[microsound] diffusion as an art-form

[Randolph Jordan]

On 13-Jun-09, at 9:33 AM, Damian Stewart wrote:

> this makes the interesting assumption that better sound system ==  
> better
> music.

I have made no such assumption.  My previous post responded to Greg's  
assertion that he'd "rather just listen to it at home," a statement  
that implies the music is good enough to WANT to hear it, but that the  
home listening experience is somehow better than public presentation.   
Given the assumption that a piece of music is good, I offered a set of  
reasons why hearing this piece in a concert venue might be preferable  
to a home listening situation.

True, a good listening environment cannot make up for bad music  
(though on occasion I have been emotionally moved by the quality of  
sound at a good venue regardless of my feelings about the music  
itself).  And yes, the sound quality of the playback system really  
doesn't matter for certain kinds of music.  For example, a piece of  
pop music designed for mp3 distribution won't benefit much from a  
sound system with excellent frequency response above 16K because these  
frequencies simply aren't there in the original piece.  On the other  
hand, to play a piece of music with lots of high frequency detail on a  
system with poor response in this area will actually take away from  
the composition itself.

In the end the question of playback equipment/venue comes down to  
respecting compositional intent.  You'd be hard pressed to convince a  
composer of symphonic music that the playback sound quality of their  
composition isn't important.  If the relationship between all the  
different parts of a symphony's violin section are an important part  
of compositional form, a playback system that can't properly  
differentiate between these various parts actually REMOVES part of the  
composition, thus affecting its form.  This is why symphonic music is  
best heard live in a concert hall.  A proper live concert hall  
situation doesn't ensure that the composition will be good, but it  
does give the audience their best chance of hearing the piece as it  
was intended to be heard.  The same can be true for a piece of  
computer music designed for playback on equipment that doesn't exist  
in most home listening situations.  The ideal concert situation allows  
the piece to be presented according the composer's intentions.

If the music is bad, then it's bad.  But how can you properly judge  
the music if you haven't heard ALL of it?  Hearing all of a piece of  
music is what a proper concert environment is supposed to allow, in  
turn allowing the audience to judge the music effectively.  I agree  
wholeheartedly with Damian's point is about the perils of emphasizing  
equipment over compositional skill; I'll take the latter over the  
former any day.  But when compositional skill is intertwined with  
particular presentation requirements, the relationship between the two  
needs to be respected.  This respect is the benefit that a good  
concert presentation has over the vast majority of home listening  
situations.

Randolph.