This isn’t Peoria-related. It’s just something I found interesting, and felt like sharing.

Did you know there’s been a “war” going on in recorded music ever since jukeboxes came on the scene, and escalating with the advent of compact discs and digital recording technology? It’s called the “loudness war,” and it has to do with the ever-increasing compression of dynamic range in professional recorded music.

Producers noticed when jukeboxes came on the scene that the songs that sounded louder were played more. This preference that humans have for loudness has been scientifically demonstrated by neuroaudiologists. So the race was on to try to make the loudest song in the jukebox. However, analog formats had some limitations. For instance, the louder the music on a vinyl record, the larger the grooves have to be; and the larger the grooves are, the shorter the playing time can be on a standard-size disc. But enter digital production, and the invention of compact discs (CDs), and now you have the ability to really manipulate the sound in order to make it as loud as possible. Here’s a great explanation of how this works:

There are a lot of contributing factors to this push for louder music. One is the fact that people listen to music in noisy places (cars, for instance) where dynamic range cannot be fully appreciated, and thus they want the music to be at a constantly high volume level. Another factor is the fact that radio and TV broadcasters compress their audio before it goes out over the airwaves/cable/satellite, and this heavy compression can cause non-compressed mixes to sound terrible. So many recording engineers believe that the answer is to simply compress the song themselves during mastering to mitigate any additional compression from broadcasters. There’s also a competition among advertisers to have their ads be louder than the rest of the programming on a station in order to stand out and (hopefully) sell more of their wares.

Whatever the reasons are, audiophiles decry the loudness war as ruining the sound quality of recorded music. Not only that, but there’s evidence that sustained listening to such compressed music can lead to ear fatigue, even when listening at lower volumes. As a result, there are recording engineers and musicians who are deliberately recording their music at lower levels with more dynamic range, and trying to educate their fans as to why their music doesn’t sound as loud as other recordings.

There’s even an organization called TurnMeUp.org that’s set up to put explanatory labels on CDs instructing listeners to turn up the volume in order to achieve greater loudness, instead of expecting the CD to be recorded at a solid wall of 0dBFS sound. They explain:

…[M]ost artists feel they have no option other than mastering their records to be as loud as everybody else’s. And when everybody is doing this because everybody else is, who’s actually doing it because they want to?

To address this we’ve created Turn Me Up! Certification, which would allow records meeting our criteria to display the Turn Me Up! Certified label to inform the consumer nothing is wrong, this record is simply more dynamic and all they need to do is Turn Me Up! Our goal is to create an environment where artists will feel comfortable making the creative choice to release a more dynamic record – without the fear of it being misunderstood by the consumer.

They haven’t finalized their certification criteria yet, but they’re working on it.

It’s funny, when audio recording first started, the race was toward greater and greater fidelity — that is, making the recording sound as close to the original sound as possible. Nowadays, fidelity has been abandoned and replaced by pseudo-perfect performance and brutal loudness. There is so much digital processing that goes into modern recording that many recordings bear little or no semblance (i.e., fidelity) to their original live sound.

Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why vinyl records, independent recording artists, and other alternatives to mainstream, major-label recordings are seeing a surge in popularity.

I was watching a YouTube clip of some old TV show host interviewing the late actor Peter Sellers. The host brought up that Sellers started out as a drummer in a band, and asked why he didn’t stick with music as a career. Sellers’ answer was that life on the road as a musician wasn’t that glamorous. He proceeded to tell a story about how musicians often get asked to play the strangest requests.

Apparently there was a piano player at a party who was asked to play a request. “Can you play, ‘That’s What You Are’?” The piano player was stumped, having never heard of the song, but offered to go through his books there and see if he could find it. A little later, the guy came back and asked if he was ever going to play “That’s What You Are.” The piano player said, “I’m sorry, but I’ve never heard that song, and it’s not in any of my books, so I can’t play it.” And the guy was kind of ticked off — “Well I never thought I’d see the day in this country that a guy hadn’t heard the song ‘That’s What You Are,'” and all that. So finally the piano player said, “Well, maybe if you would sing a few bars, I’ll see if I can pick it up.” “Okay,” the guy said. It goes like this: “Unforgettable, that’s what you are…..”

