|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
74.75.135.29
Surprised this hasn't been posted already, but if it has I can't find it. Did a search.
Being the engineer behind Dark Side of the Moon does give you a certain level of credibility. And there's no question that Alan Parsons is right when he says, as he does in this interview, that audiophiles spend too much time/money on equipment and not enough on room acoustics.
And yet -- there's a lot about this interview that makes me not trust the guy very much. OK, he's a legend. But he has no decent music-reproduction equipment in the family areas of his house. He only listens to music on his car radio. He says you can get a "pretty decent" home theater sound system at Costco.
He does say some things I agree with that not everyone would agree with: "Engineers will always go for the highest-quality format available. I don’t think consumer enjoyment values suffer much if we have to use slightly lower-quality delivery formats," (which I take to mean that high-rez matters a lot during production but red-book rez can deliver an excellent product). Also, "A lot of the processing that audiophiles criticize is a style thing and part of the music itself." True enough -- though that doesn't mean I want to listen to those styles of music.
Anyway, worth the time it takes to read.
Jim
Follow Ups:
the general term for folks and equipment in the realm of music recording and playback, radio and the audio side of TV and video. I worked for a company that had a 75K sq.ft. building dedicated to corporate audio/video/gaming recording, producing, etc. There were only 2 guys in the whole building that thought items like a Neve console and Dynaudio speakers were better sounding than a Pyramid console and Polk Audio speakers. Cables were cables and microphones were microphones. Oddly enough, one of the guys who thought higher end gear sounded better was one of the two "technicians" in the building responsible for repairing and calibrating everything. Mention "pro" audio gear and recording engineers in my local high end salon and you will get an eye roll everytime.
I put little more stock in Parson's regarding about audio than I do in Brad Pitt's opinions about politics. Not that it really pertains, but I always thought his music sucked.
Wrong wrong and wrong ..... What the hell is Alan P. talking about ? He hasn't been to my house. My room is set up very nice with very good acoustics & sound I am pretty damn happy with. I love how people are always lumping us stereo types together as if we're all the same. All us conservatives aren't all the same either, contrary to popular belief.:) He also must have a nicer Costco than the one near me because I haven't seen any "pretty decent" systems there, just a lot of stuff that my brother might purchase just because he was shopping for a plasma TV that day and ran the cart into a "Home theater in a box" with shiny photos & cool graphics,lists of DTS,USB,DAT,COAX,Toslink,RCA and on and on making hundreds of watts,5 6 or 7.1 and a bunch of other assorted meaningless specs.Stacked nice and high on the last (Impulse Buy)end cap before the checkout line. Best I can figure Alan Parsons must be getting old and decrepit. The music they made wasn't bad though :^)
nt
Three most important things in Audio reproduction: Keep the noise levels low, the power high and the room diffuse.
"I don’t listen to much music recreationally... I do listen in the car, but that’s about it. "
Clearly, it's just a *job* to him. Why would he show any passion for something that he rarely enjoys ?
BTW, I actually enjoy listening to the many APP albums I own. That some have good sound quality is likely due to random chance.
I've got a lot of APP albums, and for the most part they're of very good sound quality. "Project Eve" is one that I couldn't get much into, and there's some tracks on a lot of them that are a bit pop-ish, but overall a very nice catalog of music.
I'd say the ones that spin the most here are "Tales of Mystery and Imagination", "Ammonia Avenue", and "I Robot".
See ya. Dave
"Beatles, Pink Floyd Engineer Alan Parsons Rips Audiophiles
Alan Parsons, producer, musician and sound engineer of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, says audiophiles overpay for equipment while ignoring room acoustics."
"I don’t listen to much music recreationally - it’s almost always for professional applications. I do listen in the car, but that’s about it."
"Hi-fi people spend huge amounts of money for tiny improvements, and pro sound guys will say, “I can spend half as much and get the results I need.”
"I’m simply not very familiar with the latest domestic hi-fi equipment. I don’t go to hi-fi tradeshows and I don’t have sophisticated equipment in the family areas of my house for music, but there are things that make sense like good speakers and a decent amp."
He says he doesn't listen to music other that in cars, He says he is not familiar with modern day equipment. But we are supposed to believe that he knows what he is talking about when it comes to reproduction equipment. Reminds me of someone who works at the Caterpillar factory who thinks they are a heavy equipment operator!
I call BS on Alan Parsons article and his annoying Alan Parsons Project albums. I think he had too much nose candy and his headphones turned up too loud.
(Worshiping at the Universal Music Altar)
Maybe he's just one of those who after a hard day at the Office just prefers leaving it there when he goes home. The old saying about being careful about making your hobby your vocation.
Or not.
See ya. Dave
The 20 years I worked as a recording engineer putting in 60 to 80 hour work weeks I never could listen or enjoy music at home or at concerts. There is a real overload that happens. Many people who turn a hobby into their main work say that it destroys the hobby for them.
Alan
I just listened to "I Robot" the other night; great music. Some of his comments do not make sense for sure....
> > I just listened to "I Robot" the other night; great music.
> > Some of his comments do not make sense for sure....
...for working professionals in a field to have opinions that differ considerably on some points from the avid hobbyists.
Audiophiles can get caught up chasing some piece of minutia that pales alongside the elephant in the room. Meanwhile, the pros are stuck dealing with their own demons in terms of what's fashionable in the recording world and what's passe.
Not too surprising they part company on some issues.
One of the things that always struck me about the studio is how much sheer crap the signal passes through -- analog stages, patchbays, connectors, cable -- and not always in good shape, either. Once you've seen that, there's almost a sense of futility about a single fancy interconnect or gain stage at home. It's like putting truffles on Spam.
I love the analogy, although I wouldn’t put it past some chef to do that and call it “Up Scale White Trash Cuisine”.
"To Do Is To Be" Socrates
"To Be Is To Do" Plato
"Do Be Do Be Do" Sinatra
Only they'd give it a more pretentious name . . . my favorite example of that is when they started calling sherbet "sorbet."
See my thoughts about the travesty of an article.
The greatest impediment to advancing an audiophile system is the audiophile.
.
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: