashion, we consume most of the music through digital platforms - the best known is Spotify - or, directly , from Youtube. We can access huge catalogs in a very comfortable way (
convenient
, they say in English, indicating that it is the easiest but not the only or the best) but, in exchange, between the recordings and our ears, we have placed, in addition to all kinds of devices (from the studio microphone to our headphones), some codecs or algorithms that compress the songs to make them more manageable (so they occupy less when transmitted over the Internet or when stored on our hard drives). Some believe that this loss of auditory information, inevitable when reducing the size of a file, is invaluable. And there are those who think, like Neil Young, that compressed music "is rubbish that is ruining our brains." In any case, the record industry has recently put the quality issue on the top of the month.
"The decline is remarkable," explains musician and producer Guille Mostaza, part of the duo They and with years of experience in the control room of Álamo Shock Estudios.
“When the CD came out, a lot of people said it sounded bad because it was digital, but digital is currently excellent.
The problem is precisely the compression algorithm, which converts a song that weighs two hundred megabytes into a file of three. "
Daft Punk and Beyonce at the 2015 Tidal Platform Launch Gala in New York.
Jamie McCarthy
Too expensive, too soon
“Digital audio has higher resolution than vinyl. Another thing is that the color and sound of the vinyl are more pleasant for us ”confirms Antonio Illán, from MIA Studio and technician of bands like Second or Varry Brava. "Maybe high definition could start working now that the connections are much faster and we have more storage space on our phones," adds Antonio.
So far, all attempts to reach high definition audiences have failed. Tidal, the platform that Jay-Z owned until a few months ago (this service has the support of Beyoncé, Madonna or Chris Martin, and claims to pay artists four times more than the rest) is the only one that has years offering unencrypted or lossless sound to its users. However, it has never finished taking off: the world received that platform sponsored by millionaire musicians as the whim of some rich who wanted to be even richer. The price of its high-quality offer was 19.99 euros, double that of the rest of the available platforms. For its part, Spotify announces a quality equivalent to 320 kbps for Premium subscribers; “The minimum with which I feel satisfied. Everything that is above,it will be welcome ”, points Illán.
Apple Music has just taken a step forward with spatial audio, now available in a wide variety of titles in its catalog and without the price increase that
killed
Tidal. "With spatial audio, musicians, technicians and producers have a new tool in their hands that enables them to deliver a new 3D experience to millions of people," explained Zane Lowe of Apple Music in a press release from the company that explains that this technology will replace the stereo in the same way that the east replaced the mono. “It is going to be very exciting. Very soon we will have artists who will have been born into the world of spatial audio, just as I was born into the world of stereo. Perhaps the artists of the future will not even consider recording an album in stereo because they will only have known spatial audio ”.
"Once the work is delivered, the artist uploads it to YouTube with a very low quality"
“When I record, I try to make it sound as good as possible, knowing the equipment I have and, more or less, knowing how far I can go.
I think of an ideal and I always know that it could sound better. "
The reflection is by Javier Carrasco, a veteran of the independent scene (a member of Templeton and Rusos Blancos, he is also known for his solo project, Betacam).
Javier continues: “Good quality digital audio is perfectly acceptable.
Neil Young may not be great either because people in the fifties and sixties grew up with very rudimentary turntables (
banana
pickups
that would sound like rays), surely worse than a
smartphone
current.
You depend on such a wide technological chain (speakers, headphones, sound card, amplifier, player, etc.) that each musical experience is different. "
Aitana Luis and Guille Mostaza, singer of Them, at the Álamo Shock recording studio.
carlos rosillo
So the problem is not that serious? Isn't it being recorded or mastered more carelessly because, at the end of the chain, rigging could ruin a painstaking job? According to Ilán, there is no need to be alarmed. The best possible continues to be produced: “The engineers master with the greatest care. What has changed is that in my case (and I think in almost everyone who works in this case) there is always a moment when I check the mix on my mobile. " Mustard agrees: "When I mix I go crazy thinking that everyone has to enjoy it, in all formats and players, from a mobile phone to a hi-fi system or a TV." "Of course," Illán explains, "something that usually happens to me is that, once the work is delivered, the artist uploads it to YouTube with a very strong compression.You have to be very on top because that distorts it a lot ”.
Chico Blanco, a musician from Granada, is the author of
WTF is in my cup
, one of the songs (along, for example, those of Bad Gyal) that sounded the most on Bluetooth speakers or, directly, on mobile phones during the few meetings of young people and teenagers who could be seen in the parks last summer. He is not overly concerned with how his songs are heard: "nowadays people play music wherever they want, and thanks to that little artists like me survive."
Pablo (Chico Blanco) is, in fact, optimistic: “There are many quality intervals.
Before there were only analog equipment that had limits.
Now you can merge the best of these equipment with digital systems ... You can also record yourself with a micro usb and upload it to the internet ... there are more scales than before.
Also, a lot of
lofi
music
is very good just because it sounds low definition.
The best producers are also looking for old samples that add texture to their sound even if it is less clear and they get other elements that sound like you are freaking out. "
"Four cats hear it"
Javi Betacam believes that all these technological innovations and new listening modes are beginning to be noticed in the compositions: “A number of contemporary hits basically consist of a voice in the foreground, a few
more or less marked
beats
and almost nothing in between, just a mattress that sets the tone.
This combination works like a charm on a mobile phone or laptop speaker. "
It also supposes that, if some songs that ended up going viral do not sound quite good, it is because their authors dispensed with mastering thinking that it was not worth it for songs that "were going to go to YouTube or to a Soundcloud, that four cats hear" .
Pablo Cobo, better known as Chico Blanco, poses for ICON among the flowers of Madrid's El Retiro park.Yago Castromil
So, then, maybe we are just witnessing the classic process of adaptation and fitting of artistic practice within the limits of technology (and the budget of each musician) and things may not go as badly as old Neil frequently proclaims. . Rosa Pacheco, technician at Sala Apolo in Barcelona –together with Dj Phosky– begins to settle the question: “Platforms are what they are, you want music instantly, you have it; but you can always look for more 'expensive' formats and access something better. "
After all, is the quality with which a song reaches us so important? "If for you music is a background music that you put in the background at home, in the car or at work, it doesn't matter a bit," says Betacam. But if you live music as something that defines you, you will want the best that you can afford and you will know how to distinguish something good from something not so good. " For his part, Antonio, as a professional in the sector, places importance on sound quality, but believes that it is very difficult for him to ruin a song: "Everything can be improved, but when the song is good it will work anyway."
Rosa, who remembers working as a technician in concerts with disappointing sound in which "for whatever reason there was not much to do", and who has also despaired as a DJ when she has had to download pieces of which she thought "no , it can't be, with how good it is and how bad it sounds ", or has punctured" sweating squid ink for not having listening monitors ";
and he believes that "the best sound, if it is heard clearly and well balanced, is that of the live show that is happening right there."
Guille Mostaza, yes, remember that “mp3 is the worst format for listening to music.
Even a CD sounds a thousand times better ”.
So the concern would be justified, but Chico Blanco, the youngest of those consulted, although he is clear that "with more quality you enjoy more", insists that the most important thing is precisely that: enjoy.
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