• Pop music too loud and all sounds the same: official
    133 replies, posted
[QUOTE](Reuters) - Comforting news for anyone over the age of 35, scientists have worked out that modern pop music really is louder and does all sound the same. Researchers in Spain used a huge archive known as the Million Song Dataset, which breaks down audio and lyrical content into data that can be crunched, to study pop songs from 1955 to 2010. A team led by artificial intelligence specialist Joan Serra at the Spanish National Research Council ran music from the last 50 years through some complex algorithms and found that pop songs have become intrinsically louder and more bland in terms of the chords, melodies and types of sound used. "We found evidence of a progressive homogenization of the musical discourse," Serra told Reuters. "In particular, we obtained numerical indicators that the diversity of transitions between note combinations - roughly speaking chords plus melodies - has consistently diminished in the last 50 years." They also found the so-called timbre palette has become poorer. The same note played at the same volume on, say, a piano and a guitar is said to have a different timbre, so the researchers found modern pop has a more limited variety of sounds. Intrinsic loudness is the volume baked into a song when it is recorded, which can make it sound louder than others even at the same volume setting on an amplifier. The music industry has long been accused of ramping up the volume at which songs are recorded in a 'loudness war' but Serra says this is the first time it has been properly measured using a large database. The study, which appears in the journal Scientific Reports, offers a handy recipe for musicians in a creative drought. Old tunes re-recorded with increased loudness, simpler chord progressions and different instruments could sound new and fashionable. The Rolling Stones in their 50th anniversary year should take note.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/26/us-science-music-idUSBRE86P0R820120726[/url]
Haven't we known about the loudness war for years now?
The loudness war is going on in most genres these days.
[img]http://spider.dur.ac.uk/loudness/Blur/CHWholeBL.png[/img] damn good music.
[QUOTE=Griffster26;36947502]Comforting news for anyone over the age of 35,[/QUOTE] Or, you know, anyone under the age of 35 with non-conformist musical tastes (:O)
[QUOTE=Negrul1;36947780]Or, you know, anyone under the age of 35 with non-conformist musical tastes (:O)[/QUOTE] I know exactly where this thread is going.
Now they have to do the same study with metal so I can back up my music being better with science.
[QUOTE=Taepodong-2;36947815]Now they have to do the same study with metal so I can back up my music being better with science.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=RichyZ;36947850]and then they should do one on rap i hate rap so much!!!! and then they should do one on gasmasks and trenchcoats oh man those are so coool[/QUOTE] taepodong confirmed future school shooter
And then people can listen to whatever they like and stop acting superior about their music taste. Some people like bland, similar music with different words in the lyrics, good for them.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that the general opinion on pop music for a long time has been that its main purpose is to be catchy rather than innovative, thus they often follow similar formulas.
[QUOTE=Negrul1;36947780]Or, you know, anyone under the age of 35 with non-conformist musical tastes (:O)[/QUOTE] You don't have to be a conformist to enjoy Pop music.
starships were meant to fly hands up and touch the sky
[QUOTE=Taepodong-2;36947815]Now they have to do the same study with metal so I can back up my music being better with science.[/QUOTE] Metal is just as guilty of loudness as pop. Moreso in mainstream heavy metal than the slightly more underground stuff, but still. And I feel like this thread is going to become another elitist circlejerk, just like any thread about music on FP.
[QUOTE=G-Guy;36947944]its main purpose is to be catchy rather than innovative[/QUOTE] it's more to do with how the masses enjoy music. You can make the greatest tune and most soothing piece of music, but it won't do much good if you tell noone about it.
[QUOTE=WeekendWarrior;36947972]You don't have to be a conformist to enjoy Pop music.[/QUOTE] That's just what a filthy conformist would say.
I don't mind any new/modern music. Except THIS: [QUOTE=TippZ;36947993]starships were meant to fly hands up and touch the sky[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Negrul1;36947780]Or, you know, anyone under the age of 35 with non-conformist musical tastes (:O)[/QUOTE] yeah man so nonconformist and edgy to not like popular music!
This is interesting, because I've been listening to pop radio for hours every day over the last few weeks and I've really taken notice to the blandness of popular music. Other than some of the things mentioned in the article, the main thing that bugs me is unimaginative lyrics. Bland lyrics wouldn't be a problem if the instrumental work is creative and interesting, but mostly that is lacking too. [editline]26th July 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=AK'z;36947662][img]http://spider.dur.ac.uk/loudness/Blur/CHWholeBL.png[/img] damn good music.[/QUOTE] This, exactly. LET'S CRANK DAT COMPRESSOR UP
Loudness Wars have made remastering music a real bitch. Luckily I don't listen to much music from the post 90s era and don't have to constantly fight it.
I have to listen to Pop and Rap every day at my workplace. It really does all sound the same.
Does this mean my hatred of the band Train is scientifically justified?
Now on to their next study, where they determine whether dubstep really is all the wubbing same.
More like, the music is so generic and bland that they basically drown the listener with so many samples it sounds like a continuous drone of loud, synthesized garbage. That, and for the fact that most "pop" music today are made solely for profit as a product by huge music conglomerates to cash in on young teenage people. They play on the air for a few weeks until they are forgotten and never aired again. Hence why modern pop songs are seldom remembered, the name and artist forgotten
How exactly is music louder? There's usually some sort of knob or slider that controls all that...
[QUOTE=sHiBaN;36950804]most "pop" music today are made solely for profit as a product by huge music conglomerates to cash in on young teenage people. They play on the air for a few weeks until they are forgotten and never aired again. Hence why modern pop songs are seldom remembered, the name and artist forgotten[/QUOTE] motown was made for exactly the same reason [editline]26th July 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=RobbL;36950839]How exactly is music louder? There's usually some sort of knob or slider that controls all that...[/QUOTE] music has a basic level of volume as in the music can't possibly be louder than say -4db. in the olden days due to the limitations of vinyl the music couldn't possibly get louder than like 10 or 5 db, but with the advent of digital music that limitation can be pushed up close to 0db which is the absolute loudest. they accomplish this by taking music and pumping it with a brickwall limiter which means that the music is louder more often. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEFyNdB13vg[/media]
[QUOTE=zombojoe;36950371]I have to listen to Pop and Rap every day at my workplace. It really does all sound the same.[/QUOTE] [video=youtube;cRwj7sixvN4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRwj7sixvN4[/video] This sure reminds me of Lil Wayne and B.o.b. :rolleyes:
This is why i listen to Superbus, Parov Stelar and Amanda Palmer.
And this thread will now become a "post your favourite band" thread.
[QUOTE=JonniXD;36951339]And this thread will now become a "post your favourite band" thread.[/QUOTE] best pop band of all years [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_XswHm514w[/media]
why you guys gotta [sp]be sooo meeeaaaaan?[/sp]
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