Perfecting Sound Forever: The Story of Recorded Music (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

Greg Milner is very passionate about music he likes and how he likes to listen to it. The (unfairly) simplistic premise of this book would be "Analog/LP = Good, Digital/CD = Bad". And he turned almost every stone around America to prove his point, from Edison's single minded-obsession with improving the recorded sound quality to explaining in detail how modern, internet based compression formats are destroying the sound we now listen on a daily basis.

It is rather obvious that he had his mind made up long before he started researching for this book. Warmth, wittiness and houmor of his writing about early days of cylinders and vinyls turns quickly into bitter sarcasm every time he mentions CDs, and Digital seems to be a dirty word for him. Artistic and technological advancements in Europe are largely overlooked, except when they are either nicked or exported over the Atlantic. I couldn't stop wandering, if by any chance CD wasn't invented by an European and a Japanese company, would it fair a bit better in his views?

Accounts of audio developments are detailed and to the point, but some might find them too technological. Milner wastes no efforts to prove his point - that since the 80s over-produced and over-compressed rock and pop music doesn't sound 'natural' any more, exclusively due to digital recording technology and digital sound processing. But when he gets to explain why do we suffer from a digital fatigue, he is still exclusively focused on rock and pop. Classical music is barely mentioned, and even then, Leopold Stokowsky is painted as a charlatan and Herbert von Karajan wrongly(!) labeled as 'Hitler's favorite conductor'. And that's it. Naturally created sound doesn't seem to exist in Milner's recorded world, but it was far easier proving that already artificially created sound of rock and pop music sounds equally artificial when recorded and reproduced. And the fact that Philips and Sony already fixed all shortcomings that 'dirty' CD made such an inadequate sound carrier is also barely mentioned - there are only two passing references about Super Audio CD in the whole book, but nothing about its capabilities to sound like a good old LP.

Everything concerned, this is an interesting read. If you have more than a passing interest in sound technology, this is a must. The unique selling point of Milner's writing should be his ability to build up a very convincing theoretical analysis out of historical narrative. And, at the end of the day, you can agree or disagree with some of his points, but the fact remains that the commercial need for a quick musical buck lowered the sound quality of the (rock and pop) music we listen today to an equivalent of a cold pizza - digestible only if you're desperate.

This is a tricky book to review because it is without doubt full of really interesting stuff. But it is not all that well written for my taste. Despite this I think many music fans of many genres will find it a worthwhile read. It covers the history of recorded music and shows how exactly the same passionate debates raged amongst listeners when wax cylinders were made obsolete by discs, as when CD took over from vinyl. I loved the stories about sound tests where audiences apparently could not tell the difference between recordings and live singers performing behind curtains. And bringing things bang up to date it shows how hit recordings are now made without recording studios, and how the sound mixing arms race made music sound hateful as every conceivable sound frequency was boosted to have impact on radio. Here is a writer who really knows his subject. Only the fascinating material makes it worthwhile ploughing through Milner's less than sparkling prose. Perhaps a remix is in order.

This book captivated me from start to finish. Yes, there are parts that are"geeky" in this book but the author brings it all to life by talking to so many of the people involved, the passion, the search for better ways to listen to music, the artists and those that promoted the artists. The section on Lead Belly's life and recordings is excellent. The passion that drove the Lomax's to get on the road and hear music and record it is described captivatingly.

If you are in the music industry this book is great history, and explains a lot on why you're using the technology thats around today and why it either sounds good or terrible to you. The section on why DIGITAL may be unmusical is fascinating.

If you're not in the music industry but enjoy more than just a superficial attitude to music, have a diverse range of musical tastes, and perhaps have listened to music in concerts, on hifi separates or even VINYL, than you will still find this very illuminating and ENJOYABLE.

My final comment shows my musical snobbery: but it shakes me to my core to realise that there are people who have ONLY heard music through the nasty earphones that come with cheap MP3 players where they listen to music at a horrendous low 96kilobits per second, thinking that what they hear: the smeary soundstage, the blurry bass, the tinny treble, the boomy honky resonance is how music sounds. Never heard a concert, never listened to a CD through a "hifi" system, never even seen let alone heard vinyl LPs! Convenience and cost have trashed quality and beauty and that is the great tragedy of music today.