I think a well done home recording of a good song could hold it's own against a commercial release of an average song, however I wouldn't think too many average listeners would care too much about listening to distorted phone recording of a number one hit. Then again, there are some who only listen to the lyrics and could care less about the music or production.   

I have a record "and the disk" called more of Bob Marley at his best, tons of noise but it grooves so hard, Trench Town Rock is a killer song i've seen pictures of Marley and Peter Tosh recording in a studio. some of those Jamaican studio's are bare bones like wooden shipping crate's cut in half and lined with foam rubber as a vocal room.. but the music has a sound that just moves...

eph221

Team Green
So like if a tree falls... I mean like if you're in the forest and there's no sound... well it's something like that anyway !!!!

 
That's what's so funny about that zen thing.  You start off the sentence saying the tree fell....it's pretty obvious the tree actually fell unless it's fake news?

Or did the forest rise up to meet the tree?

there are times where the emotion of the performance is more important than the quality of the capture, yes.
 
 
but by and large, this is the exception to the rule.
 
the bar has been set very high by those that precede us,
you have to ask yourself,
are you up to the task?
or looking for an excuse for crappy sounding recordings?!
 
 
"well, are you, PUNK?"
 

 

jimmyrage music
I wouldn't think too many average listeners would care too much about listening to distorted phone recording of a number one hit.

There are countless phone-shot over-compressed and distorted videos on youtube to prove exactly the opposite.

just because the lowest common denominator is so common,
does not make it 'good' or 'acceptable'.
 
unless you love mcdonalds hamburgers.
 
a lot of people do.
but we don't call it fine dining.

I love just crusty, insane, completely unmarketable freakshow type bands and although it's not all I do I certainly enjoy creating that style myself.
 
I have been listening to absolutely sh*te quality demos and semi "pro" recordings for over twenty years now and never ONCE have I thought that (in the context of those sh*tty recordings) that the recording would not be more enjoyable if only it had been produced better.
 
I am a huuuuuuuuge Dead Kennedy's fan. They are pretty much my favorite band musically.
 
Their production values were always horrendous and they went from one extreme to the next. The early stuff (which I prefer) was clippy, distorted, fizzy and generally fatiguing to the ear... BUT the bass and drum interaction cuts through so well (an example of good musicianship) that it makes it sound kind of balanced and if you turn down the "tone" knob the ear peircing high end can be tolerated.
 
THEN for I think "Frankenchrist" they glommed onto that really crisp late 80's/early 90's production style with the digital reverb and all the warmth scooped out. A lot of punk bands got sucked into that crappy sound because I think the engineers at the time just figured "Well this is heavy music... let's treat it like a metal album" except that style of mixing didn't work for punk (and barely worked for very specific types of metal).
 
I try to listen to those "metalfied" tunes and just can't.
 
And that was the friggen' DK's who had access to half decent studios, engineers and gear.
 
I've got stuff where you can barely discern half the crap that's going on (audio pulled from crappy boards that only the vox are going through, video cam audio, zooms/ghetto blasters setup somewhere recording, whatever).
 
I can still enjoy that stuff if I REALLY know the material because my brainoodle fills in the blanks between things coming in and out of focus (in the mic's "eye") but ya, no... I'd rather hear it clearly.
 
It matters.

I think that EQ and compressors are just a little bit of the picture on sound. If you have a keyboard you bought for $300 in the 90s and you try to make decent music with that, even Bach wont sound good. I had one of those, and i did make music with it. Thank God for Native Instrument and the like.
 

Jarsve
I think that EQ and compressors are just a little bit of the picture on sound. If you have a keyboard you bought for $300 in the 90s and you try to make decent music with that, even Bach wont sound good. I had one of those, and i did make music with it. Thank God for Native Instrument and the like.
 

I've got an original release Yamaha DX-7 that hasn't worked since I moved here. It USED to work perfectly so it's likely a very cheap/simple repair (it's all modular boards inside but I think it just needs a new memory battery/contact cleaning). I thought it was kind of a cool curiosity to have around AND I intended to use it as a MIDI controller but I'd trade the thing in a second for a simple lightweight 88 key USB MIDI controller.
 
If I REALLY wanted those old FM sounds I'm sure I could find them in VSTi format.