Does the average listener really care if its analog?

VST, AU, AAX, CLAP, etc. Plugin Virtual Instruments Discussion
Post Reply New Topic
RELATED
PRODUCTS

Post

SODDI wrote:I don't think the average listener cares what instruments are on any recording whatsoever. Why should they? It is all part of the song as a whole and that is what they are listening to.

BBFG# mentioned paintings. Do you care what specific color of blue was used - cobalt or Prussian - in any painting?

Except for maybe guitar solos.
Well, maybe it is because we paint also, but yes, which blue is used is something we care about quite a bit. Even going as far as what they used chemically to achieve it.
Then again, it were those questions of how they got the variances in color that started us painting in the first place.

In that regard, the person listening is still not average and likely has a latent musician inside them hoping to find their way out.

Post

Every listener cares if it's analog cause it all is when it's reaching their ears :hihi:

Post

pdxindy wrote:
zerocrossing wrote:
Karten wrote:I think it only matters to the person playing the analogue synth.
Analogue doesn't necessarily mean great sound. In the wrong hands, any synth will sound bad.

Just like in photography, a great digital photo will always better than a crappy one on film.
Sure, but what about if all else is equal? Meaning what if the same exact shot is taken with a film camera and a digital camera? Same lens, photographer, subject, etc.
90% of the time the digital photograph will be better... usually significantly better
That's such B.S. I don't even know where to start...
Zerocrossing Media

4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~

Post

foosnark wrote:
zerocrossing wrote:What you're saying is that because you don't care no one should?
No, what I'm saying is... what I said, surprisingly enough. Nothing hostile was intended.


If you want to use film cameras and analog synths, I'm not stopping you. Just don't judge other people's work based on whether they do the same.

If you think analog is better due to sound (or image), that's your opinion, but you should recognize that not everyone is going to share your opinion.

If you think analog is better because it encourages your creativity or gives you a better workflow, then by all means go for it! But understand that your audience only cares about the result, not the process or equipment.
Except... I am my audience... or at least the most important member. :oops:

It's funny, I was asked to be in a band called Bond Girl a while ago. They do updated versions of all the Bond songs. Anyway, I turned them down due to being too busy, but I was seriously considering it so I got a compilation of all the Bond songs though the years. So much of it is deliciously schlocky... but such a cool vibe... until I got to a Madonna song that sounded like an iMac having sex with a Speak and Spell while an Access Virus mastrubated in the corner. All flash and production tricks... no soul whatsoever.

Anyway, you're talking to a man who probably has more software synths than you, as well as a hardware VA (Kingkorg) and I've always maintained in this thread that the only thing that matters is if the instrument inspires the artist, but I still think analog synths sound sexier.
Zerocrossing Media

4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~

Post

Hard to say what an average listener is! I doubt the majority of people will actively want to find out how music is made, but they do know what they like and whether consciously or subconsciously they may prefer one to the other and vote with their downloads.

I personally blend analogue and software synths in my music, I use analogue where I can, but I don't have a massive collection, so need to use software for certain things, I nearly always use VA for this. I think that just a touch of real analogue can improve the sound of a whole mix. It may even be a case of emperors new clothes, but a feel a tune that has just one true recorded analogue synth can have more depth, and is more attractive to me, than a pure software tune.

Post

zerocrossing wrote:
pdxindy wrote:
zerocrossing wrote:
Karten wrote:I think it only matters to the person playing the analogue synth.
Analogue doesn't necessarily mean great sound. In the wrong hands, any synth will sound bad.

Just like in photography, a great digital photo will always better than a crappy one on film.
Sure, but what about if all else is equal? Meaning what if the same exact shot is taken with a film camera and a digital camera? Same lens, photographer, subject, etc.
90% of the time the digital photograph will be better... usually significantly better
That's such B.S. I don't even know where to start...
Color photography it is no contest. Digital is far superior in color accuracy. In addition, you can get good color in lighting conditions that there was just no point to even try with film. No need to carry a bunch of color correction filters around anymore (which only marginally helped anyway). Hell, my little canon point and shoot gets more accurate color than film ever did.

Digital can be shot in a huge brightness range. I take low light photos handheld with my DSLR that I could never have taken back when I used to have film cameras. I used to have to carry multiple cameras with different film speeds just to get a portion of the brightness range I have now with one. That means I catch more good moments because I am not burdened with all that equipment or stuck trying to super fast change a film roll only to miss the moment.

Post

Karten wrote:In the wrong hands, any synth will sound bad.
Mm. The first couple of minutes of "Band on the Run" comes to mind. Warm. Analog. Irritation.
You need to limit that rez, bro.

Post

pdxindy wrote:You can take actions shots (people moving for example) in situations you could not have done with film.
Plus, if you miss that special shot you can always just make it up ITB after the fact.
You need to limit that rez, bro.

Post

Of course (s)he cares.

Like we all care about what kind of pigments were used, the side and the shape of the brushes the painter used, and what (s)he ate for breakfast before painting, when we watch a picture.

Silver or digital, brand name, number of zigapixels if digital, spectrums, these are really the first things I can think of when I see a photo.

But first lets make a little test : Ask *normal* people to decipher the different instruments used in a part of a classical music, or rock music, or electronic music. You could be surprised by the answers ( Or the lack of answers ) Thats where Pierre et le loup becomes handy.

But analog, seriously ....... no more than 0.0000001% of your potential audience might care. It's artists duty, burden, or intense joy to choose the right tools/instruments so that the music is good, or less good. Need analog tools for your music, nice. dont need analog ? Equally nice. It's just your problem, never the listeners one.


*normal* : The real life outside of kvr
http://www.lelotusbleu.fr Synth Presets

77 Exclusive Soundbanks for 23 synths, 8 Sound Designers, Hours of audio Demos. The Sound you miss might be there

Post

zerocrossing wrote:until I got to a Madonna song that sounded like an iMac having sex with a Speak and Spell while an Access Virus mastrubated in the corner. All flash and production tricks... no soul whatsoever.
:D That's basically every Madonna song that isn't from the Ray of Light album, which (IMHO) combined soul with flash and production tricks. Some of her songs not only sound uninspired, but ... whatever the exact opposite of inspired is.


Anyway. More results from my unofficial Facebook poll: a musician who owns some analog synths and says he honestly can't tell in a given recording whether it's analog or VA. A concert promoter who says she can often tell the difference but it almost never actually matters to the quality of the music. Someone else ranting about the lazy use of shitty samples in the late 80s and early 90s to imitate acoustic instruments (proving she didn't understand the question). And someone else talking about how Hammond transistor organs don't sound as good as tonewheel organs. :lol:

Post

foosnark wrote: Some of her songs not only sound uninspired, but ... whatever the exact opposite of inspired is.
Contrived? Which is the problem with much of the music/soundtracks today. It seems easier to figure out in soundtracks where the background audio doesn't really do the visual happenings any justice and become a distraction to the story line rather than a seduction into it. But it is equally true of the club scenes.
And for me only, analog has more of a historical significance than in it's actual applications. When digital first hit, we all were speaking about the ineffective bit rates that would never capture the variables and nuances of analog, but the fact is, the technology now makes all those arguments moot. And it's getting better.
But much has to do with the progression and understanding that progression. It's like the kid that can use a calculator but didn't have to struggle with their times tables before they got one, so they don't know when it goes bad and starts giving them wrong answers. (And even that analogy is falling to technology since the power supplies are getting better all the time too.)

Where we wind up is momentary though, and to refuse to realize that is to accept a death of sorts.

Back to painting... brushes are great to use, but a pain to care for and not always there when the inspiration strikes. So now I only have dollar store brushes that get used and disposed of after just a few times, but mainly I prefer my knives and airbrushes. We do mixed media and often include found objects in the pieces and even use photos decoupaged to sections of the canvas. Which metaphorically could be considered a use of all things available. Whether free or paid; samples destroyed and re-purposed, analog and digital. And we believe that if people get it right away, we failed and it's just as disposable as time itself. Like the current state of music consumed in its idioms of EDM and Rap. It's transitory and now completely overdone. And some are trying to recapture the past while others are losing themselves in the present droll.
The struggle is in trying to push the envelope, using whatever is available. Never knowing where it will lead or what will come of it.
Really, why should we waste our time trying to please the 'average listener' unless music is just a way to make money and nothing else?

Post

BBFG# wrote:Really, why should we waste our time trying to please the 'average listener' unless music is just a way to make money and nothing else?
This, a thousand times.

I work for somebody else 45 hours a week to make money. The music I make is for me, and for anyone who coincidentally happens to also like it. I guarantee they will hear something they have never heard before; I don't guarantee they will enjoy it. But if I didn't like it myself, I'd have deleted or reworked it instead of sharing it.

Not that this has anything to do with analog vs. digital. I maintain, the average listener doesn't care and doesn't even know what the question means. The creator of the music might care a great deal. Personally, I absolutely rely on digital synthesis/processing/editing and don't feel particularly drawn toward analog. (There might be something to having a small external synth to play with, and aside from the pair of Patchblocks I've ordered I could still wind up with a Volca or Monotron or something... but the analog/VA distinction still wouldn't matter to me.)

Post

Not too surprised this thread is still going, but not quite sure why, at the same time. i keep looking at it because of the missing apostrophe/grammar mistake... "if its analog what is what?"

Sometimes i wonder if the music making crowd (well, the electronic kind) are just as separate from the average person on the street as the tech crowd is. The fact that we can get so fiery about this topic, when, if you walk up to average Sally and Joe Person on the street and ask them if analog matters to them, they'll go "WHUT?"
- dysamoria.com
my music @ SoundCloud

Post

Jace-BeOS wrote: i keep looking at it because of the missing apostrophe/grammar mistake... "if its analog what is what?"
“Does the average listener really care if his/her analog what is what?”

Post

My three favorite records are Godflesh/Pure, Justice/AVD and Quicksand/Slip. I could care less how they made those albums. When I record an EP or LP on the other hand, I am completely anal about the source and outcome. Tape, digital, analog, hardware, software, whatever is going to convey the mood I'm looking for best is what I'll use. I'm sure most people who record feel the same way. Most consumers just listen to songs and could care less, artists listening or creating their own music listen more critically to the engineering. If you don't care what is the point?

Post Reply

Return to “Instruments”