Why Do People Care More About the Sound of Music than Its Emotional Impact?

[Mighty Motif Max]

I guess I've never been one to not care much about the emotional impact of music...the flip side though is that to me, the emotional impact often is derived from how the music sounds. Maybe part of that is from my background in various folk music forms and also worship music...and that I can play a lot by ear naturally too. Sure, sometimes I'll hear a track and my ear will catch a particularly interesting synth patch or production technique, but music is more of a physical and emotional experience first and foremost to me.

[cphollis]

I believe the observed obsession with sound vs. emotion has a lot to do with how our brains are wired. 

 

In case you haven't noticed, many musicians' brains are wired a bit differently than other people.  Speaking for myself, I can't help but dissect every sound I hear -- it's involuntary.  It can be very distracting in social situations.

 

When I'm performing, if I hear flaws in the sound, it can distract me from the mission at hand: conveying emotion to my audience.  They won't notice the perceived sound flaw -- of course -- but I will and it takes a bit of effort to ignore it.

 

As a result, I've invested enough in my gear (and my band's gear) that I don't get distracted that way.  Once I get the sound quality to an acceptable level, t's a lot more enjoyable playing -- I can fully immerse myself in the experience.

[Tusker]

For me, the sound (timbre) does convey  emotion. So do the conventions of musical culture (melody, harmony, rhythm).

 

One of my favorite soundtracks is the soundtrack to the 1960 film Psycho. Timbre and culture are working together at Bernard Herrmann's command.

[Anderton]

2 hours ago, Tusker said:

For me, the sound (timbre) does convey  emotion. So do the conventions of musical culture (melody, harmony, rhythm).

 

Agreed...as I said, "I do find that compelling sounds can support the music. Also, certain sounds evoke certain emotions in people. When I include a string quartet part in a song, it's going to trigger a different reaction than if I played the same lines on overdubbed guitars. In either case, the music is the same, but the listener's visceral reaction with be affected."

 

But musically, I don't think you can just get by with something that sounds good. I can mix something and have the instruments and mix sound fabulous, but that's worth nothing if there's not the musical emotion baked into the parts. Conversely, it would take an execrably bad mix to hide the emotional component.

[Steve Nathan]

Seems obvious to me but new gear that sounds better than older gear does not make the music better, but new gear that sounds better which inspires the creator often results in better music with greater emotional impact.  In my world, I don't run across many musicians who aren't driven by emotion, feel, soul, whatever you want to call it.  They buy new gear, but it never gets out in front of their art.  I forget which great studio bass player was once asked about why with all the great basses he owned, he seemed to play his old, beat up Precision most of the time, and he described it by talking about all the beautiful women you meet on the road, and how they're younger, prettier and sexier, but for some reason you keep going back to your old, familiar wife! 😀  I hope his wife never saw that interview.

[Tusker]

7 hours ago, Anderton said:

But musically, I don't think you can just get by with something that sounds good. I can mix something and have the instruments and mix sound fabulous, but that's worth nothing if there's not the musical emotion baked into the parts. Conversely, it would take an execrably bad mix to hide the emotional component.

 

For sure. Remember when we used to chase down bootlegs? Crappy sounds. Magic moments. 

[Notes_Norton]

Musicians and Audiophiles care about sound quality. 99% of the population cares more about emotional impact. While it's true that timbre effects emotion, it cannot do that by itself, nor is it a requirement. 

 

In my days I've heard plenty of 45rpm records, cassette tapes, and mp3s that are full of emotional impact. People, even musicians, stream audio that has been compressed to fit the 'pipeline' when a CD or LP gives better fidelity. 

Without sound quality, the song can still be emotional. Without emotion, all the latest, high-end gear in the world won't make good music.

 

Now, as a musician, I love good sound. I have a 1925 alto sax that is hard to play due to its intonation challenges. But it's made with pre WW2 brass, and has a sterling silver plate. This gives it the voice of an angel that no modern sax can duplicate. But I bring a newer sax to the gig.

 

I also have modern gear. But there is a point of diminishing returns, where more and more dollars spent gives you less and less increase in sound quality (and often, more bling). I have my point in that scale, which may be different from yours. Mine works for me, I make my living doing music and nothing but music and don't need a 9-5 wage slave job.

 

 

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

[Theo Verelst]

Some music would better not have much emotional impact...

 

It's clear to me what I prefer to popularize, this thread seems a little unclear about what the difference is between sound and music, if my instrument works good, it makes sound which is useful to  make music with. If my musical abilities aren't up to a certain level, I might not be able to create the feeling I want, or even the popularity I might want because people expect a certain sound quality.

 

Playing Yankee Doodle on recorder probably isn't going to be a commercial success, some chorussy voice suggesting profanities might be successful when accompanied by a sampled rhythm track, it's easy to blame a concert pianist for having "no feeling" but it might be the intention.

 

Many possibilities, which are interesting ? I think people with something to say should be able to express themselves, even if the side effect is that every other person can try to call themselves a musician, too. My interest in sound quality actually is mainly because I can't stand to sound so bleak and cold digital, even if some mastering effects will create a few interesting details. To me because a digital piano does seldom give a satisfactory feeling sound, it is a challenge to work on that sound,so that I can express musical emotions the way I want.

 

T

 

[Stan Martin]

On 9/17/2024 at 2:28 PM, Anderton said:

 

Where can I buy this Taste plugin? Can I get a perpetual license, or is it subscription-only?

It's free. Download it from Harmony Central (that's where we know each other from decades ago)

[Stan Martin]

On 9/12/2024 at 11:01 AM, Notes_Norton said:

As a live performer, I have the advantage of watching the audience. They tell me if I'm doing it right or not.
 

I respectfully disagree. Playing Brown Eyed Woman for the 5374th time opening the 4th set for a drunk audience who couldn't care less if you hit the right notes didn't give me any semblance of whether it was "good" or "great". Having yet another drunk girl fall on my Fender Rhodes, spill her beer and her boobs into the piano and my face did not tell me the song was good. Only that there were probably festivities occurring after the final set.