Losing interest in prog

Yeah honestly I really just don't hear a "better" sound quality on vynil than I do with MP3s... Unless I really really try hard to find the different oddities. And considering vynil so fragile I don't think it's really worth it.

With the remasters of 70's prog, distortion of instruments from the original  recording process  have never been cleaned up to perfection so what's the point of re-releasing it over and over? Rotation of selling product is the answer. After owning thousands of LP'S for 3 decades I developed a dislike for them. One reason being that albums hardly produced a good clean punch created on bass guitar and drums. You had to upgrade constantly with an EQ, large powerful speakers, a high watt reciever and decent turntable. A cd released in 1987 and played on a Sony boombox was dimensional when compared to the flaws of albums. When a prog band performed live in the 70's and you were there to hear it....the tightness and drive of the band was evident to everyone in the audience...but not on the album. So it was basically an expensive P.A. system with giant bass bins verses the sound produced on an album from an ugraded stereo in the 70's. I believe with the release of the cd..they captured this driving force of sound. But again ..the distortion between Squire's bass and Bruford's snare drum on The Yes Album or Palmer and Lake on the Barbarian has never been cleaned up totally. The industry seems to go overboard a bit.

rogerthat wrote: The rate at which it is ripped to mp3 probably would make a difference though.  Unless it's 320 kbps or at least 180, there may be loss of clarity and detail and a thinner sound. I have compared youtube clips - possibly ripped at a lower rate,based on the overall sound quality - with CDs or mp3 ripped from the CD at 320/180 and even some layers of harmony get a bit muffled in the former to the point where I don't really notice them. Equipment can too...earphones are not as good as headphones or speakers in my experience.

BaldFriede wrote: I must say I lose interest in prog. It just does not interest me anymore what new albums come out, with the odd exception. Jazz and classical music  are much more interesting, in my opinion.. There is so much music to discover which expands my mind more than prog; why, completely exploring the works of Johann Sebastian Bach lone seems to be a task that would take a lifetime but would be much more fulfilling than wasting my time with so-called "new" prog albums which are more or less just an endless repetition of what has already been said. What's more: I hate the way albums are being produced these days; they all sound extremely sterile. Each instrument clearly separated from the other. Some audio freaks may rejoice about that, but that is not what music sounds like when it is being played live. The instruments all mingle then; there are multiple reverberations and fractions of sound, and this is what makes music sound "alive"; so much nicer for my ears. I know many of you will disagree and come up with examples of what I absolutely "have" to hear. And I know equally well that I will listen to it, shrug and say "so what?"

progprogprog wrote:   I thought I am alone, but from what you posted, it's obvious that I'm not the only one who ditched the new prog.so spineless. Better to stick with what were made earlier.

Edited by frippism - December 31 2011 at 11:44

progprogprog wrote: BaldFriede wrote: I must say I lose interest in prog. It just does not interest me anymore what new albums come out, with the odd exception. Jazz and classical music  are much more interesting, in my opinion.. There is so much music to discover which expands my mind more than prog; why, completely exploring the works of Johann Sebastian Bach lone seems to be a task that would take a lifetime but would be much more fulfilling than wasting my time with so-called "new" prog albums which are more or less just an endless repetition of what has already been said. What's more: I hate the way albums are being produced these days; they all sound extremely sterile. Each instrument clearly separated from the other. Some audio freaks may rejoice about that, but that is not what music sounds like when it is being played live. The instruments all mingle then; there are multiple reverberations and fractions of sound, and this is what makes music sound "alive"; so much nicer for my ears. I know many of you will disagree and come up with examples of what I absolutely "have" to hear. And I know equally well that I will listen to it, shrug and say "so what?" I thought I am alone, but from what you posted, it's obvious that I'm not the only one who ditched the new prog.so spineless. Better to stick with what were made earlier.

What a dreadful generalisation (by both of you). There are poor examples of Prog music and music production from every time period you care to mention. In the past I believe Friede has decried Pink Floyd for their sterile production on albums recorded in the 1970s and for their studio-quality performances when playing live. If you want to dismiss music without even hearing it then that's your call, I'll reserve my judgment for stuff I have actually listened to.

Evolver wrote:  But now, with the Internet making all forms of music more viable, I find this to be the most exciting time since the early seventies as a listener.

While I have a personal preference for the classic era, I find lots of new bands to be enjoyable and don't see that changing.  Music rarely lends itself well to sweeping pronouncements.  There's some real magic out there, some professional, some coming from basements/garages with crude production.  Imagination and melody live on.  I don't think I'll ever "lose interest" in prog/music in general, it's the rest of the world I'm losing interest in.   

progprogprog wrote: Dean wrote: If you want to dismiss music without even hearing it then that's your call, I'll reserve my judgment for stuff I have actually listened to. I assure you, and myself, that I've been listening enough of them to have such a call.I really don't want to list the bands that disappointed me, because it's against the PA rules, and also some may get a little butt hurt. It's true in the contrary, there are lots of guys who dislike what I love.

Dean wrote: Lossless audio formats are a response to people who have a psychological block against lossy formats

Yes but you lose the warmth of needle noise.

Here's what a sound wave looks like in lossless:
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Here's what it looks like when it has chunks carved out of it by the needle:
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