Author Topic: Modern pop music really does all sound the same  (Read 6798 times)

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Offline Fpqxz

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Modern pop music really does all sound the same
« on: July 29, 2012, 10:46:24 am »
From Reuters newsfeed:

Apparently some researchers in Spain used a computer to analyze millions of songs between 1955 and 2010, and discovered that they have gotten louder, but less diverse, over time.

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"We found evidence of a progressive homogenisation of the musical discourse," Serra told Reuters. "In particular, we obtained numerical indicators that the diversity of transitions between note combinations - roughly speaking chords plus melodies - has consistently diminished in the last 50 years."

They also found the so-called timbre palette has become poorer. The same note played at the same volume on, say, a piano and a guitar is said to have a different timbre, so the researchers found modern pop has a more limited variety of sounds.

And people wonder why I listen to so much old stuff.   8)
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Offline The Right Honourable Mlle Antéchrist

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Re: Modern pop music really does all sound the same
« Reply #1 on: July 29, 2012, 11:06:29 am »
I'd like to see a specific analysis for dubstep, 'cause I swear, it all sounds the same.

As for the loudness wars... I remember seeing a visual analysis of progressive remasterings of older songs produced which pretty clearly showed a trend towards amplification, sacrificing the quality of the recording in the process (usually in the form of clipping).

Edit: Wiki has a pretty good example of it: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Michael_Jackson-Black_or_White_Loudness.png
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Offline armandtanzarian

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Re: Modern pop music really does all sound the same
« Reply #2 on: July 29, 2012, 11:32:27 am »
I'd like to see a specific analysis for dubstep, 'cause I swear, it all sounds the same.

It is all the same, in a way. It MUST be 140bpm, have a steady downbeat, buildup and breakdown etc., basically the bar for dubstep is so narrow that the untrained ear has a problem seperating individual tracks.

Still better than most mainstream shit.

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Re: Modern pop music really does all sound the same
« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2012, 11:35:28 am »
Still better than most mainstream shit.
That's a bit of a stretch. Personally, I'd take even shitty pop music over dubstep, hands down.

Offline The Right Honourable Mlle Antéchrist

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Re: Modern pop music really does all sound the same
« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2012, 11:38:48 am »
It is all the same, in a way. It MUST be 140bpm, have a steady downbeat, buildup and breakdown etc., basically the bar for dubstep is so narrow that the untrained ear has a problem seperating individual tracks.

My untrained ear can separate the individual tracks, but that doesn't make it any less bland to me.

Also, dubstep is pretty mainstream these days (and I don't mean brostep, either).
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Offline Patches

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Re: Modern pop music really does all sound the same
« Reply #5 on: July 29, 2012, 12:57:57 pm »
My guess is it's because no one writes their own music anymore.  Thanks to auto-tuning, musical celebrities are selected for their stage presence rather than their singing ability, and they merely provide a voice to a pre-manufactured song from a record mill.  And thanks to the advent of things like Vocaloid, in the near future the recording industry won't even need "artists" anymore, they can synthesize an entire song from scratch.

Offline VirtualStranger

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Re: Modern pop music really does all sound the same
« Reply #6 on: July 29, 2012, 05:49:43 pm »
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTtki7hXC64" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTtki7hXC64</a>

Now let's copy/paste the lyrics onto actual pop songs to see how well it fits...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBQFpQ4Ahdw&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2fODKYG7lU&feature=plcp

I really hope this EDM phase that pop music is going through ends soon.

I'd like to see a specific analysis for dubstep, 'cause I swear, it all sounds the same.

It is all the same, in a way. It MUST be 140bpm, have a steady downbeat, buildup and breakdown etc., basically the bar for dubstep is so narrow that the untrained ear has a problem seperating individual tracks.

Still better than most mainstream shit.

And the "drop" is fucking ALWAYS at 0:55 seconds

Words cannot describe how much I wish dubstep could go back to the days of Skream, Benga, DMZ and Burial. Nowadays I tend to automatically avoid anything with the UKF label on it.
« Last Edit: July 29, 2012, 06:09:32 pm by VirtualStranger »

Offline Søren

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Re: Modern pop music really does all sound the same
« Reply #7 on: July 29, 2012, 08:47:27 pm »
Yeah I can't tell the difference between songs in dubstep, especially when people this "this artist is good" or "this one is better than that"

How can you tell, its all the same weird...wub wub wub WUBWUBWUBWB WUUUUUUUUB shit
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Re: Modern pop music really does all sound the same
« Reply #8 on: July 29, 2012, 09:04:57 pm »
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmnsNs5nMo4" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmnsNs5nMo4</a>

Relevant bit ends at 0:32

Offline rookie

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Re: Modern pop music really does all sound the same
« Reply #9 on: July 29, 2012, 10:04:51 pm »
... And thanks to the advent of things like Vocaloid, in the near future the recording industry won't even need "artists" anymore, they can synthesize an entire song from scratch.

They worked very hard on that back in the early to mid 80s. It got at best mixed results.
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Offline VirtualStranger

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Re: Modern pop music really does all sound the same
« Reply #10 on: July 29, 2012, 10:13:03 pm »
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... And thanks to the advent of things like Vocaloid, in the near future the recording industry won't even need "artists" anymore, they can synthesize an entire song from scratch.

You know that people still have to make those songs, right? "Synthesized" doesn't mean that they just push a button and music pops out. The people who compose this stuff are still "artists" in the strict definition of the term.

Until computers can figure out how to make music on their own, the recording industry will still need artists to make it.
« Last Edit: July 29, 2012, 10:15:03 pm by VirtualStranger »

Offline VirtualStranger

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Re: Modern pop music really does all sound the same
« Reply #11 on: July 30, 2012, 03:28:00 am »
Recently, something utterly remarkable happened in the pop music world. This song hit #1 on the national music charts.

One of the most stereotypical hipster things I've ever heard.

And you know what? I'm actually happy with this development. Does this mean that the public is FINALLY getting tired of awful shallow club shit and vapid teen pop stars? Oh god I really fucking hope so.

I don't even particularly like the song that much, and yet I still find myself hoping that this is a sign of things to come. Fucking ANYTHING would be a welcome change from the awful corporate-manufactured sludge that we've suffered through for the past decade.

Because mediocre is a lot better than mind-numbingly awful.

Offline Fpqxz

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Re: Modern pop music really does all sound the same
« Reply #12 on: July 30, 2012, 02:58:09 pm »
Recently, something utterly remarkable happened in the pop music world. This song hit #1 on the national music charts.

One of the most stereotypical hipster things I've ever heard.

And you know what? I'm actually happy with this development. Does this mean that the public is FINALLY getting tired of awful shallow club shit and vapid teen pop stars? Oh god I really fucking hope so.

I don't even particularly like the song that much, and yet I still find myself hoping that this is a sign of things to come. Fucking ANYTHING would be a welcome change from the awful corporate-manufactured sludge that we've suffered through for the past decade.

Because mediocre is a lot better than mind-numbingly awful.

Quoted for truth.  Because for as much as I hate hipsters and their bullshit, they are still better than "corporate-manufactured sludge" as you so accurately put it.

The problem is that whenever one particular style/genre of music gets popular, it invites a swarm of imitators, most of whom lack to talent and vision of those who originated it.  Remember how crappy a lot of the post-1994 alternative rock was?
« Last Edit: July 30, 2012, 03:00:00 pm by Fpqxz »
Read some real news:  Allgov.com, JURIST

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Offline TheL

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Re: Modern pop music really does all sound the same
« Reply #13 on: July 30, 2012, 07:14:59 pm »
Recently, something utterly remarkable happened in the pop music world. This song hit #1 on the national music charts.

One of the most stereotypical hipster things I've ever heard.

And you know what? I'm actually happy with this development. Does this mean that the public is FINALLY getting tired of awful shallow club shit and vapid teen pop stars? Oh god I really fucking hope so.

I don't even particularly like the song that much, and yet I still find myself hoping that this is a sign of things to come. Fucking ANYTHING would be a welcome change from the awful corporate-manufactured sludge that we've suffered through for the past decade.

Because mediocre is a lot better than mind-numbingly awful.

Personally, I like the song because the intro reminds me of 60's pop.  We could use an injection of other styles into music.  ANY other styles.
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Offline largeham

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Re: Modern pop music really does all sound the same
« Reply #14 on: July 31, 2012, 03:26:50 am »
The problem is that whenever one particular style/genre of music gets popular, it invites a swarm of imitators, most of whom lack to talent and vision of those who originated it.  Remember how crappy a lot of the post-1994 alternative rock was?

Because that's where the money is. I'm sure a long time ago pop music had quality, artists were talented and innovative (maybe), but then as it became popular record companies churned out shit in the hope of making a quick buck. Then generally over time people change tastes. Anything that gets wildly popular will go through this cycle.

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