Comments on: The Breeders Go Analog http://deliciousdevice.com/2008/10/16/the-breeders-go-analog/ I'm Normal If You Squint Just Right Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:22:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Peter http://deliciousdevice.com/2008/10/16/the-breeders-go-analog/#comment-478 Peter Mon, 20 Oct 2008 05:57:37 +0000 http://deliciousdevice.com/2008/10/16/the-breeders-go-analog/#comment-478 I imagine the mindset is that of someone not wanting to bounce back and forth between jpeg and a Photoshop file repeatedly. No matter how high the sampling rate, it's still that: A sampling rate. There is a loss of data. Most ears aren't going to hear it, of course, but it is there. Then you move back to analog and you get the problems of analog (tape hiss, for example). Bounce back and forth and you damage the product. Is the damage audible? That's an important question, but to deny any loss is to deny the basic nature of the process. I imagine it goes back to our years-ago discussion of drum machines, sequencers and live drums. Is it crucial that a band use live drums? Probably not. Are drum machines acceptable (or even preferable) to a large swath of the population? Perhaps so. But given that I nearly always hear a drum machine as if it were mixed 4db higher in the mix and that they nearly always sound two-dimensional to me, it matters in the music I hear. Even the old Linn Drums on the Peter Gabriel albums are distracting to a slightly aggravating degree. I can't hear all the bouncing between digital and analog but I guarantee you I know four or five guys who can (all vinyl fanatics, of course, one former studio engineer, couple of acousticians), and I'm guessing those guys are the target audience for this level of fussiness. I imagine the mindset is that of someone not wanting to bounce back and forth between jpeg and a Photoshop file repeatedly. No matter how high the sampling rate, it’s still that: A sampling rate. There is a loss of data. Most ears aren’t going to hear it, of course, but it is there. Then you move back to analog and you get the problems of analog (tape hiss, for example). Bounce back and forth and you damage the product. Is the damage audible? That’s an important question, but to deny any loss is to deny the basic nature of the process.

I imagine it goes back to our years-ago discussion of drum machines, sequencers and live drums. Is it crucial that a band use live drums? Probably not. Are drum machines acceptable (or even preferable) to a large swath of the population? Perhaps so. But given that I nearly always hear a drum machine as if it were mixed 4db higher in the mix and that they nearly always sound two-dimensional to me, it matters in the music I hear. Even the old Linn Drums on the Peter Gabriel albums are distracting to a slightly aggravating degree.

I can’t hear all the bouncing between digital and analog but I guarantee you I know four or five guys who can (all vinyl fanatics, of course, one former studio engineer, couple of acousticians), and I’m guessing those guys are the target audience for this level of fussiness.

]]> By: Bridget B. http://deliciousdevice.com/2008/10/16/the-breeders-go-analog/#comment-462 Bridget B. Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:33:58 +0000 http://deliciousdevice.com/2008/10/16/the-breeders-go-analog/#comment-462 I guess it's a lot like making a pumpkin pie totally from scratch - like, starting with the pumpkin. It's an interesting creative challenge, a unique process - even if the end product is totally indistinguishable from a pie that began as pumpkin puree in a can. Besides, what kind of name is "the breeders"? I guess it’s a lot like making a pumpkin pie totally from scratch – like, starting with the pumpkin. It’s an interesting creative challenge, a unique process – even if the end product is totally indistinguishable from a pie that began as pumpkin puree in a can.

Besides, what kind of name is “the breeders”?

]]> By: Bruce Bullis http://deliciousdevice.com/2008/10/16/the-breeders-go-analog/#comment-461 Bruce Bullis Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:36:48 +0000 http://deliciousdevice.com/2008/10/16/the-breeders-go-analog/#comment-461 "...and these results were computed NOT by a silicon chip-based PC, but by mechanical difference engine! It really opens up the resultstage." - Some unilateral dumbass “…and these results were computed NOT by a silicon chip-based PC, but by mechanical difference engine! It really opens up the resultstage.”

– Some unilateral dumbass

]]> By: Astrobeej http://deliciousdevice.com/2008/10/16/the-breeders-go-analog/#comment-459 Astrobeej Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:20:44 +0000 http://deliciousdevice.com/2008/10/16/the-breeders-go-analog/#comment-459 Heh. That's just as bad as the all-digital fanatics back in the '80s. Then, as now, my reply is "Yeah? But how's the music?" Heh. That’s just as bad as the all-digital fanatics back in the ’80s. Then, as now, my reply is “Yeah? But how’s the music?”

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