WTUL

Everything You (Should) Know About Robert Johnson is (Probably) Wrong

Ben here with another FYI while you listen to the greatest station in the world…

Any true lover of music will be familiar with Robert Johnson. A true innovator, this enigmatic Delta Blues god could arguably be credited with the creation of Rock n’ Roll as we know it. The legend of a man seeling his soul the Devil in exchange for musical genius originated with Johnson. He tells all about it here:

The thing is, if you’ve heard this song before, you really haven’t.

Quoth Wiki: The accuracy of the pitch and speed of the extant recordings has been questioned. In The Guardian’s music blog from May 2010, Jon Wilde states that “the common consensus among musicologists is that we’ve been listening to [Robert] Johnson at least 20% too fast;” i.e., that “the recordings were accidentally speeded up when first committed to 78 [rpm records], or else were deliberately speeded up to make them sound more exciting.

Listen to “Crossroads” again, this time slowed down 20%:

Mind = Blown?

You’re not the only one…

Ben

Greetings loyal ‘TUL listeners. This is your friendly webmaster Ben with an FYI to read while you listen to the greatest radio station in the world.

Have you ever noticed a large drop off in the volume of songs while listening to your favorite show? It could be operator error (not that any of our DJs ever slips up!) or it could be that your ears are a casualty of The Loudness Wars.

While you may consider the argument with your parents or spouse about the need to play The Stooges at 11 as essential for proper appreciation of Raw Power, what Loudness War actually refers to is, according to Wiki: “The loudness war or loudness race is a pejorative name for the apparent competition between recording industry companies to digitally master recordings with relatively higher real and perceived levels of loudness.”

This phenomenon of mastering records at higher and higher volumes began with the advent of the cd because the music could be compressed unlike on vinyl or cassette (remember those?).

We’ve (those under 35) become so used to this gradual increase that vinyl sounds “quiet” when played at the same volume. A recent release that been getting a lot of airplay (and I love) even uses this effect intentionally. Sleigh Bells’ Treats pushes the levels so far into the red, the distortion almost becomes its own instrument.

What does this mean for me?

In the short term, it mean you may have to move some knobs or press buttons to make up for the drastic difference between vinyl and cds which is growing greater. We humble DJs do what we can to make up for this difference, but it’s getting more and more difficult.

Long term, it means less clarity, more disparity between records, and increased hearing loss for you earbud people.

What can I do about it?

As always, get involved. There are folks out there fighting in the trenches of the Loudness wars:

http://www.justiceforaudio.org/

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122114058

http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/the-future-of-music

Choose a side, but don’t blame the DJ when the beat d-d-drops…

Ben

Date:Saturday, June 19, 2010
Time:12:00pm - 7:00pm

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Street:700 Elysian Fields/Corner of Royal and Frenchmen
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