It reminded me of people who would come up and ask me if I could play “The Sting.” And by that, of course, they meant “The Entertainer” by Scott Joplin, which was played by Marvin Hamlisch in the movie called “The Sting” starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. I always want to say, “No, I’m sorry sir, I don’t know any song called ‘The Sting.’ Do you mean, ‘I Got Stung’ by Mr. Elvis Presley?”

And it also reminded me of back when I used to play keyboards with JammSammich back in the late ’90s. We were playing ’70s funk, soul and disco, and would dress the part with retro clothing and even the occasional afro wig. After a full set and a half of playing stuff by bands like The Commodores, KC & the Sunshine Band, and Kool & the Gang, we’d inevitably have someone come up and ask if we could play “Sweet Home Alabama.” Uh, no.

Yep, that’s me on the left of this banner from over five years ago. The band started in 1998 with Brian Carroll singing lead, Mike Mercer on lead guitar, Matt Tomlianovich on bass, Doug Rendleman on drums, and me on the keyboard. Tonight, you’ll get to see that original lineup again, plus our early addition — Bill Trulove on the trumpet — for the whole first set. Then it’s on to all the other compositions of the band. The band has had three bass players, three keyboard players (I left in 2002), and four (I think) drummers. But one thing has always remained the same — the band and the fans always have a great time at every gig.

Tonight is a reunion show that will feature just about everyone who has ever played and/or sung with the band. We’ve been practicing for this performance for weeks, and it’s been a lot of fun playing music together again! I hope you can come out tonight and join the party. We’ll be at Crusen’s on War Memorial Drive, starting at 8:30 p.m.

I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but I’m starting to see more and more positive articles about the return of vinyl records. NPR gave their spin on it last April. Wired Magazine waxed eloquent about its resurgence last October. Amazon.com has banded together all its vinyl product into one section of its online store. Bloggers are even turning their attention to it. Maybe all the press about vinyl is right; maybe it is making a comeback.

There are evidently a couple of interesting things helping people get back in the groove of buying record albums. One is a new type of turntable that is equipped with a USB cable, thus allowing you to easily convert the songs to mp3 format for portability — without any DRM hassles. Another is the even easier option given by some bands — buy the LP and you get a coupon that allows you to download the songs in mp3 format for free. Thus, you can have the easy portability of the music when you’re on the go, and the warmer sonic quality of the LP for home listening. Not a bad strategy.

I personally like LPs, both for nostalgic and auditory reasons. A well-crafted album is really something to experience. Growing up, I always loved to listen to a new album straight through from beginning to end (loudly, of course) while reading the liner notes, evaluating the artwork, and figuring out the lyrics (some albums even printed the lyrics out for you). I think they sound better, by and large, than digital music, too. Even with its imperfections, vinyl just sounds more — authentic.

Well, I’m not holding my breath, but I’ll be happy if vinyl grows in popularity and more album titles become available. That would be just… nah, I’m not going to say it; enough with the puns.

Anyone who knows me well knows that my favorite singer/songwriter is Keith Green. Most of you have probably never heard of him. My uncle got me started listening to his music when I was in my pre-teen years. I borrowed his albums (yeah, for you youngsters out there, we used to listen to music on these round vinyl things with grooves in them called “albums”) for some time. It wasn’t until my twelfth birthday that I first got my very own Keith Green album (“No Compromise“).

The next day, July 28, 1982, Keith Green died in a plane crash in Texas. He was 28.

Since this is the 25th anniversary of that fateful day, I thought I’d post a little video biography of Keith that’s out on YouTube for anyone who would like to learn a little more about him. It’s a pretty interesting story, actually, even if you’re not into Christian music.

Update (7/30): The Associated Press reported over the weekend: “EMI/Sparrow Records is painstakingly going through recordings saved by [Keith’s] wife, Melody. An iTunes release with music never before heard by the public is planned for August. More material will be released next year, said Bryan Ward, director of artist development with EMI Christian Music Group.” This is great news for Keith Green fans!

Continue reading My favorite music artist died 25 years ago today →

I’m looking forward to the concert tonight. Anyone else planning to go? Here’s a clip from YouTube of Alison, Union Station, and child prodigy Sierra Hull playing “Cluck Old Hen”: