Back when I was a kid, the way you listened to music was very simple; you popped a 45 (or 78) rpm “single” onto a record changer, and played it over and over until you simply wore the thing out. Once in awhile, you’d save up enough money to get a (new or used) record album with the first song on each side usually being the “best’ or most important. As I got older, the singles got put away, and I would spend my evening hours listening in 15-20 minute intervals to music ranging from The Temptations to Santana, sometimes stacking 3-4 albums on the rack for continuous play of up to an hour. Besides listening to the music, you could while away the hours staring at the cool album cover and read the liner notes, learning in depth information about the musicians featured on the album. Meanwhile, my friends and I would dream of the day someone would invent a turntable that could automatically flip the album to side two without any assistance, but that seemed far fetched to have that much straight music.
Fast forward (a term created in the days of VHS and cassette tapes) a couple decades and “voila!” my friend Clay comes to my house twirling a small silver disc on his finger. “This thing holds up to 75 minutes, and you WON’T believe the sound,” he boasted. “What’s even better, is that you can’t wear it out; they say you can throw it like a Frisbee and it will still play.” While that claim didn’t exactly pan out, you couldn’t argue with the sound quality (most of the time) or for the fact that you could put a ton of music on a single compact disc, sometimes putting two old albums on one single cd. This seemed like manna from heaven! You had great music, with unbelievable sound, and you still had the cool liner notes, although anything longer than 2 pages required a pliers to get them out of those funky jewel cases. Also, the album artwork wasn’t as trend setting; who would frame a 4×4 postcard?
For the past 20 years, digital downloads have slowly taken over as the way the majority of people get their music. Instead of holding a physical product, which needed book cases to hold, an entire album collection the size of the Tower Records (which has now closed down) could be kept in a tiny hand held device. The musical world was at your fingertips, and you could actually have, as comedian Robert Klein once joked “Every sound ever recorded.”
But as in all “solutions,” there was a cost. The plethora of music has arguably diminished our comprehension of it. All of the songs, as well as jazz instrumental solos, that I have memorized came when I played one song over and over on an album; I’ve never taken the time to concentrate on an entire downloaded album and “get into” it like I did with my singles and 40” lps. Also, there is minimal if any literature involved on a download. Just who these musicians are and what they are doing takes much more effort to decipher. As Tolstoy wrote, “it was the best of times and the worst of times.”
What we’ve done here is try to get as many perspectives of this musical obstacle course from as many different sources as possible. In this article, you’ll find the same questions answered by musicians (Lisa Hilton and Larry Koonse), a record producer and label owner (Mike Cuscuna of Mosaic Records and Larry Koonse of Jazz Compass), a jazz historian/journalist (Marc Myers of Why Jazz Happened), a deejay (Mark Maxwell of KPFK), a record/cd store owner (Steve Mintz of Bagatelle Records) and even a jazz fan (Angela Johnson, just graduated college student). So, you’re getting a perspective from just about every angle that’s out there, sort of like a jazz version of Rashomon.
A LOVE SUPREME: PERSUANCE
The first question that has to be asked is simply “Who is buying which kind of music medium?” About half the people now purchase downloads, a close second is those who still prefer compact discs and there are still those geocentrists who believe that vinyl is the best way to appreciate music. Cuscuna, who sells gold standard cd and vinyl reissues via Mosaic records states, “No idea really on any of this
except to say that jazz and classical are at the bottom of the list interms of downloads. They should improve as more quality listeners buy high end servers and as more high def downloads become available.” Guitarist Larry Koonse agrees, “Age ranges of 40 years on up prefer classical and jazz and nostalgic R&B (vinyl/analog/CD’s) ….. 30-40 years prefer pop music from their teens and early 20′s (CD’s/digital downloads) …. under 30 years prefer whatever the flavor of the month is (digital downloads). All of these have major deviations of course.”
Maxwell gives a reason for this demograph, stating “”People who are baby boomers and who aren’t computer-savvy buy both jazz records and jazz CDs. However, the Millennials basically only purchase records.They, as a group, as buyer block, don’t buy CDs. Most of them are downloading music either through Itunes, MP3 players or are file sharing with their fellow friends over the Internet. They like the convenience of Ipods, the convenience of having music on their computers. If you witness a lot of youth, they are always carrying phones and Ipods. Or when they’re at home they’re at their computers and that’s where the music is. Also, they’re in this mentality of getting music for free. What I mean by that is that there is this generation that happened when the Ipods and MP players and file sharing was going on, they didn’t have to pay for music. I think the reason why they are buying records albums is that they see the LP records as maybe an artifact. Also, they’ve been told that the sound quality of records is superior to CD formats. But I feel that the reality is that they’ve been getting their music downloaded off of Itunes, file sharing and everything over the internet and they have narrow band with of the various music being sold to them. And so when they hear a record and compare it a download, the ambiance on an analog record is much more exuberant, full, rich and diverse. Because of the narrow band with, a download doesn’t have all the nuances that a record, or even for that matter that a good CD has. Although a good CD may be sterile compared to an analog, meaning it doesn’t have a warmth to it, but it has crisp music, which still gives a great ambiance. The Millenials equate a CD to same thing that they would download from a friend, but they don’t really realize that a good CD, whether it’s Jazz, classical, rock n’ roll, has great highs on it far superior to any download.”
