lofi

the band wagon rolls on.

just read http://www.eqmag.com/story.asp?sectioncode=273&storycode=7645

complaining about bad recordings of our age.

Now, having seen america for awhile I realize the trend is pretty local thank god; nevertheless I have already been asked to make bad recordings. Interesting as it would be it's really not for me, though I'm not against abit of healthy creative experimentation.

Then I've been played one of the more successful lofi recordings, through careful analysis(listening to it for a songs worth) I conclude that it was well recorded but made to sound as if it was badly recorded. The roll-off of overtones above 5k was pretty evident and consistent. I also realize that those who hail this "bad recording" have no idea that it's actually well recorded and very produced.

It is not "keeping it real" as the kids would say(or did they just stop?), nor are their ideals that bad recordings reflect reality better than good recordings. Anyway, it seems like a trend here but it will go away very quickly i think. The general public holds no particular interest in recording techniques and i doubt this will change, thus; the general public will not hold something badly recorded as more real than something well recorded. We see this again and again when artists release successful albums, they all tend to be not only well recorded but excellently recorded and produced.

Ofcourse, noone in the audio industry really believes this is what sells the records, it is a nescessary ingredient; but insuffient in and of its own. The music must also be good.

But given the tools available today...
you can make excellent recordings and productions in your home cheaply.
All you need is years of recording and production experience combined with solid technical know-how.

And that ofcourse is what all the lofi people don't have. And thus, ultimately, their lofi sound is not on purpose, but since they can't avoid it they flaunt it as a feature. 'yeah, like, we could have gone to a real studio['cept you can't afford it] or hired a real engineer[can't afford that either] but we did it ourselves to keep it more real[yeah right]'

And while a few bands got away with it and sold some records other bands saw that they could use their crap sound to advertise how real they were. This caught on and is now a lofi trend.

And I think: I ain't never gonna put my name on a crappy recording, nomatter how hip.

b