Post Random Music-Related Thoughts You Have

[tragabigzanda]

[Birds in Hell]

Like I said, I’m not an audiophile, but surely this can’t be a truly lossless process that would result in a completely identical master?

You're right, LV.

There is no way of truly making an "identical" copy; the tape is the original, irreplaceable artefact.

[LoathedVermin72]

I also think this is a bit myopic:
[quote="tragabigzanda”]I'm not sure the masters are that big a deal; I imagine they've been digitally archived already, and as long as that was done really well, and people can forget their emotional attachment to physical media for the sake of this issue, I'm not sure there's much of anything really "lost" with those 2-track master tape.

This feels sorta like saying we don’t need an original camera negative as long as it’s been transferred to a digital master. But that’s digital technology right now - we have no idea what kind of tech will be available once the future. Imagine if all we had a 2000-era telecine DVD master when a negative was lost. We’ve progressed so far since then.

I’m not an audiophile so I can’t say this is an exact apples-to-apples comparison, but losing the original source material like this definitely seems bad to me.

But if it's already backed up with high fidelity digital audio, they can just put it on to new tape.

[/quote][/quote]
Like I said, I’m not an audiophile, but surely this can’t be a truly lossless process that would result in a completely identical master?[/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]
No it's not, but "true lossless" is overrated. Our ears can only hear so well, and the restorative technology available today is AMAZING. People worried that losing those masters could potentially mean they may not be able to hear the music as good someday are misinformed.[/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]
I dunno, man. This sounds just like the kind of stuff people incorrectly say about digital film transfer technology all the time. I’m very skeptical.

[Strat]

hip hop sucks since 1994

Oldheads are the rockists of hip-hop

ice cube 4eva

[LoathedVermin72]

hip hop sucks since 1994

Oldheads are the rockists of hip-hop

ice cube 4eva

Gucci Mane > Ice Cube

[Birds in Hell]

I dunno, man. This sounds just like the kind of stuff people incorrectly say about digital film transfer technology all the time. I’m very skeptical.

You're exactly on the money here LV.

I imagine it's very similar to discussions which occur re: film transfers.

[tragabigzanda]

[LoathedVermin72]

I dunno, man. This sounds just like the kind of stuff people incorrectly say about digital film transfer technology all the time. I’m very skeptical.

You're exactly on the money here LV.

I imagine it's very similar to discussions which occur re: film transfers.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say “the human eye can only perceive so much detail” in an effort to dismiss 4K home video. It’s total bunk.

[Birds in Hell]

Much of what people admire about older recordings are things like tape compression and tape hiss. The former is already present on any archived recordings, and the latter can now be removed with scary efficiency.

The inherent limitations of analog recording is a totally different and unrelated topic.

In any case, you're again placing an enormous amount of confidence in the digital technology of the day.

There will only ever be one master tape of those original Coltrane recordings.

The hiss and noise reduction techniques widely used in the 90s now seem very destructive.

Who can predict what technological changes may occur in twenty or fifty years time?

Is data necessarily any more secure in the long-term than analog tape? (It's definitely not.)

Spenno's post about the quality and quantity of those archives is more concerning though. Take everything I've said and apply it to "properly archived master recordings" only.

My problem is what constitutes a "properly archived" digital transfer changes over time as new processes become available.

What seemed like good (or "good enough") archiving and transferring techniques in 2002 or 2004 are presumably very inferior to those undertaken today.

[tragabigzanda]

Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

[Birds in Hell]

I can't help but also reflect upon the fact that many modern digital session recordings may be essentially unarchivable, given they will rely upon not only the proper storage and cataloguing of the data but also the ability to access and recreate the sessions via whatever software was used at the time. I'm pretty sure Albini has talked about this before, whether in an interview or a forum post. What you've said about tape is true however it's a physical object that will endure essentially in perpetuity with some degree of proper care. Digital files are, in contrast, almost intrinsically ephemeral.

[Birds in Hell]

Also:

[tragabigzanda]

[tragabigzanda]

[bune]

Nobody knows how much of the material had been digitally transferred, it's suggested that only a fraction may have been. In any case, it seems as though there wasn't any kind of comprehensive catalogue for what was on the tapes held. Even for those which were transferred, when and how did it occur? A digital transfer made in 2002 (for example) is likely inferior to one made more recently and there's now no possibility that any of that material can be archived or accessed in the future in greater fidelity.

This is a heartbreaking, staggering loss of 20th century culture. I can't think of anything comparable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_d ... _libraries

[Birds in Hell]

LA Times: Lawsuits against Universal Music Group expected next week in response to 2008 fire

A high-profile Los Angeles law firm representing multiple recording artists plans to file legal action as early as next week in response to news that a massive number of original master recordings were destroyed in a 2008 fire at Universal Studios Hollywood.

“We have many very concerned clients,” attorney Howard King, partner in King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, said Thursday. “This has a potentially huge impact on their future, coupled with the rather disturbing fact that no one ever told them that their intellectual property may have been destroyed. There is a significant amount of discussion going on, and there will be formal action taken.”

[run2death]

I don't get all the love for Vampire Weekend.

[LoathedVermin72]

I don't get all the love for Vampire Weekend.

Yeah fuck them

[verb_to_trust]

Still Feel Gone is the best Uncle Tupelo record

[run2death]

New Sebadoh is great.

Barlow has to be one of the most underrated songwriters of the past 25 years.