What I'm listening to/Watching at the moment

I think it is ok to post even if we aren’t listening, but watching or reading! We are watching BBC’s programme on Political Thinking hosted by Nick Robinson, who is interviewing the newly appointed Social Mobility Chairperson Katharine Birbalsingh CBE.

Listening to Radio 2 at the moment

Not right this very second, but I’m listening to a lot of TOOL and Pusifer recently.

My stereo is currently in storage, so SONOS or phone mainly unless I’m in the car.

DavecUK Will you listen to anything that isn’t auto-tuned, or do you have particular genres?

Apple music’s today’s hits and recent releases are my typical go to play lists. The last recent release album I listened was 30 by Adele.

Elvis’s and Beatles are my all time favourites.

If I’m on my own the. It’s Planet Rock or my vast collection of Classic Rock through my iphone and my Bose Revolve plus. My stereo is in storage too as I have a two year old grand daughter who visits very regularly

The Hi-Fi stand is full of her toys and books atm

This week I’ve mainly been listening to Leonard Cohen - Song’s of Love and Hate, Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanangan - Ballad Of The Broken Seas and Amy Winehouse At The BBC - all recent purchases (albeit third copy of the Cohen album!), interspersed with BBC 6 Music.

I’m old fashioned, still listen almost entirely on vinyl and still buying it. I’m really interested in music and always have been, dabbled in recording and production for years, not so much now but still interested in it. Still play guitar, electric and acoustic.

The discussion on the sound of a lot of modern popular recordings is interesting - it’s not to my taste either. It’s fashion though - that sound is what is popular now. Production is constantly changing as engineers and musicians use the latest developments available to them - been that way since recording started. That Cher song Believe, was the first big song to use Auto-Tune - and use it in a way that it was not designed to be used. It was initially intended to be a subtle correction tool but she cranked it to 11 for that robot voice sound and started a fashion.

My other big gripe with modern music is that it generally lacks dynamics, what people sometimes refer to as the loudness wars. I think this is due to how people consume music now. When I was a teenager, getting your first “separates system” was a right of passage. Hi-Fi was a thing. And you listened to physical albums.

Now people listen on streaming services through cheap earbuds or tinny bluetooth speakers. Artists (and record companies) no longer make money on sales, them make them on streamed “listens” - and without an immediate punch and catchy gimmick it’s very easy for the listener to simply skip to the next song. So everything gets “louder” to attract attention.

Recording even has a new measurement to cater for this need - the LUT, which is basically a measure of loudness. You should add that to your hate list alongside overt use of Auto-Tune. I’m less upset about Melodyne though as it is generally used as a subtle production tool rather than an effect; when used well it should be transparent and can make a good recording of a great voice even better. I do enjoy the imperfections in older recordings though.

I become stuck in the same music for weeks at a time. I find Youtube really helpful at times, as it learns your taste then offers you playlists. So, I regularly hear Dream Theatre singling live versions of The spirit carries on, I walk beside you, Lines in the sand etc etc. This then usually morphs into either Dave Gilmour or Floyd. Deep Purple do a really good live track called Birds of prey. But, another trick I have is to make a playlist up in Spotify for every day of the week, then cast it through Alexa so I know it will turn off. Even better, is to use the random shuffle option then it plays the tracks obscurely meaning you do not need to change them so often!

dfk41 It’s funny, Dream Theater were one of my favourite bands in the early 2000’s but I lost interest in the band after Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence and have not listened to any other of their works since. I still consider Awake, Images And Words and Scenes From A Memory as being masterpieces of the genre and peak Dream Theater.

These days I listen to a lot of different genres but mainly black/ambient/avantgarde metal. Here is a personal favourite of mine from the 90’s:

I find myself listening to fewer albums nowadays, and more play list and individual tracks. I used to listen to albums but like video as opposed to just hearing, unless I was working. After Christmas I am going to treat myself to a half decent pair of ear buds of some sort. I use them all day long with my lap top so they never last very long.

I find myself listening to music on Youtube nowdays, hardly ever listen on vinyl, although that could change. I find myself listening to music on Youtube nowdays, hardly ever listen on vinyl, although that could change. As @dfk41 says, it learns your tastes and offers playlists, I get Leonard Cohen, Dylan, Travelling Wilburys, Floyd, Beefheart and more. I’ve spent a lot of time recently listening to the Grateful Dead, there are lots of live performance vids on Youtube and they were a great live band, once some of those tunes get in my head they stay for weeks. Spent so much time listening to them I adopted the Ice Cream Kid cartoon (symbol of their 1972 european tour) as my avatar.

@DavecUK I completely agree on the autotune - it is massively overused. Loudness has become a real issue. You look at wave forms on modern CDs and they are clipping all over the place. Creates problems on my iPod when going from old CDs to new ones. If I had the time I’d go through and reduce the volume on the newer stuff, but that’s a luxury I do not have.

@Nightrider_1uk Mine is being protected from my 4yo and 18mo! Was meant to be until we had an extension, but the last couple of years have put paid to that for longer than expected. Having a turntable again will be immense.

@Gagaryn If you like Mark Lanegan, have you listened to The Gutter Twins? Only one album - Saturnalia - but brilliant. I saw them at the South Bank year after it was released, so good!

Growing up grunge was the big thing for me being the ‘current’ genre at the time. That was on top on all the classic rock/ motown/ blues/ soul/ jazz. I didn’t get into heavier music until late teens/ early twenties.

Leonard Cohen has been mentioned a couple of times - Popular Problems is my favourite album.

I usually try and stay clear of discussing music as it tends to be a personal subject with everyone having their own tastes, for me that’s usually anything under the very large umbrella of goth. One album I’ve been listening to a lot over the last few months is by Twin Temple https://www.twintemple.com/music (warning — explicit content and self described as Satanic Doo-Wop, so ignore if that’s definitely not your thing).