Has mastering affected your enjoyment of music?

[jordanstoner]

I find that I enjoy ambient music much more. No lyrical content, lots of repetition, and soothingly simple melodies - helps you "tune out" and just enjoy hearing something without actually listening to it. I tend to keep playback at a fairly low volume compared to when I actually choose to sit and listen to a specific piece of music for analysis. I also find that listening to random iTunes streams helps me to keep from analyzing, where listening to familiar tracks triggers the analysis button in my brain. Sometimes a song will catch my attention and I'll turn it up and try to find it to actually buy it and put it in my playlist for analysis later.

On the other hand, I still enjoy analyzing music and critical listening sessions - just trying to pick apart what went into the music (what made that synth line? how was that effect created? what was that chord progression? etc.) is still very enjoyable, but you have to shut off the negative side (there's too much low-end mud on that synth line, that effect is competing with the vocals too much, those chords aren't technically correct, etc).

[Sunbreak Music]

I simply don't have as much time to "enjoy" music, and as a result am probably more likely to dismiss something that rubs me the wrong way upon initial listen.

There are certainly those who don't enjoy listening with me anymore.

[Atomix]

Oh, you mean the real time reproduction of sonic data in the TEF domain?

Engineering hasn't affected my appreciation of music one iota –
the emotions of great songs and performances transcend technical details.

Somedays it's a struggle to not let the business affect enjoyment of music -

That's why studios need kids, dogs, cats, and Barolo: Maintains the perspective.

[fradoca]

well my main work is digital restoration of old movies...done in
a important facility here in italy...
i rarely enjoy watching a movie in cinemas or at home without trying to see
all the defects that the film could have...noise...grain..black
or luma level...chroma level video dropouts etc...
audio mastering was almost a job and a lot of passion...
the old job has gone but the passion has remained...
so listening to a record i still play attention to loudness and dynamic...
but i mainly enjoy music mastered in the eighties or nineties..

modern music is way too loud for me...



cheers

[bitman]

Yes.

I find it hard to listen to the overcompressed overlimited stuff that is out today.

[3rd&4thT]

After hours, I find Bach and Mozart have become more important to me than I ever expected. The best musical way to clean the tubes.

I heard about some study that purported to prove that all kinds of music from all over the world raises stomach acidity, except for Bach and Mozart. Here's some Italian: Si non e vero, e ben trovato. If it ain't true, it's well founded.

That being said, I'm listening to a lot of history and literature lectures from The Teaching Company these days. More exciting than NPR.

3rd&4thT

[Chris Kress]

I would like to recommend a nice HD music station I just found called Palladia. It appears to be mostly live performances and it doesn't seem to be ruined. It is well done.. It's real people, playing music........................... revolutionary.

[Gladstone]

Yes it has, it has improved my enjoyment! However, when the music is good (but old for example), the sound quality does not kill it for me (like Julian Bream & John Williams - Together). I try to avoid, where and whenever possible, as much music that I simply don't like (stuff that I feel doesn't have anything to do with music at all), which is hard btw!

[RedTuxedo]

Generally I'm not a jealous person, but about a month ago, I was working with a friend of mine who got out of the music biz about 2 years ago and expressed to me that he was seeking new music. I was like WTF!!!! That feeling is so foreign to me. Jealously set in.

I was initially going to put:

MUSIC?????

[leadplayer]

My other life is being a trumpet player. Unless I'm listening specifically for the mixing/mastering aspects as I approach a project, I am focused on the players and the music. After the first 10 or 20 seconds the technical judgments pass and the performance takes precedent. I was showing some
students the classic photo of the Birth of the Cool session where all the horns are sitting around one RCA-44 (as they always feel the need to mic everything).

[Edward_Vinatea]

Originally Posted by Silver Sonya

As of this month, I've been doing this professionally for ten years. I keep expecting balloons to descend from the ceiling. Or something.

Anyway, a few years ago, I had an existential freakout that the job had permanently damaged my ability to listen to music without analysis.

I got over it. But it was scary for a moment there. The question became: OK, I can stop doing this or I can give up loving music.

Admittedly, I come to the work from a different perspective than a lot of mastering people. I am also an artist. (In fact, a few of SSonya's clients come to the studio as fans of Beauty Pill first and foremost, which can create a slightly odd dynamic at times). I was an artist when I started mastering and I am an artist still.

As an artist first, I approach the work from a devotional standpoint: I love music soooo much, it's crazy. I have a huge record collection, both CDs and vinyl. Mastering started as an extension of that love. I had spent a lot of time listening to records and obsessing. This gave me a major advantage over a lot of people; I found that I noticed and could hear details that other people missed. Decided to put it to good use. Hence, y'know, my job today.

So I'm wondering: how many of you have gone through this?

How does mastering affect your enjoyment of music? Enhance? Distract? Neither? Are you able to "leave the job at home" and, throw on, say, "Come Together," crank the volume knob and just, y'know, feel it? Dance around the room? Go crazy playin' air drums to Ringo?

For about a month in 2004, I couldn't do this without noting that "Come Together" has a clot of energy in the 200Hz region and... well, it freaked me out.

I don't know how I got over it, but I did. Phew!

- c

Assuming that I am older than you, you were just like me in my late 30's. Eventually I learned to shut it down. So whenever I want to be critical about something I just turn it on. It would have to be a real badly mixed record to activate my critical side against my will. As for keeping my mind away from the studio - I watch nature shows to relax and listen to a wide variety of oldies, including classics like Gershwin.

Regards,