I have been recently thinking of sound quality on places like Facebook, YouTube, etc.. I know that they do use aggressive compression quality due to the need to reduce file capacity for faster loading. I have always had a reluctance to put my music on Facebook. And YouTube too to be honest. But the platforms allow people to listen to the songs, despite the qualities found.
Before our fibre Broadband acquisition, it was a nightmare uploading to any platform with our old internet speed of 1 or 2 Megabits per second (Mbps). It used to take about half an hour at times. And I have experienced longer with a video attached. So all songs sent from this household were always of lower file quality.
This has led me to really think about platforms that can be used for higher quality sound. As said, YouTube has a similar view on sound quality too. Uploading and changing music dynamics. So it seems the only way to listen to original intended sound is to put music recorded onto a dedicated music driven platform. I do have Bandcamp to start off with. Also, it would be good to make some CD copies of my songs here at home. Post them out to people who are interested. Mind you, it would be good to get results I feel happy with. And in reality, it feels like I’m getting near to being happy with the sound. Well, what I hear through my headphones and monitor speakers when songs are being played through the Mac M2 home studio system. Both my headphones and speakers will not tolerate high volume. Volume levels that can damage hearing.
Below is a comparison study. The same higher quality song files have been uploaded to both YouTube (once uploaded YouTube compressed to suit their platform) and here on WordPress (as it was intentionally uploaded and no loss of quality). You can certainly tell the difference.
All things considering, it has been quite a journey technologically wise. Over the last year and a half. As a technophobe I am still miles away from knowing how to get certain sound qualities to my songs. But here on WordPress they do not seem to compress sound to an unfortunate result if you upload at a higher quality.
Here below on the audio bar is the version of higher quality uploaded to WordPress directly for this blog.
Of course, I am no producer or engineer. So cannot get results that sound professional. And GarageBand is a fabulous free app to use. But does have its limitations. I will get the more professional Logic Pro next year, once I get to grips with a bit more understanding regarding recording my songs properly. And get to saving some money again.
It has been an interesting experience recording songs. Gone are the days of recording our songs onto tape recorders and, if lucky, producing a vinyl record or two. Or recoding on little cassettes to give to family and friends. My experience of how we got our music out back in the 1970s was quite fun really. This computer malarkey? Not so much fun. But has kept my mind alive in retirement nonetheless.
My previous blog from yesterday does have a whole bunch of songs in readiness for the video intentional project ‘On Cloud 9’ for YouTube uploads. And all uploaded here to WordPress on the higher quality file. So do sound different to other versions of my songs when sent on basic quality files.
So, the YouTube storyboard theme for the Gray Summers on Cloud 9 project is to use the songs chosen on the previous blog and play them acoustically on a guitar in the open air whilst sitting in the VeeDub Bus. A comparison study of sorts between a live open air capture and the songs’ finished results on the little home studio here at The Den. A VeeDub Bus, a chill concept, playing songs from my recordings here at home and playing live acoustically out in the Welsh countryside is a nice easy format to follow for the telling of and explanation of, on video, a song’s musical journey.
Getting out there in the VeeDub Bus? When is it ever going to happen? Well……once it’s stopped raining!
Yesterday’s blog, with a bunch of songs, below.
Gray Summers 
I “hear” what you mean. BlueSky has horrible audio conversions when we upload a short video (the only option there ATM for musicians).
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I am not sure how you yourself feel Stan. But I currently feel in a conundrum of trying to understand all the ways that our music can end up. Being a technophobe and trying to get to grips with all that is required to capture a song. But also being someone who most probably has some frequency loss too. So struggling getting everything right with ‘music intonation’ wise. I know intonation belongs to the musicality of the spoken voice. But I see it as meaningful for both singing and instrumental sound and synergy. I can’t feel musical balance and low/high levels of mixing correctly.
Also. What do people listen on. Phones and iPads or good headphones and speakers. I always listen on my headphones. When it comes through the iPad speakers it is like a ‘tinny radio’ sound. No richness whatsoever.
I often wonder, what is a ‘great’ sound. After the whole 1970s infancy of studio tape recording to vinyl and then followed up and onwards to the clarity of modern computer recording converted to CD, MP3 and online streaming sound there are vibes that emotionally attach. And vibes that are too clinical.
I still play my old vinyl albums. And love those more than any other format. So, which arena do we hope to realise our songs played in. There are so many sounds that music can be presented in that you get confused. Vinyl type synergy of a compact nature or online clarity of hearing each type of instrument played in their song contribution involvement. Notes heard in separation. Not too sure what I am chasing anymore.
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Here’s where I am with this at the moment…
I have zero control over playback whether it has to do with social network compression or crappy mobile phone speakers. With a variety of tools, I do my best to make my mixes sound good on a wide variety of devices and platforms. Still, there will be dozens of ways it could end up sounding like anemic garbage. Since I have no control over these circumstances, I try to let it go.
Notable in this line are the music videos I released from my recent piano improvisations concert. They are all pulled from the livestream which was captured on a tablet. Not exactly hifi but gives the feeling of being there.
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I had that feeling of poor quality when I started this recording adventure in the early days. I played my nephew a song on the iPad and it sounded really thin. The penny dropped after that. I knew way back when that producers thought of these things when people were using certain listening devices. But it has got to the point now, with new technology, that you just bite the bullet and go with what you produce.
I did listen to your improvisations through my headphones. They sounded great. With headphones, the sound did even out and bass fill more. As you say, it gave the atmosphere. And you got a nice round of applause which added to the occasion. Musically, I couldn’t skilfully do that off the cuff unknown adventure like you did…so well done. All the best Stan.
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Always the same to you. Happy audio adventuring!
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