{"id":97081,"date":"2014-10-13T15:19:46","date_gmt":"2014-10-13T22:19:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/?p=97081"},"modified":"2016-03-15T10:36:02","modified_gmt":"2016-03-15T17:36:02","slug":"distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/10\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html","title":{"rendered":"<i>The Distortion of Sound<\/i>: A Short Film on How We\u2019ve Created \u201ca McDonald\u2019s Generation of Music Consumers\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"oc-video-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"oc-video-container\">\n\t<span class=\"youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"505\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mDZcz-V29_M?wmode=transparent&amp;fs=1&amp;hl=en&amp;showsearch=0&amp;rel=0&amp;theme=dark\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n<p>\t<!-- \/oc-video-embed -->\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- \/oc-video-wrapper --><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an old joke at this point\u2014the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.digitaltrends.com\/computing\/stop-romanticizing-the-analog-age\/\">hipster\u2019s retro-obses\u00adsion with vinyl<\/a> is an affec\u00adta\u00adtion as bogus as lou\u00advered sun\u00adglass\u00ades and high-waist\u00aded acid washed jeans, right? Well, there are plen\u00adty of peo\u00adple who buy records <em>and<\/em> lis\u00adten to them, too. There are even peo\u00adple who buy and lis\u00adten to cas\u00adsette tapes, imag\u00adine that! You can count me in both camps, and it isn\u2019t because\u2014or only because\u2014I love the look and feel of these ana\u00adlog cul\u00adtur\u00adal arti\u00adfacts or that I\u2019m nos\u00adtal\u00adgic for sim\u00adpler times. It\u2019s because I love the <em>sound<\/em>. Even cheapo cas\u00adsette tapes can often sound bet\u00adter to me than the medi\u00adum of music we\u2019ve all grown so accus\u00adtomed to over the last decade or so\u2014the MP3.<\/p>\n<div class=\"oc-center-da\">\n<div data-fuse=\"22871471544\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>Begin\u00adning in the CD era, the so-called \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.soundonsound.com\/sos\/sep11\/articles\/loudness.htm\">Loud\u00adness Wars<\/a>\u201d more or less killed the dynam\u00adics of record\u00aded music, push\u00ading every sound to the absolute limit\u2014from the most del\u00adi\u00adcate\u00adly plucked acoustic gui\u00adtar string to a black met\u00adal singer\u2019s most demon\u00adic roar. With\u00adout the pleas\u00ading push-pull of musi\u00adcal dynam\u00adics, songs lose their depth and pow\u00ader. Once the music is released as prod\u00aduct, it suf\u00adfers anoth\u00ader indig\u00adni\u00adty in the data com\u00adpres\u00adsion of MP3s and stream\u00ading ser\u00advices, for\u00admats that\u2014according to high-end audio com\u00adpa\u00adny Harmon\u2014\u201chave dimin\u00adished the qual\u00adi\u00adty and flat\u00adtened the emo\u00adtion\u201d of music. In the short film above, <em>The<\/em>&nbsp;<em>Dis\u00adtor\u00adtion of Sound<\/em>, Har\u00admon brings togeth\u00ader a num\u00adber of engi\u00adneers, pro\u00adduc\u00aders, and musi\u00adcians, includ\u00ading big names like Quin\u00adcy Jones, Slash, Hans Zim\u00admer, and Snoop Dogg to dis\u00adcuss what Har\u00admon acoustic engi\u00adneer Dr. Sean Olive, calls \u201cthe val\u00adley of sound qual\u00adi\u00adty\u201d we\u2019ve sup\u00adpos\u00aded\u00adly reached in the last five years.<\/p>\n<p>Harmon\u2019s Chief Engi\u00adneer Chris Lud\u00adwig claims that data com\u00adpres\u00adsion (not audio compression\u2014a dif\u00adfer\u00adent tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy), \u201cremoves up to 90% of the orig\u00adi\u00adnal song.\u201d With our low-qual\u00adi\u00adty MP3s and cheap, tin\u00adny ear\u00adbuds and lap\u00adtop speak\u00aders, says Zim\u00admer, we\u2019ve become \u201ca McDonald\u2019s gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion of music con\u00adsumers.\u201d It\u2019s a depress\u00ading real\u00adi\u00adty for audio\u00adphiles and musi\u00adcians, but Har\u00admon has the solu\u00adtion and <em>Dis\u00adtor\u00adtion of Sound<\/em> is essen\u00adtial\u00adly an adver\u00adtise\u00adment for it. Whether or not you buy in is your call, but along the way, you\u2019ll get an inter\u00adest\u00ading intro\u00adduc\u00adtion to the record\u00ading process and the his\u00adto\u00adry of record\u00aded music. Scroll down to the bot\u00adtom of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.distortionofsound.com\/\">the \u201cDis\u00adtor\u00adtion of Sound\u201d page<\/a> to see how Har\u00admon is \u201cbring\u00ading sound qual\u00adi\u00adty back.\u201d They aren\u2019t doing it with tape decks and turnta\u00adbles.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Relat\u00aded Con\u00adtent:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2012\/10\/neil_young_reveals_the_new_killer_gadget_that_will_save_music.html\">Neil Young Reveals the New Killer Gad\u00adget That Will Save Music<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/about.me\/jonesjoshua\">Josh Jones<\/a>&nbsp;is a writer and musi\u00adcian based in Durham, NC. Fol\u00adlow him at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jdmagness\">@jdmagness<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding: 10px 0\">\n<div class=\"oc-video-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"oc-video-container\">\n\t<span class=\"youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mDZcz-V29_M?wmode=transparent&amp;fs=1&amp;hl=en&amp;showsearch=0&amp;rel=0&amp;theme=dark\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n<p>\t<!