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Author Topic: Let's talk lo-fi music and it's influences on gear  (Read 2433 times)

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keanex

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Let's talk lo-fi music and it's influences on gear
« on: July 09, 2015, 06:28:47 PM »
I'm listening to the Sky Blue Sky album from Wilco and this topic came to mind. I'm a huge fan a lot of music that honestly wasn't recorded to well, but I still love it. I think the music choices I have influence the gear I buy in the way that I prefer something more musical rather than something sifting plankton, not that I don't appreciate hugely resolving headphones, but a lot of my music isn't conducive to it. What do you guys think who also love lo-fi tunes?
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GESTALT

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Re: Let's talk lo-fi music and it's influences on gear
« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2015, 07:19:17 PM »
Sometimes distortion sounds good, helps the mood. Generally it doesn't harm catchy songs as much, ones less dependent on the harmonic or tonality.

It may also work well with strings, if recorded in certain way. But for orchestra it usually just makes it feel tinny or else as if cotton in my ears.

Other times it doesn't hurt as much, because of well mastered original. See this example (), lofi because 96kbs aac. But still sounds great.

listening on HE560 with N-shaped eq, and it sound great (the brass eg at 2:29 is not hurt much by the low quality of the source)
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jacal01

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Re: Let's talk lo-fi music and it's influences on gear
« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2015, 08:23:17 PM »
Love lo-fi.  Sparklehorse and Mercury Rev are two come to mind.  And distortion drove guitar amp evolution, so it can't be all bad.

Is that what you meant? 
« Last Edit: July 09, 2015, 10:02:03 PM by jacal01 »
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keanex

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Re: Let's talk lo-fi music and it's influences on gear
« Reply #3 on: July 09, 2015, 08:29:31 PM »
Quote from: jacal01 on July 09, 2015, 08:23:17 PM
Love lo-fi.  Sparklehorse and Mercury Rev are two come to mind.  And distortion drove guitar amp revolution, so it can't be all bad.

Is that what you meant? 
Not familiar with them, but some bands that came to mind were Sufjan Stevens and Modest Mouse.
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maverickronin

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Re: Let's talk lo-fi music and it's influences on gear
« Reply #4 on: July 09, 2015, 08:47:14 PM »
Some headphones seem to have FR's specifically designed to make poor recording and mastering sound even worse with peaks in the high mids/low treble.  It gives the illusion of "detail" by boosting things that normally get masked by other frequencies.

Whether you prefer a bright or dark tilt a headphone with a smooth frequency response should go well with all but the most egregious of tracks regardless of how resolving or detailed it is.

Most of the music I listen to is in genres which typically suffer from poor recording and mastering but all else equal I still prefer the more "detailed" or "resolving" headphone.  I might hear flaws in the production that I didn't didn't hear before, but I'll usually also hear nuances in the music I didn't hear before so I think it's a fair trade.
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Claritas

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Re: Let's talk lo-fi music and it's influences on gear
« Reply #5 on: July 09, 2015, 09:14:07 PM »
Quote from: maverickronin on July 09, 2015, 08:47:14 PM
Whether you prefer a bright or dark tilt a headphone with a smooth frequency response should go well with all but the most egregious of tracks regardless of how resolving or detailed it is.

A couple of months ago, I wanted to listen to the first recorded Mahler symphony (the 2d, conducted by Oskar Fried in 1928). The quality is abysmal--hiss like you wouldn't believe. I couldn't bear it on Paradox or HD600. But I could easily tolerate it on my lady's PM1 with the velour pads. Resolution, FR, X factor, all of the above? Dunno.
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jacal01

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Re: Let's talk lo-fi music and it's influences on gear
« Reply #6 on: July 09, 2015, 09:50:24 PM »
Quote from: keanex on July 09, 2015, 08:29:31 PM
Not familiar with them, but some bands that came to mind were Sufjan Stevens and Modest Mouse.

Ooh.  Just saw Modest Mouse last month in San Jose (Mountain View).  3rd row center stage seats, no less.  It was no doubt the new album Strangers to Ourselves tour, but most of their material seemed to be old standbys from their previous albums.  I think most of the distortion may have been on my side, tho.  ;)

Sparklehorse's Good Morning Spider is one of my all time favorites of anybody, with "Chaos of the Galaxy/Happy Man" the epitomy of lo-fi.  And Mercury Rev's Deserter's Songs is my favorite of theirs. 

Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is their standout, but for some reason I'm partial to Summerteeth, and I even like their newest one, The Whole Love.

Haven't yet listened to Sufjan Stevens, tho I know I had been tempted to pull a trigger on a CD of his at least once.  Illinoise, maybe?   
« Last Edit: July 09, 2015, 10:08:37 PM by jacal01 »
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drfindley

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Re: Let's talk lo-fi music and it's influences on gear
« Reply #7 on: July 09, 2015, 10:29:50 PM »
Quote from: jacal01 on July 09, 2015, 09:50:24 PM
Haven't yet listened to Sufjan Stevens, tho I know I had been tempted to pull a trigger on a CD of his at least once.  Illinoise, maybe?   
Carrie & Lowell is probably the best album of the year. It's phenomenal. I'd recommend it.

As far as good lo-fi, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Grandaddy.

The White Stripes also had a bunch of odd quirks to their recordings. All analog, but it sounds like cheap equipment for at least their first few albums.
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jacal01

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Re: Let's talk lo-fi music and it's influences on gear
« Reply #8 on: July 09, 2015, 11:04:42 PM »
I've got their Just Like the Fambly Cat CD, but somehow it hadn't captured me.

I picked up just recently Jack White's 2 latest solo efforts, Blunderbuss and Lazaretto; one of the reasons being he insists on recording in analog.  But neither of those have yet done it for me, either.

Are my expectations getting too unreasonable in me old age, you suppose? 

Just pulled the trigger on Carrie & Lowell, so I'm now spun up about that...  ;)
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keanex

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Re: Let's talk lo-fi music and it's influences on gear
« Reply #9 on: July 09, 2015, 11:19:07 PM »
Carrie and Lowell is a very personal album that requires attention. Hope you enjoy it and that it grows in ya!
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