” I have heard that they are now downloading high end audio tracks that you have to pay a premium for. It hasn’t been widespread. One of my customers who is an audiophile told me that there is certain music that has been downloaded over the internet that has a wider broadband.”
A LOVE SUPREME: ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
As economist Thomas Sowell points out, choices do not consist of solutions, but of trade offs. One type of music offers something the other doesn’t, but to the loss of something else. I myself back in my 20s (although albums were the medium of choice) used to love the feel of a scratchy 78 spinning around like a top, and I noticed that I would pay closer attention to the music when I had only 3 minutes before personally changing the records. The surfeit of music that is available can be overwhelming, but it sure sounds good! What are the advantages of each mode of music?
While all people connected with music are fans at heart, the only “pure” fan and consumer, Angela chimes in, “the obvious advantage to digital is that it is portable. With an iTunes account you can download an album and have that album on your phone, iPod, computer…etc. if your phone gets stolen you don’t have to worry about all your music being lost because it is on your computer or backed up on the cloud. The downside that I have personally noticed is that music gets lost in the jumble. I often forget about albums I have because I continually play the same stuff. With cd’s I would play more of a random mix of CDs because the simple act of flipping through a case of CDs shows you what you have and don’t have. It’s visible and tangible. The downsides to CDs are they get broken, scratched, lost, take up a lot of space and are more expensive.” Cuscuna, who has a vested interest in what the public desires, agrees, “ Well, downloads are portable and go wherever you go, but the sound is the worst of all the possibilities. Vinyl is the best sounding, but putting a stylus to a vinyl record does ultimately result in wear that you don’t get on a CD and it takes the most effort in caring for the LPs and having to get up every 20 minutes during listening.”
Marc Myers offers an intriguing perspective here, “I listen to music differently than most people. Since I’m writing about music all day for the Wall Street Journal, JazzWax and book projects, being able to hear what’s being done on the album is far more important that every single detail in the recording. In my office, I run my iTunes library through a DAC Benchmark digital-to-analog converter, which then runs into an Amcom integrated receiver and out through B&W monitor speakers. So my system is higher end. But I’m not listening with my feet up and a the backs of my fingers under my chin.”
“Downloads are convenient. The downside is that most are mp3s that lack some of the energy and excitement of CDs. I still have LPs and play them, but the sheer inconvenience of the LP makes them difficult to enjoy. With iTunes, music plays on and on and I never have to become involved with the physical aspect of turning over the vinyl. An LP certainly sounds warmer—more mellow and colorful, if you will. But given that music has become a secondary sound rather than a primary listen—meaning most people now listen to music while doing other things—I’m not sure it matters any longer.”
Hilton recalls the days of giant speakers and says “the answer is that ipod quality is pretty bad – especially when blasted through speakers. But we have embraced convenience over quality with the ipod so we can carry our music with us. There is of course, a big audiophile movement – my duplication house is doing more vinyl than CD’s currently. Why can’t we enjoy both? A Macintosh turntable at home, and an ipod for the gym? All good.”
“The biggest issue in music today is not about the current formats, but about the royalty structures in radio. We all know internet radio is the future, but composers get paid (count the zeros) .00003 per play. It is amazing how much time and work it takes to create music, when it essentially is consumed for free everywhere. Copyright issues are also very pertinent today too. Very big challenges that very dedicated lawyers will need to guide us through.”
“I think that we will continue to consume music in an ever broadening fashion – which is great- with greater ease and flexibility. Beyond that is anybody;s guess!”
MY FAVORITE THINGS
Some people can enjoy an album like Blues And The Abstract Truth as deeply on a cassette tape as on an audiophile album with $500 speakers. For others the slightest diminution of sound quality ruins the listening experience. For myself, it didn’t matter what equipment my player had as the noise produced by teenage kids took away any sense of personal ambience during a free hour to listen to music; the van was my jazz concert hall. I had a friend that sprayed each vinyl album with an invisible material that was guaranteed to take away any sounds of static. Albums like “Mingus Ah Um” sure did sound fantastic on his system, but you have to be a bachelor to afford/enjoy it. Where do the rest of us fit in with the sound quality issue?
Deejay Maxwell brings his experiences from the radio into play here,”
“There have been a few times when I’ve played an LP and I really wanted to play it and unfortunately the record was not in the greatest condition and it was a little scratchy. And I get very self conscious when that happens. Several times I’ve mentioned it, apologizing on air for the condition of the record. It’s interesting. Several times when I’ve done that people have called and said, ‘Oh, it’s no problem. I actually kind of like hearing surface noise.’ Which kind of people speaks to the fact that if people came up listening to vinyl there are certain things that are just part of the experience. If you enjoy the music, a lot of times you start to enjoy the other stuff that comes with it. And so a little surface noise will actually kind enlist a positive response from people, which I kind of find fascinating.
“There is definitely a lot of nostalgic, non scientific stuff going on. And that’s fine. The way society deals with music, we like a subjective experience. In other words, we don’t like things to necessarily be scientific about music. We want it to be left brain, right brain, whatever side of the brain is supposed to be your creative side, we like things to be that way when we are dealing with music. And so we tend not to overanalyze. Is this really a better sound or not? We tend to go with our emotions. We think back to the time we listened to an album or whatever and that was a good time, and so we like albums. That happens a lot. There are people who are more audiophiles, but that’s a whole another ball of wax.”
Johnson, who listens to music either casually at home as background music to studying or driving to and from school or work points out “There is an obvious difference between download and cd vs vinyl. With download and cd being digital you don’t get that “Je ne said quo” that comes with Vinyl. Vinyl has an earthy soulful sound that is irreplaceable with modern technology. Personally, i don’t notice a difference between a downloaded cd and hard copy cd, except when my cd gets scratched, then I notice a HUGE difference. They are both digitally recorded one is played digitally one is read. So essentially the same.”
Even people in the music industry like musicians are still fans at heart, since they started out as lovers of the music before they took up an instrument. Larry Koonse states “ There is a definite difference between vinyl and either digital format (CD or digital download). I still like to listen to analog versions of songs because a part of me still thinks they sound warmer. I’m not sure if I’m delusional. I also like the hisses and pops present when listening to a vinyl record. No perceivable difference between CD’s and digital downloads.”
Cuscuna, whose jazz reissue Mosaic Records label prides itself on sound quality believes “There is a major difference in sound between these different mediums. A download is the most compressed with the lowest bit rate and sounds the least impressive (high def downloads are another story and soon to have an impact on the scene). CDs are limited by 16 bit and a relatively small sampling rate because they were introduced prematurely before the medium was really perfected. SACDs are a vast improvement because they are 24 bit with a much higher sampling rate. A 24/96 or 24/192 sound file is VERY close to vinyl in warmth and detail but without the downsides of vinyl. Of course, discussing sound quality by delivery system does not take into account that an engineer can screw up or enhance a recording in any medium. There are many factors involved.”
Maxwell considers all of these factors when he says “My opinions as far as the qualitative properties of each format as not as strong as they were in the past. I definitely see bigger differences that have more to do with the psychology of the listener. Meaning, there are things that are extra musical, outside of the music and outside of the audio quality that have us gravitate towards the different formats, and they are all valid. For example, just because of my age I grew up listening to records. The sound of recorded music to me is the sound of a record. You have to master music a certain way when you’re mastering it for an LP. If you have too much low frequency you’re going to make the cutting lathe, the head, jump out of the grooves when you’re actually trying to manufacture the acitape. And so you have to cut a certain amount of low end and that affects the sound. If you grew up hearing that and you become accustomed to it, and you hear that sound you think, Aaah, that is what a recording is supposed to sound like. Whereas CDs don’t have that particular limitation and so they have a different sound. And if it is not what is normal for you for most of your life, you may prefer the LP. I don’t know on an objective level if an LP is better. But on a subjective level that may be the case. As far as MP3s are concerned, I think you can get pretty objective about there being a lesser quality. But it has other pluses going for it. MP3s are a conscious compromise in sound in order to make the file size small enough to upload, download easily, send to the Internet, get onto your listening device, whether it’s an Ipod, smart phone or whatever. It’s a compressed format. The tradeoff is that you lose audio information. That’s part of the deal. It’s got its place but if I’m a producer and we get a rough mix of something, and the singer that’s going to sing on the album is not local, I can just email him/her an MP3 so they can get idea how the tune sounds and practice for when they come in for the recording session. The highest fidelity is not really an issue for them at that stage of the game. And so an MP3 makes a lot more sense instead of Fed Exing a CD. And so, there’s a place for MP3s.”
Maxwell points out that on his radio program “”There have been a few times when I’ve played an LP and I really wanted to play it and unfortunately the record was not in the greatest condition and it was a little scratchy. And I get very self conscious when that happens. Several times I’ve mentioned it, apologizing on air for the condition of the record. It’s interesting. Several times when I’ve done that people have called and said, ‘Oh, it’s no problem. I actually kind of like hearing surface noise.’ Which kind of people speaks to the fact that if people came up listening to vinyl there are certain things that are just part of the experience. If you enjoy the music, a lot of times you start to enjoy the other stuff that comes with it. And so a little surface noise will actually kind enlist a positive response from people, which I kind of find fascinating.”
“There is definitely a lot of nostalgic, non scientific stuff going on. And that’s fine. The way society deals with music, we like a subjective experience. In other words, we don’t like things to necessarily be scientific about music. We want it to be left brain, right brain, whatever side of the brain is supposed to be your creative side, we like things to be that way when we are dealing with music. And so we tend not to overanalyze. Is this really a better sound or not? We tend to go with our emotions