AES Keynote, Alan Parsons
October 9, 2014, Audio Engineering Society Convention, Los Angeles—Alan Parsons provided insights, from his experiences in producing and engineering records, on the current and future directions of the music and recording industries. The talk covered a wide range of topics.
The sound engineers in AES can appreciate the increasing number of products that are available. performance is getting better for all price grades and new functionality makes the devices easier to use. For example, plug-ins are software tools that emulate hardware. The change to the use of computers for audio work has make the industry move from analog to software, so many of the earlier hardware functions for recording had to be recreated in software.
These changes make entry into the industry both easier and more complex. The new software tools have democratized the industry and made it possible for anyone to become proficient in the tools and technologies. At the same time, the availability of the tools means that new users don’t have the focus and range of experience needed to do a really good job.
The changes in the industry started with the move to CDs. Now, however, even this ubiquitous medium is in a decline, replaced by streaming technologies. Unfortunately, the on-line deliveries have opted for MP3s which only provide one fifth of the information to the listener. Peripheral accessories like headphones have followed this trend and dropped audio quality. For example, Beats are only slightly better than airline headphones that sell for under $5.
Some in the industry are trying to change this situation. Neil Young has proposed a 22-bit, 128 kHz format for high definition audio. Although the capabilities could be made easily available, no mobile manufacturer is considering the change or addition of this format into any of their devices. The industry has to get back to proper stereo, with reasonable dynamic range and audio fidelity. Unfortunately, the mobile devices, including laptop PCs, all have very poor speakers for their sound systems. The manufacturers can get away with low-quality speakers, because the source content is equally bad.
Some indications of the potential for better sounds are shown here. Spotify uses the Ogg Vorbis format at ~96 kbps and 8 bits for normal quality on mobile, but can go up to ~320 kbps and 16 bits in desktop high quality or extreme quality on mobile. The Ogg Vorbis format is about the same as MP3 at the low bit rates and like Flac at the higher rates. Pandora is at 64 k or 128 k, iTunes radio is at 160 k. On a desktop, these can get to almost CD quality.
In the on-line space, Netflix requires 5 Mb/s for the high-definition video and 3 Mb/s for high-definition audio. The main problem is that thee high rates are greatly limited by available bandwidth. Serius XM is the worst provider with very low bit rates and data depth. People are moving to streaming because it allows the listener the convenience of a full album without the download time.
In another area where the industry should be concerned is the growing elimination of music, especially performance, in our schools. Orchestral music has been shown to improve students’ ability to learn and process complex material, yet schools are cutting music programs. Many of our youngest students have never heard live music, which is still the gold standard for sound quality. Live music is interactive and immersive, but the elimination of music in schools deprives many kids the experience to hear more real, original music in a live format.
The move to digital in music is starting to stress the storage facilities. Higher sample rates and increased bit depth make large storage volumes necessary, with the latest 3-D audio requiring ten’s of GB for a single file. One response is to store the music in the cloud.
A new musician’s guild, a management group, is working with engineers and producers to develop training and knowledge repositories so new people can access the collected experience of the older folks. The return to vinyl is good because it drives the creators to become better at their craft, since they cannot hide behind the quality of an MP3. The shift away from streaming and downloading is allowing the reemergence of owning your music, rather than borrowing it.
The good news is that audio through loudspeakers is getting better. The advent of 5.1 sound systems and the related content indicates that some people care about what they listen to. The industry is not going back to mono, but back to high fidelity. To achieve better sound quality, we need to address the lack of standards in equipment and in the content packaging into digital formats.
