“Across The Border/Santa Ana†in Atlanta, Day 7: Let Me Hear You!
Good friend of the site Mark Saleski is one of those pesky audiophiles and vinyl lovers. Actually, he’s just pesky and happens to love sounds and vinyl. I agree with him on beautiful sounds and don’t disagree with him on vinyl; I’m simply trying to stay married by not finding yet another way to bankrupt us with my musical obsessions.
Anyroad, he and I have had conversations about audio mastering, loudness, compression, and digitalization of music. Oddly enough, though we often sound like we’re arguing about this I don’t think we disagree all that much. That’s actually true of a lot of our conversations. Neither of us will cop to it, but we agree on a lot of things where music and sport are concerned.
I bring all this up because I accidentally stumbled on to an article about the way albums are mastered on contemporary records that was written for Rolling Stone. I rarely read Rolling Stone anymore, that rag having jumped the shark before I could read. Anyway, I stumbled on to the article and sent it to Mark and we had an abbreviated version of the conversation that often ensues when this subject pops up between us.
What does this have to do with my campaign for “Across The Border?” I’m glad you asked.
I agree with the growing number of recording engineers and producers who hate the way albums are being compressed. I hate that the bass on every record is more juiced than Barry Bonds. I hate that nearly all records “sound” the same. Despite that, I hate the way The Ghost of Tom Joad — the album “Across The Border” belongs to – is mastered. I…can’t…fucking…hear…it!
I can’t listen to this album in my car, at all. I couldn’t hear it when I’d listen to it directly from the CD. I sure as shit couldn’t hear it when I listened to it on my iPod in AAC format. It’s still on my iPod, in the Apple Lossless format, but it’s no use. I can’t listen to this album on the road and that’s a drag.
I don’t want it bass boosted. I don’t want it shake the foundations of my apartment. This is quiet, acoustic-based record with folk leanings. It shouldn’t jump out of the speakers like an E Street Band record. I would, however, like to actually be able to hear it. I’m sure some of this quietness is intentional because this is a very wordy album. The quiet is likely a way of forcing listeners to stop what they’re doing and actively listen. Fair enough, but I can’t fucking hear it!
I have two solutions for this:
- Carefully remaster the CD. I don’t want to lose the dynamics of the recording. I don’t want to turn this into a Phil Spector Wall of Sound record. I just want to be able to hear it. Even now, I’m listening to it through a decent pair of JVC noise-canceling headphones, in the lossless format, and I’m still not able to hear it all that well. Bruce, I’ll meet you halfway. I’ll listen to it, carefully and actively, if you’ll give it just a little more volume.
- Play it in Atlanta! I won’t miss a note.
Filed under: Tags: Bruce Springsteen
