super compressed drm free mp3s future

Super-Compressed, DRM-Free MP3s: The Future of Recorded Music?

Here at FMC, we talk a lot about how technology and policy affect

music, but not so much about what music actually sounds like in this

digital era. Advances in technology now allow artists to create

major-label quality recordings in their bedrooms, and the MP3 is

quickly becoming the consumer audio standard. What does this mean for

musicians, fans and audiophiles?

An article published in the 2007 wrap-up issue of Rolling Stone offers

a hint. The piece is about how listener preference for MP3s is

affecting how music is recorded, mixed and mastered. Producers (yes,

they still exist) are finding themselves pushing the limits of

compression for music that's most often heard on tiny computer

speakers or cheapo earbuds.

For those who don't know, compression is a production technique by

which a song's dynamic peaks are squashed together in order to make

the quieter parts as powerful as the loud ones.

We'd love to link to the piece, but it's not available online.

Essentially, the it says that MP3 + dynamic compression = compromised

sound, something that vinyl connoisseurs have been claiming for years.

The story includes a particularly interesting visual: a screenshot of

the waveform data from Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," next to an

Arctic Monkeys cut. The latter looks like it's been dosed with the

audio equivalent of performance enhancers. While compression certainly

makes tracks "punchier," it can also rob music of its dynamics and

lead to the dreaded "ear fatigue."

Mp3s, for their part, lack the complete data profile of a CD, which

results in less definition in the highs and lows. This might not

matter to the casual listener, but to musicians and engineers who work

hard to create a rich and detailed listening experience, it can be

frustrating. We're sure the folks at Tape Op have talked and written

about this well before RS.

But with CD sales tanking pretty much across the board, the major

labels are increasingly relying on MP3s to shore up sagging profits.

Several of these companies are reevaluating their position on Digital

Rights Management, or DRM -- which restricts how a file can be

reproduced, shared or transferred. Even holdouts like Sony BMG are

flirting with the idea of DRM-free MP3s, for use in a retail "download

card" promotion.

It remains to be seen whether or not consumers will become completely

conditioned to uber-compressed digital audio. It wouldn't be the first

time inferior technology has been adopted in favor of convenience --

Microsoft Word, anyone?

Stay tuned for a closer look at this issue with technophile/producer

(and rock criticism cornerstone) Sandy Pearlman.

Posted by FMC at 10:58 AM