Format and Process
Posted on | May 17, 2009 | No Comments
I think that the downside to the digital audio movement is that musicians have lost sight of the process for the format. Here’s an example…
Amazon’s Kindle is becoming quite popular. Someday it (or something like it) may replace printed material, just as MP3 (and higher-res encoded files) is replacing physical media in music. But that won’t change the fact that good books will still need to be written, edited, and published for people to consume them.
In short, the format of consumption doesn’t replace the process of creating quality content.
Digital content and a web-based delivery system allows for more manufacturer and consumer options. Where broadcasting used to be the norm to cut manufacturer costs (shipping books, CDs, etc.), narrowcasting is becoming a viable medium for making money. A digital version of print-on-demand…whether it’s audio, video, print…it’s all 100011110001111110000111000000011100011010101010, or some variation on that.
I’ve said before that the digital audio revolution has done a lot to improve (and empower) amateur musicians. But what hasn’t changed is the quality of the content. To make professional-sounding recordings, musicians still need to write good music, record it well, and conceptualize how their art is marketed to an audience.
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From Ohm to Om reflects the opinions of mastering engineer Paul Abbott, owner of San Diego's ZenMastering.
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