Sonic Regression

The nature in which we listen to music is an ever-changing experience. From the ridges engraved on wax cylinders, to the string of digital data transmitting from a satellite into your cellphone, the medium wherein we listen to music has varied throughout eras. When music was first commonplace in the home, it was either enjoyed through an AM radio cabinet or the horn of a shellac record player. Both methods were crude and reduced the playback frequency to a narrow range. The inability to reproduce low and high-end frequencies dictated not only how music was heard but also recorded. Studio engineers had to make sacrifices in order for the sound to be pleasing and distinct. In the “primitive” days the choices were limited, but as the field advanced engineers in the ‘60s were able to record in a fuller sound spectrum. While the squashed signal of an AM radio was still routine, vinyl record players were being introduced into the home. No longer was the recording engineer restricted to the puny speaker in the dashboard of a car, or even worse, a handheld transistor radio. While a vinyl record still had it’s low and high-end rolled off, it was a huge improvement from any format before. Finally, the thump of a bass drum or the clarity of an acoustic guitar could be heard. In the same era, music was also transitioning from mono (1 channel) to stereo (left & right channels), starting as a novelty and eventually becoming the standard. Innovations continued not only in sound reproduction but accessibility. Cassettes and 8-tracks (and later CDs) revolutionized how music was experienced on the go. This was inevitably overshadowed by the invention of MP3s and online streaming. A digital recording is not subjected to any sonic restraints other than the limits of human hearing. It’s a recording engineers dream. There is however one glaring caveat in the modern age, the cellphone speaker.

This miniscule speaker makes the tiny speaker in a transistor radio seem like a Hi-Fi stereo system. You can forget about that bass drop on yer favorite EDM track, because it simply ain’t happening. The low-end response on these phone speakers is essentially non-existent. To make matters worse, some phones split the stereo image between the phone’s main speaker and the ear speaker.  This uneven balance in speaker performance can cause some jarring irregularities in your listening experience.  In terms of sonic reproducibility, phone speakers are as bad as it gets, and unfortunately for music-makers this is a frustratingly common way for people to listen to music.  As a result, sound engineers have to tailor their mix with this worst-case scenario in mind. I often make similar choices to engineers of the past in order for my productions to best be heard to listeners. Because of the uneven speaker configuration, I now have started mixing my songs in mono, something that hasn’t been standard since the ‘60s. In addition, I began mixing more mid-range into my low-end instruments in order for them to be heard adequately on phone speakers. These choices come at the expense of the artist and the listener, and mimic the ongoing struggles recording engineers have been faced width since the beginning of the industry. As the ol’ saying goes, “The more things change the more they stay the same.”