Paul McCartney 'Pulling Hair Out' Over Shift to Lo-Fi Listening Habits

zebra03

All Audio - NO BS
https://www.yahoo.com/music/s/paul-...over-shift-lo-fi-152800862-rolling-stone.html

In an interview promoting "Hope for the Future," his new song included in the first-person shooter video game Destiny, Paul McCartney expressed distaste for the way young people consume music through tinny-sounding cell phone speakers.


Paul McCartney: The Long and Winding Q&A


"In an ideal world, they listen to what you’ve recorded in the way that you have presented it," the rock legend told the Guardian. "It’s all changed so drastically. A lot of kids listen to music on their smartphones through these tiny little speakers. I’m pulling my hair out thinking, 'Argh, I spent hours making that high-fidelity sound! Get a decent set of headphones! Please!'"

McCartney has an analogy for this lo-fi listening experience: "looking at a postcard" of a gallery-worthy painting. "I'd love people to be listening to the music in the most perfect way, so they can experience exactly what we made in the studio," he says. Still, he adds, if the song itself is of high quality, the "delivery system isn't important" to young people.

"Things change," McCartney continues. "Maybe when they get older, they’ll get into vinyl and become more sophisticated. But for me, at least they’re hearing what I’m doing, in some form or another. I mean, I’ve come through vinyl, tape cassettes, CDs, digital downloads. . . all along, the constant was that a song is required."

McCartney first announced his involvement with Destiny via Twitter in July 2012. He recorded the triumphant "Hope for the Future" at Abbey Road Studios with a 120-piece orchestra conducted by Giles Martin, and the track was produced by Mark "Spike" Stent. McCartney, along with composers Marty O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori, also wrote and composed an additional 50 minutes of music for the game. As Destiny developer Eric Osbourne told Vulture, the former Beatle didn't accept any money for the project, taking part solely for "the creativity."
 
I wish that more would vocalize about it. I don't think that is enough to just say (as is done ad nauseum here), "If it's good to you, it's good" or "Hey- they're listening to music, riiiight? It's all good.". That's nonsense from my chair and contributes to the erosion of anything relating to fidelity and faithful reproduction (audio or not). Without high standards for anything, what's it all worth? I would never imagine that attitude being mine when I am teaching and I do not believe that anyone would want it that way, "Well, do what you want, it's good enough".

Then again, maybe no one cares what a musician says about it.
I wonder.:scratch2:

Thanks for the story link.
 
Last edited:
Oh it's much worse than that. According to Spotify data collection ... only about 50% of songs downloaded are played till the end.

Add the possibility that many of the ones being played till the end are probably just musical wallpaper and you wonder who is actually actively listening at all. :D
 
Last edited:
The bigger question is "do young people even listen to Paul McCartney these days".
 
Yeah, thanks for the link, Zebra as I've always had a deep respect for Sir Paul and his attitude in general. From an artist's perspective, I think he makes some extremely valid points. When you're creating something you're proud of and deeply want to share it with others you want to share the whole thing....not an edited, filtered, watered down and half-baked version of your creative idea and all the tiny details you included to make it what it is. I think many people who listen lo-fi would be surprised how much more they enjoy the music when it's reproduced at its highest (or nearly so) resolution. And for a good number of those people they've probably never been given the opportunity to do so. For the most part pop culture corrals the masses toward lo-fi for the consumption of music. There just aren't many opportunities for them to happen upon a hi-fi experience, so they simply don't know any better. If they did they might actually find the background music they typically only half pay attention to engaging, entertaining and fulfilling enough to give it closer attention.
 
Last edited:
I'm not all that fond of any headphone over a good pair of stereo speakers, having the sound in free space in front of me is an infinitely enjoyably better listening experience.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 
The bigger question is "do young people even listen to Paul McCartney these days".

That's a good question . I would think anyone who has a basic love of music would know who McCartney is . But , maybe not .
 
I'm not all that fond of any headphone over a good pair of stereo speakers, having the sound in free space in front of me is an infinitely enjoyably better listening experience.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

I always consider headphones , no matter how good , a compromise to the listening experience of good speakers .
 
The bigger question is "do young people even listen to Paul McCartney these days".

Maybe not. Probably not.

But they damn sure listen to Dave Grohl and he'd almost certainly have the same opinion as Sir Paul.
 
Maybe not. Probably not.

But they damn sure listen to Dave Grohl and he'd almost certainly have the same opinion as Sir Paul.

The two have certainly worked together .

I wonder if any young 'uns have said yet , "Did you know Dave Grohl was in a band before the Foo Fighter's?" . :D
 
Headphones are a compromise if the music wasn't mixed for them. For example, when an instrument is mixed to play solely out of one channel, it sounds unnatural through headphones because it is not the way our ears would hear it in real life.
 
A sexagenarian complaining about kids these days. Where oh where have I heard this before (ca. 1964)?
 
don't get us started on sampled music, snippets torn from their original context, song structure, and music, to then be altered and repeated into something that many times lacks any musical talent or even hearing ability, IMHO.

To those folks, try writing the music, playing the instruments, and actually making real acoustic music. Its pretty tough and requires a lot of real talent and ability, and working with other real people together. Not just a bunch of electronics in your bedroom studio.

Sorry, rant off.
 
don't get us started on sampled music, snippets torn from their original context, song structure, and music, to then be altered and repeated into something that many times lacks any musical talent or even hearing ability, IMHO.

To those folks, try writing the music, playing the instruments, and actually making real acoustic music. Its pretty tough and requires a lot of real talent and ability, and working with other real people together. Not just a bunch of electronics in your bedroom studio.

Sorry, rant off.

:thmbsp:
 
Nobody will buy that track to listen to it. They will listen to it on headphones because that is what fps guys use. And usually pretty good ones too.

Some even use Beyers gear and a good soundcard.

They will hear that song in all its splendor.
 
That's a good question . I would think anyone who has a basic love of music would know who McCartney is . But , maybe not .

At the last British Open Golf tournament played near liverpool, Bubba Watson (a two time winner of the Masters ) during an interview could not name any of the Beatles.
 
Hmm, cellphone speakers...yeah ok. But an ipod with earbuds is orders of magnitude better than what I had for playback as a kid in the 70's. Just sayin'.

Mostly i listened to FM on a clock radio I got for Christmas. Even so, I still loved every new single I heard, and I hated having to wait for the radio to cycle through their playlist so I could hear it again.
 
He's right! It's like going to the Louvre with out your glasses.

More importantly WHY the hell is Sir "All-You-Need-is-Love" Paul McCartney making music for a "first person shooter" video game!?!?
 
He's right! It's like going to the Louvre with out your glasses.

More importantly WHY the hell is Sir "All-You-Need-is-Love" Paul McCartney making music for a "first person shooter" video game!?!?

^^^

Because it was pretty much Lennon who was the "All You Need is Love" Beatle. The others just kinda followed along as supporting cast.

McCartney is sir "Live and Let Die". :yes:

Admittedly, hearing that Paul is providing sound track for a shoot em up video game did catch me off guard.
 
Back
Top Bottom