-- \/oc-video-embed -->\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- \/oc-video-wrapper --><\/p><\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s an old joke at this point\u2014the hipster\u2019s retro-obses\u00ad\u00adsion with vinyl is an affec\u00adta\u00adtion as bogus as lou\u00advered sun\u00adglass\u00ades and high-waist\u00aded acid washed jeans, right? Well, there are plen\u00adty of peo\u00adple who buy records and lis\u00adten to them, too. There are even peo\u00adple who buy and lis\u00adten to cas\u00adsette tapes, imag\u00adine that! You can count [\u2026]<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Distortion of Sound: A Short Film on How We&#039;ve Created \u201ca McDonald\u2019s Generation of Music Consumers\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/10\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Josh Jones\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Josh Jones\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dd299f984570248c0c72af54d3db4d80\"},\"headline\":\"The Distortion of Sound: A Short Film on How We\u2019ve Created \u201ca McDonald\u2019s Generation of Music Consumers\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-13T22:19:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-15T17:36:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html\"},\"wordCount\":462,\"commentCount\":12,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Music\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html\",\"name\":\"The Distortion of Sound: A Short Film on How We've Created \u201ca McDonald\u2019s Generation of Music Consumers\u201d\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-13T22:19:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-15T17:36:02+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Distortion of Sound: A Short Film on How We&#8217;ve Created \u201ca McDonald\u2019s Generation of Music Consumers\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Open Culture\",\"description\":\"The best free cultural &amp; educational media on the web\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Openculture.com\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn8.openculture.com\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/24113050\\\/OC-favicon.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn8.openculture.com\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/24113050\\\/OC-favicon.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Openculture.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dd299f984570248c0c72af54d3db4d80\",\"name\":\"Josh Jones\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/jdmagness\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/author\\\/jdavidjones\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Distortion of Sound: A Short Film on How We've Created \u201ca McDonald\u2019s Generation of Music Consumers\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/10\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Josh Jones","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/10\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/10\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html"},"author":{"name":"Josh Jones","@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#\/schema\/person\/dd299f984570248c0c72af54d3db4d80"},"headline":"The Distortion of Sound: A Short Film on How We\u2019ve Created \u201ca McDonald\u2019s Generation of Music Consumers\u201d","datePublished":"2014-10-13T22:19:46+00:00","dateModified":"2016-03-15T17:36:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/10\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html"},"wordCount":462,"commentCount":12,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Music"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/10\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/10\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html","url":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/10\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html","name":"The Distortion of Sound: A Short Film on How We've Created \u201ca McDonald\u2019s Generation of Music Consumers\u201d","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-10-13T22:19:46+00:00","dateModified":"2016-03-15T17:36:02+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/10\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/10\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/10\/distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-in-short-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonalds-generation-of-music-consumers.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Distortion of Sound: A Short Film on How We&#8217;ve Created \u201ca McDonald\u2019s Generation of Music Consumers\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/","name":"Open Culture","description":"The best free cultural &amp; educational media on the web","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#organization","name":"Openculture.com","url":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cdn8.openculture.com\/2021\/04\/24113050\/OC-favicon.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn8.openculture.com\/2021\/04\/24113050\/OC-favicon.png","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"Openculture.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#\/schema\/person\/dd299f984570248c0c72af54d3db4d80","name":"Josh Jones","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/jdmagness"],"url":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/author\/jdavidjones"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97081\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}