So I was doing the usual mix/edit/test on every speaker and headphone configuration I can get my hands on, when something occurs to me... The first thing most people (not all) seem to do with a purchased, professionally produced CD, is throw it on a stereo (or rip it and throw it on their mp3 players etc.) and despite the engineers agonising attempts to create perfect balance for that particular style of music. The consumer deems the mixing/mastering job to be sub-par and proceeds to pump the bass, mid and treble frequencies (sometimes) until the dials won't turn anymore. They legitimately don't seem to care that everything becomes a muddy, whompy, grainy mess and that the instruments/voices are at times pushed so far that their original quality no longer exists.
 
This leads me to one conclusion.
 
Apparently the average music consumers of the world have spoken and what they want is for us to forget all that expensive equipment and luscious plugin lists. Sure enough, taking some initial care in achieving some balance whilst mixing is possibly preferable? However, mix-agonising is completely unnecessary! Because then they would love us to import the stereo file, throw on an EQ and boost every frequency until it's distorting pretty much throughout the entire spectrum and burn the results! For (it would appear that) this is how the majority of listeners prefer the music! And how dare we try to sell something that "apparently" requires further engineering from the consumer?!!
 
So if there's a point to this post? I'd like to ask Cake to build a ridiculous, dynamics trashing, max-boost EQ. There are no dials. It has only one purpose/setting. And that purpose is to pump the living sh*t out of everything, so the consumer doesn't have to! I realise we can already do that via manual adjustment of existing plugs? But having a plugin set up for this specific task, would greatly save time! I've been tossing around names for this EQ and came up with: "Consumers Uliginous Nescient Tortious - EQ!" (Uliginous = Slimy, Nescient = Ignorant, Tortious = Wrongful) The acronym of this title should say it all: C*NT-EQ. It will hopefully be available for purchase as a VST from just about anywhere, for one easy payment of your slowly dying soul...
 
PS: This post probably belongs in the CH but I was already here and I'm too lazy to cut n' paste... Also if this type of rant has been done before, I apologise, but I couldn't be arsed searching either...

 LOL. I don't think all consumers are like that. In some circles we are getting back to a more purist approach. There will always be extra large sub woofers and tone controls for the people who want extra of everything.
 
 Personally I don't want to make music for that crowd mainly. I'll leave that up to  Deadmau5 and the like. Dance and Trance..yeah it's all about the beat. 

Some of my son's alleged 'music' sounds like absolute crap on my car's system, even with my bass turned essentially all the way down it STILL is booming sub-sounds.
 
Perhaps we could have a compression intervention for some of those producers.
 
Bob Bone
 

robert_e_bone
Some of my son's alleged 'music' sounds like absolute crap on my car's system, even with my bass turned essentially all the way down it STILL is booming sub-sounds.
 
Perhaps we could have a compression intervention for some of those producers.
 
Bob Bone
 

When I get into my car after my kids have played their EDM or Death Metal music, I always have to turn the bass back down.
 
Maybe part of it is my upper range hearing loss, but the "relavent" consumers can't get enough exaggerated bass.
 
What the heck happened to music?

The worst offenders are people who don't seem to mind that their speakers are buzzing. There's a guy around the corner from me who sells books from a table on the street and he has this little ghettoblaster playing hip hop so loud that the speakers rattle and it's a distorted mess. It makes my eyes water just to walk past, yet he's quite happy to listen to it all day. Some people really do have cloth ears. The same goes for people who listen to beat based music in cars so loud that the speakers distort. They don't care about fidelity in the slightest.

Growing up, we had MONOPHONIC albums, and FM radio was barely off the ground.  We learned to love fidelity because it was emerging as we were kids.
 
Bob Bone
 

I was thoroughly obsessed with Dolby Systems. When something was recorded on a cassette deck from vinyl or radio to a Dolby System, I always thought it sounded way more professional than any decks I had. Obviously, it wasn't Dolby that did it, but the decks that included Dolby Noise Reduction were in a higher class, and thus recorded better.
 
Anyone remember the Nakamichi Dragon?
 
But yeah, the abuse of the audio spectrum has driven us to sub-human standards.

Half-speed master of Steely Dan - heaven.
 
BUT, I also grew up with one of those scratch-and-play phonographs, where the needle was in the lid, and it would play when you closed it.
 
HORRIFIC.
 
But yeah, this crap now is just that, as far as sonic quality.
 
Bob Bone
 

brconflict
I was thoroughly obsessed with Dolby Systems. When something was recorded on a cassette deck from vinyl or radio to a Dolby System, I always thought it sounded way more professional than any decks I had. Obviously, it wasn't Dolby that did it, but the decks that included Dolby Noise Reduction were in a higher class, and thus recorded better.
 
Anyone remember the Nakamichi Dragon?
 
But yeah, the abuse of the audio spectrum has driven us to sub-human standards.

Yup I do.  I was the proud owner of a Nak 1000 tri-tracer, the first 3 head cassette deck.  When I opened my studio, I bought a Tascam 122 3 head cassette deck with an external dbx noise reduction module.  It also recorded at 3 3-4ips for higher fidelity.  The dbx units were superior to the dolby NR in the studio.  I also used the dbx mods on my Reel decks.
Now, its throw the mp3 on the SDHD card and stick that into the boom box.  ugh

First off, some consumers aren't interested on how the music sounds on their system, they are consumed about how OTHERS hear it on their system, from another car at a stoplight.
 
Second, they are compensating not for deficiencies in the mix or mastering, but for perceived deficiencies in their audio system. These will vary from system to system and you still need your tools to find the middle of the bellcurve of this aggregate "average system".
 
Third, I turn my visions into the best reality I can, because my expression is a higher priority than mass appreciation, because...in my opinion, the second can't come without the first... for long anyway, see "Milli Vanilli".
 
Fourth, I have a performance room adjacent to my main tracking room. Tracking room and both control rooms are set to mix and master from studio monitors, flat, accurate, average, etc. Performance room is for enjoyment and intake of expression. I EQ my own mixes there, to fit the room and my mood, and my current  Fletcher-Munson curve. If somebody wants to pay me for expressing myself, they can alter it however they see fit, for the enjoyment they compensated me to purchase.
 
All that said...I do question the intellect and sanity of some listeners, just as I am sure they question mine! If this thread produces a huge selloff of equipment, market glut, and basement pricing, I might toss a few pennies at surplus inventory if you all pay shipping. TIA!