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Artificial Light & Artificial Music

TRC

TRC

Well-Known Member
I've been reading about the negative effects of artificial light. LED light bulbs, "blue light" from LED and computer screens and televisions. It has been advised not to view a computer screen or TV screen one hour before going to bed.


I have to wonder about the negative effects from artificial music and sound. I began noticing when CD's came out, that listeners didn't have the same interest in music they once had. Music became a sonic "test disc".


I mean, digital has been used for some time in analogue audiophile recordings going back to the late 70's, but it was still technically still analogue. With CD's, there's no analogue at all. I'm just curious if this is something we should be concerned about. I'd like your input please.


TRC
 
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TRC said:
I have to wonder about the negative effects from artificial music and sound.
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If you mean "music resulting from playing back recordings" - I think there are some rather obvious effects on listeners.

1. Live music is imperfect, whereas recorded music is perfected by a variety of intrusions designed to make it perfect. Autotune being the most obnoxious. But all sorts of overdubs and punch-ins to fix errors have been used for decades. What this does is "discount" live musicianship as having lots of errors.

2. Recorded music also contains "tricks" that can't be duplicated in stage performance. You recall that the Beatles couldn't play SGt. Pepper live.

3. Stage performance is a two-way experience. Listeners' response and emotion is telegraphed to the performers, and vice versa. It is interactive. Recorded music is a solo, unidirectional experience. Far less rich of an experience. The population already has so much "dead experience" - example, television, radio, Internet, that eventually, the artforms will mean less and less over time because they lack emotional content.

Those are the first three that come to mind. I would not be surprised if after some thought, I think of more. It's an interesting question!
 
TRC said:
I have to wonder about the negative effects from artificial music and sound. I began noticing when CD's came out, that listeners didn't have the same interest in music they once had. Music became a sonic "test disc".
Click to expand...

What do you consider to be 'artificial music'?

I'm not sure that I agree that interest in music has diminished. The music industry has certainly changed in recent years (creation, delivery, media, compensation, options) and some might argue that there's more interest in music today than ever before. Where did you notice that folks don't have the same interest in music they once had? In what way did their lack of interest show itself?
 
Streaming changed everything but the change started with CD. Back in the day most artists and producers tried really hard to produce something that was worth listening to in its entirety. Vinyl listening required work on the part of the listener. Getting album out, brushing off, maybe cleaning the stylus. If the juice was not worth the squeeze no one would buy the album. Very few people bought a album for a single song. With CD there was no investment from the listener other than putting the cd in and pushing a button to skip the track to the song you wanted. Streaming requires even less involvement. Get song play song. Same with movies. Back in the day it cost a ton of money to produce a move and put it on tape so it better be good. Now you can make a movie and some streaming service will buy it. I have no idea on the interest of the masses so I can't comment.
 
but what about digitally mastered stuff? By the tape era that was becoming fairly common, so even with an analog medium the ultimate source was digital. Have to listen to things recorded before what, 1979?
 
You bring forth the aspect of two senses (sight/hearing) being over stimulated just before going to bed/sleep.

In both cases, there are findings that do support your POV in these events before retiring for the night.

The very act of viewing TV which refreshes at 24-30 frames per second in which the conscious mind isn't aware of, yet some researchers say can affect your ability to sleep right after a night of viewing.

Then there's the "content" viewed, esp fast action movies that plays its part in this TV event.


And as per the affect of music on the mind, this for a long time has been noted, that the brain is affected by different types of music, with some stimulating the brain, while others having a soothing affect. Animals as well seem to react to music as well if different ways for different kinds of music, so there might be a degree of validity to your thoughts on "electronic music".


As per your caution of the use of "LED lighting", there are some who want to eliminate the use of LED bulbs for vehicle headlights, as they are just too bright for this application, esp if these intense lights are not aligned properly.

FWIW

Q
 
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gadget73 said:
but what about digitally mastered stuff? By the tape era that was becoming fairly common, so even with an analog medium the ultimate source was digital. Have to listen to things recorded before what, 1979?
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Analogue was the buffer. Have you ever recorded a sharp CD to Open Reel tape? It's beautiful. Takes the edge off.
 
Quadman2 said:
there are some who want to eliminate the use of LED bulbs for vehicle headlights, as they are just too bright for this application, esp if these intense lights are not aligned properly.
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its less the lumens than the color spectrum. These tend to be a cold white, meaning a fair amount of blue in the spectrum. Blue scatters badly and its hard on the eyes. If they were selective yellow I doubt it would be anywhere near as much of a concern. Selective yellow specifically filters out the blue portion of the spectrum.
 
gadget73 said:
but what about digitally mastered stuff? By the tape era that was becoming fairly common, so even with an analog medium the ultimate source was digital. Have to listen to things recorded before what, 1979?
Click to expand...
Well in that case it's undoubtably time to list the stereo on fb mp. At least he'll still have the candle lighting so he won't have to reminisce in the dark.
 
Define Music

noun​

  1. The art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre.
  2. Vocal or instrumental sounds possessing a degree of melody, harmony, or rhythm.
  3. A musical composition.
Therefore, What would "Artificial Music" be?
 
gadget73 said:
but what about digitally mastered stuff? By the tape era that was becoming fairly common, so even with an analog medium the ultimate source was digital. Have to listen to things recorded before what, 1979?
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Amazing how the golden-eared demigods who swore up and down they could immediately discern digital never dowsed that their precious MoFi vinyl was digitally sourced.

You would think given their preternatural hearing, they would have been first to raise the alarm.
 
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TRC said:
I've been reading about the negative effects of artificial light. LED light bulbs, "blue light" from LED and computer screens and televisions. It has been advised not to view a computer screen or TV screen one hour before going to bed.
Click to expand...
yes....
TRC said:
I have to wonder about the negative effects from artificial music and sound. I began noticing when CD's came out, that listeners didn't have the same interest in music they once had. Music became a sonic "test disc".
Click to expand...
All music is "artificial"- it's all man-made. There are no "natural" symphonies, blues riffs, rock songs, or lullabies.
Do you mean they lost interest in the music you like? Played on vinyl records?
Whether you like it or not, technology marches on. People who grow up listening to noise free digital recordings on their headphones/computers/phones hear a vinyl record and wonder how people lived with all the noise, distortion, limited bandwidth and channel separation for so long. And they wonder why a turntable that spins the disc has to cost so much when they are worried about putting food on the table.
TRC said:
I mean, digital has been used for some time in analogue audiophile recordings going back to the late 70's, but it was still technically still analogue. With CD's, there's no analogue at all. I'm just curious if this is something we should be concerned about. I'd like your input please.
Click to expand...
As others have pointed out, the digital signal gets converted to analog for playback somewhere in the chain. There are some digital amps (not class D) that are essentially power DACs (Technics makes a few models like this) where the final conversion to analog is at the output of the amp. All the speakers are analog.
I'm not concerned about it at all.
 
TRC said:
Analogue was the buffer. Have you ever recorded a sharp CD to Open Reel tape? It's beautiful. Takes the edge off.
Click to expand...
I've thought about recording some of my CD's to reel tape.

Some of the vinyl I've recorded to reel tape sounds a bit fuller in the bottom end......but now that I think of it, I'm not sure if I was listening with natural or artificial lighting....:biggrin:
 
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