OT: New Music?

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pk500
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Post by pk500 »

Spooky wrote:
pk500 wrote:
Spooky wrote: Yep...MP3Gain for me as well. I use 92db for all my stuff. I can't stand the overly loud masters either. The biggest issue is the fact that I shuffle my music constantly so I never have to reach for the volume knob every other song.
I use the default 89 dB. I figure the sound engineer who designed the program must have known where to set the default. :)

Some new albums have dB levels around 100. That's ridiculous.

Take care,
PK
89db just semed a tad low to me. Somehow settled on 92db. Oh...and I graduated with a degree in Sound Engineering so don't be too afriad to try 92... :wink:
I never knew that about you! Cool! :)

I'm sticking with 89 since I have more than 10,000 MP3's at that level. Works for me.

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PK
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Post by pk500 »

EZSnappin wrote:Would I be opening up a big can of worms if I said the last Pearl Jam (PJ is PJ Harvey people!) album I really liked was Apple?
Very cheeky. :)

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Post by vader29 »

The new Three Days Grace album is pretty good.

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Post by greggsand »

pk500 wrote:
Spooky wrote:
pk500 wrote:I normalize volume on all tracks, too, which is equivalent to saying I reduce volume on all tracks. :)

I can't stand the trend this decade of CD tracks being so damn "hot." The amount of clipping and lack of subtlety are rampant at such ridiculous dB levels.

MP3Gain is a vital tool in my MP3 workshop.

Take care,
PK
Yep...MP3Gain for me as well. I use 92db for all my stuff. I can't stand the overly loud masters either. The biggest issue is the fact that I shuffle my music constantly so I never have to reach for the volume knob every other song.
I use the default 89 dB. I figure the sound engineer who designed the program must have known where to set the default. :)

Some new albums have dB levels around 100. That's ridiculous.

Take care,
PK
So, I have 10,000 mp3's. How would I do that to my library? Does it create new files? Would I have to manually do each file?
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Post by Spooky »

greggsand wrote:
pk500 wrote:
Spooky wrote: Yep...MP3Gain for me as well. I use 92db for all my stuff. I can't stand the overly loud masters either. The biggest issue is the fact that I shuffle my music constantly so I never have to reach for the volume knob every other song.
I use the default 89 dB. I figure the sound engineer who designed the program must have known where to set the default. :)

Some new albums have dB levels around 100. That's ridiculous.

Take care,
PK
So, I have 10,000 mp3's. How would I do that to my library? Does it create new files? Would I have to manually do each file?
Are you a Windows or Mac user? MP3Gain works a bit differently on each, but basically you'd want to do it an album at a time. Because it has an option for 'Album Gain' meaning it won't just put EVERY song on the album at the desired db level but rather make them an overall level of the desired db. So the soft songs remain soft and the louder songs remain louder.

It takes about 2 minutes per album. It does NOT create new files, it overwrites the existing ones and recommends that you back up first. I have never backed up and NEVER had an issue (except once when I accidentally put the db's at 0).
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Post by James_E »

pk500 wrote:I normalize volume on all tracks, too, which is equivalent to saying I reduce volume on all tracks. :)

I can't stand the trend this decade of CD tracks being so damn "hot." The amount of clipping and lack of subtlety are rampant at such ridiculous dB levels.

MP3Gain is a vital tool in my MP3 workshop.

Take care,
PK
You can't "unclip" it though. If the original content has been slammed to full range and clipped by the compression during the mastering, no amount of gain adjustment is going to fix that. I do agree that normalizing music makes sense, but it doesn't fix the mess made by the mastering process if the mastering introduced clipping.

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Post by greggsand »

Pitchfork's Pearl Jam review:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13480-backspacer/

Love of hate pitchfork, they definitely don't sit on the fence (ala rolling stone).
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Post by pk500 »

greggsand wrote:Pitchfork's Pearl Jam review:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13480-backspacer/

Love of hate pitchfork, they definitely don't sit on the fence (ala rolling stone).
True on Pitchfork. I read it for that reason.

There was an adjective in the final graph of the Pitchfork review that bounced around my head when I listened to the new Pearl Jam album: workmanlike.

I think it's a perfect description. This is a serviceable rock album. Not horrible, not terrific. Very listenable, yet very forgettable.

For me, "Backspacer" is sort of like an Xbox 360 video game that catches fire at DSP for about a week or two until it's abandoned when the next hot XBL game comes along. :)

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PK
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Post by Spooky »

greggsand wrote:Pitchfork's Pearl Jam review:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13480-backspacer/

Love of hate pitchfork, they definitely don't sit on the fence (ala rolling stone).
Agree 100% with this review. Exactly why i can't get into it. Bascially void of any real melodies except for one or two tracks.
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Post by EZSnappin »

pk500 wrote:For me, "Backspacer" is sort of like an Xbox 360 video game that catches fire at DSP for about a week or two until it's abandoned when the next hot XBL game comes along. :)
It's the Shadowrun of rock 'n' roll.

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Post by GTHobbes »

greggsand wrote:Pitchfork's Pearl Jam review:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13480-backspacer/

Love of hate pitchfork, they definitely don't sit on the fence (ala rolling stone).
It's weird...if my memory serves, we pretty much had this EXACT same discussion one year ago this month in reference to the latest Kings of Leon record.

I was over the top with my enthusiasm for the record, Pitchfork (which I had never even heard of before) slammed it as trash, and pretty much the same folks here who have commented on Pearl Jam's album felt the same way towards the KOL disc.

Here we are, one year later, and Kings of Leon's cd is STILL in the Top 10 album chart, it still gets regular play on my IPod (for my money, it's their best album...even better than Aha Shake), and Pearl Jam's cd is getting ready to dominate (despite Pitchfork's ridiculous review). Can't say I"m really surprised, but I do find it sort've entertaining to see how it's all played out. Even down to the identical 3 and 1/2 stars (out of 4) reviews both albums got from USA Today.

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Post by pk500 »

GT:

This isn't a rip of Pearl Jam, as I enjoy them. I don't worship them, but I enjoy their music. I like the raw feeling of "Backspacer," but I'm also not ready to ordain it as a classic recording or even among the year's best.

But since when have sales equated to quality in anything? Just remember: Nickelback and Creed topped the charts, too.

Miley Cyrus is No. 3 on the Billboard charts right now and is riveted to the iPods of teens around the world, yet I don't think anyone is calling her the second coming of Patsy Cline.

I also think the Pitchfork review is on to something when it identifies the love-hate relationship many reviewers have with Pearl Jam. I think some reviewers' critiques of recent Pearl Jam albums are painted with rose-colored paint because many of them came of age musically when Pearl Jam and other grunge bands ruled the rock Earth.

There's definitely a sense of nostalgia and admiration displayed by critics for Pearl Jam because it is arguably the only true iconic survivor of the grunge era and because it has evolved enough to soldier on as a solid rock band. Pearl Jam never flamed out, and it deserves respect for that.

Hell, I'm not immune, either. I'll always have a soft spot for U2 and The Who since they were my monsters of rock in the late 70s and early 80s when I started to listen to a lot of music in my early- to mid-teens. I'm more willing to appreciate a tepid, derivative album from U2, such as "Pop" or "No Line on the Horizon," than I would from another band. It's human nature.

Conversely, there also are reviewers who mercilessly shred any Pearl Jam album because the band exploded into superstardom and money while other influential, more indie bands of the time did not.

I guess the truth -- or our interpretation of it -- lies somewhere between.

Take care,
PK
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Post by GTHobbes »

Fair enough, PK...and thanks for the response. Certainly, I can agree with you that sales numbers are (usually) no measure of quality. However, I do think you might feel differently about the new Pearl Jam cd after a couple of more listens, especially if you track down some of the lyrics. I'm a Pearl Jam homer, no doubt, but this really is their best work in quite some time. And as a fan of the Who, who Pearl Jam has long idolized, I think you'll pick up on some of the passion/melodies you might miss on the first or second go-round.

As for Pitchfork...I stand by my comments only because their taste in music clearly differs from mine.

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Post by Spooky »

EZSnappin wrote:
pk500 wrote:For me, "Backspacer" is sort of like an Xbox 360 video game that catches fire at DSP for about a week or two until it's abandoned when the next hot XBL game comes along. :)
It's the Shadowrun of rock 'n' roll.
LOL...Or the Burnout Paradise, or the Rainbow 6 Vegas 2, or the Halo 3, or the Race Pro, or the Forza 2, or the Left 4 Dead, or the Gears of War 2, or the Battlefield: BC, or the CoD4, or the Ghost Recon: Advance, or the Grid, or the PGR4, or the GTA4, or the Orange Box, or the Spinter Cell: DA, or the Lost Planet, or the test Drive: Unlimited, or the Perfect Dark Zero, or the...well...you get my point...
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Post by greggsand »

GTHobbes wrote:
greggsand wrote:Pitchfork's Pearl Jam review:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13480-backspacer/

Love of hate pitchfork, they definitely don't sit on the fence (ala rolling stone).
It's weird...if my memory serves, we pretty much had this EXACT same discussion one year ago this month in reference to the latest Kings of Leon record.

I was over the top with my enthusiasm for the record, Pitchfork (which I had never even heard of before) slammed it as trash, and pretty much the same folks here who have commented on Pearl Jam's album felt the same way towards the KOL disc.

Here we are, one year later, and Kings of Leon's cd is STILL in the Top 10 album chart, it still gets regular play on my IPod (for my money, it's their best album...even better than Aha Shake), and Pearl Jam's cd is getting ready to dominate (despite Pitchfork's ridiculous review). Can't say I"m really surprised, but I do find it sort've entertaining to see how it's all played out. Even down to the identical 3 and 1/2 stars (out of 4) reviews both albums got from USA Today.
I have no comment on the new Pear Jam as I haven't heard it, but I find a lot more in-common with a Pitchfork review than a most outlets. I don't think they always get it right (who does)?

Good hear KOL is still moving units, I guess. Nice to know Ryan Gentles hitched his wagon to a winner. If PJ only sells 1/3 of the records of KOL, does it mean it's only 1/3 as good?

[EDIT] Disclaimer: I used to write for pitchfork. (yes, I'm an indie snob)
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Post by Leebo33 »

GTHobbes wrote:Pitchfork (which I had never even heard of before)
I never heard of it either. I can understand why someone who used to work there would read it but I don't understand the appeal otherwise. At least I made it through this review before becoming totally lost and uninterested in what they have to say (as I have with a few other reviews that have been linked here), but a 46? That's f*cking ridiculous.

Plenty of critics like the album. Not that I really care what the critics say as I enjoy it, but since we have a link to a poor review I thought I'd post the metacritic link. "Universal acclaim" rating despite the idiotic 46 weighing the average down a bit. "Different strokes" I guess?

http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists ... backspacer

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Post by pk500 »

I'll agree 46 is too low. But 85 is too high. I'd score it about a 70 in my review at a site called Toiletplunger. :)

Take care,
PK
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Post by greggsand »

Leebo33 wrote:
GTHobbes wrote:Pitchfork (which I had never even heard of before)
I never heard of it either. I can understand why someone who used to work there would read it but I don't understand the appeal otherwise. At least I made it through this review before becoming totally lost and uninterested in what they have to say (as I have with a few other reviews that have been linked here), but a 46? That's f*cking ridiculous.

Plenty of critics like the album. Not that I really care what the critics say as I enjoy it, but since we have a link to a poor review I thought I'd post the metacritic link. "Universal acclaim" rating despite the idiotic 46 weighing the average down a bit. "Different strokes" I guess?

http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists ... backspacer
Like I said before, love or hate, pitchfork is the most powerful music site currently on the web. Labels esp will kill for a good review from pitchfork, as it can literally make bands. I don't think it can break bands (I think Kings of Leon, Jet, & Ryan Adams will be just fine without their love), but a good review can turn a young band's world upside down over night. Bands like Arcade Fire, Clap Your Hands-Say Yeah, and others have credited Pfork for their population explosion. Arcade Fire was a cool moment because even the indie snobs didn't know who they were when Pfork gave them the "Best New Music" stamp.

Some friends of mine have a band that got a 7.2 review of their new album on pfork, and that morning they went from about 20 song streams a day on myspace to 5,000+ a day for about two weeks. 4 weeks later they were touring all over north america with Tokyo Police Club.

So whatever that all means, but pitchfork is more powerful with the "coolness factor" then rolling stone or any other traditional magazine at the moment. Trust me, if you think pitchfork is full of sh*t and a bunch of music geek snobs, they're still doing their job (because they are geeks, snobs, and full of sh*t)...
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Post by webdanzer »

Spooky wrote:
EZSnappin wrote:
pk500 wrote:For me, "Backspacer" is sort of like an Xbox 360 video game that catches fire at DSP for about a week or two until it's abandoned when the next hot XBL game comes along. :)
It's the Shadowrun of rock 'n' roll.
LOL...Or the Burnout Paradise, or the Rainbow 6 Vegas 2, or the Halo 3, or the Race Pro, or the Forza 2, or the Left 4 Dead, or the Gears of War 2, or the Battlefield: BC, or the CoD4, or the Ghost Recon: Advance, or the Grid, or the PGR4, or the GTA4, or the Orange Box, or the Spinter Cell: DA, or the Lost Planet, or the test Drive: Unlimited, or the Perfect Dark Zero, or the...well...you get my point...
Sorry to continue the OT, but I think Shadowrun was probably longer lived than pretty much everything else Spooky mentioned, save maybe CoD4 which had good legs.

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Post by Leebo33 »

greggsand wrote:Like I said before, love or hate, pitchfork is the most powerful music site currently on the web.
Oh, I certainly am not contesting that it is a powerful site. You'd know better than me. Hell, I just heard of the site through here and know nothing or heard anything about them ever in the "real world." I just don't think it is very good. Although I pretty much totally disagree with the content of the review, at least I could finish reading the Backspacer review without thinking WTF is this person trying to say?

My rating for Pitchfork is a 45.

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Post by RobVarak »

dp
Last edited by RobVarak on Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by RobVarak »

Somebody should beat to death most of those P4k critics with a thesaurus. It'd be a fitting end given the way they write.
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Post by GTHobbes »

greggsand wrote:
Leebo33 wrote:
GTHobbes wrote:Pitchfork (which I had never even heard of before)
I never heard of it either. I can understand why someone who used to work there would read it but I don't understand the appeal otherwise. At least I made it through this review before becoming totally lost and uninterested in what they have to say (as I have with a few other reviews that have been linked here), but a 46? That's f*cking ridiculous.

Plenty of critics like the album. Not that I really care what the critics say as I enjoy it, but since we have a link to a poor review I thought I'd post the metacritic link. "Universal acclaim" rating despite the idiotic 46 weighing the average down a bit. "Different strokes" I guess?

http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists ... backspacer
Like I said before, love or hate, pitchfork is the most powerful music site currently on the web. Labels esp will kill for a good review from pitchfork, as it can literally make bands. I don't think it can break bands (I think Kings of Leon, Jet, & Ryan Adams will be just fine without their love), but a good review can turn a young band's world upside down over night. Bands like Arcade Fire, Clap Your Hands-Say Yeah, and others have credited Pfork for their population explosion. Arcade Fire was a cool moment because even the indie snobs didn't know who they were when Pfork gave them the "Best New Music" stamp.

Some friends of mine have a band that got a 7.2 review of their new album on pfork, and that morning they went from about 20 song streams a day on myspace to 5,000+ a day for about two weeks. 4 weeks later they were touring all over north america with Tokyo Police Club.

So whatever that all means, but pitchfork is more powerful with the "coolness factor" then rolling stone or any other traditional magazine at the moment. Trust me, if you think pitchfork is full of sh*t and a bunch of music geek snobs, they're still doing their job (because they are geeks, snobs, and full of sh*t)...
It's funny because, I'd be willing to bet good money that none of the bands you mentioned (and apparently pitchfork loves) will even be around 9 albums from now (like Pearl Jam), let alone still making great music. Then again, even if they were, pitchfork would probably then be slamming them, too, in favor of praising the "next" big thing. What a f***in joke.

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Post by XXXIV »

Does anyone on the planet actually decide what music they listened to based on what some worm youve never met wrote ?

Seriously? What a f***in joke ....

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Post by greggsand »

XXXIV wrote:Does anyone on the planet actually decide what music they listened to based on what some worm youve never met wrote ?

Seriously? What a f***in joke ....
Why do you think people go these sites or buy magazines? People are always seeking new music. Maybe you're out polling the night clubs looking for the next big thing? I'd be curious to learn how you discover new music.
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