Who’s Crafting the Message?
I shouldn’t have been surprised to learn that large corporations hire high priced PR and advertising agencies to craft their messages. The folks at those companies may employ great writers. They may be able to compose clever prose and trigger appropriate responses in the target audience but do they really know anything about the subject or product that they’re pitching? My recent experience suggests that they don’t…and they don’t appreciate being corrected. They don’t appreciate constructive criticism. Here’s the deal.
One of the major consumer electronics companies is launching a new round of websites about high-resolution audio/music. They’ve had a sizable presence already but it’s time to update the graphics and the messaging. I was asked to revise my little corner of the website about my high-resolution download site iTrax. The new limit was 300-400 characters…not words…characters. An audiophile did not write the introductory paragraph. In fact, the entire revision cycle never passed through any technically competent individual. The people responsible for the company’s brand and the PR agency were the ones tasked with crafting a compelling introduction to high-resolution audio/music downloading.
I don’t want to compromise the mutual trust that exists between the company and myself, so I won’t quote the original text…but I feel I can share my comments.
The opening sentence holds no interest for individuals looking for the best possible versions of their favorite music. Comparing “high-res music” to lo-fi streaming services like Pandora is pointless. As a mastering engineer and music producer for 35 years, I can tell you that the final audio that is released on CDs or vinyl LPs is NOT usually “how the artist” intended…it’s how the mastering engineer and record label want it to sound. They want louder and punchier so that it will sell more copies. Avoid talking about live music comparisons as well…commercial “hits” are carefully assembled and crafted in the studio. They are not the same as live concerts.
Saying Hi-Res Audio blows away MP3 and AAC files is pure hyperbole! Research has been done that compared three of my real HD-Audio files in hi-res, CD spec and MP3. Average listeners were brought in and asked to listen to the versions and decide which they liked best and why. The results were mixed and did not indicate that the hi-res versions were favored over even the MP3s! The marketing effort should avoid exaggeration because it just feeds into the mainstream press and their doubts about the advantages of hi-res.
The writer of the paragraphs you forwarded is writing the same old clichés and misinformation. It all sounds great but it contains too much marketing spin and not enough honesty and transparency.
If the “messaging” about high-resolution audio/music is left to PR agencies and advertising agencies instead of knowledgeable people with some technical background, how can consumers trust what they’re being told. Sadly, they can’t.
Audio parallels the sorry political landscape…. pseudoscience is everywhere, all we need are the clones to fan the flames. There are many who’s ambition is to discount those that dig the trenches and went before. This is the world of “now” …. no perspective necessary. Truth is so “yesterday” !
Actually, I was just unpleasantly surprised at the sound of heavily oversampled audio that occurred to be too 3D and somewhat reverberated, at the same time being sufficiently transparent and maybe even modestly accurate.
In fine, however costly/expensive your DAC is, it won’t work right without extreme oversampling which is the sole path to the ultimate sound fidelity.
Additionally, it must be noted that the crossover network in your speakers must be as fast as < 1 microsecond timing transient response to do well, lest full-range become more preferable.
Mark, while your comment is mostly true, I don’t think such ‘honest’ statement would attract that much interest.
I actually think putting comparison of high-res (or anything lossless) vs. streaming service is beneficial for uneducated people… quite a lot of people do not even understand there is a ‘quality’ difference among music they listen to… let alone technical talks such as mp3, flac, etc.
I remind you that there is a such MASSIVE, clearly audible difference in youtube audio quality and ordinary lossless/high-res music… Yes, sadly most of people do not even bother listen to music via streaming; they listen to youtube music ‘video’ which video has replaced with a static image. Quality is hilariously bad (around 64kbs)
Considering that, PR film is not that completely wrong.
By the way, California Audio Show is coming… Are you coming to Bay Area again this year?
I will be at the CAS event on Friday and giving a presentation that afternoon.
The discussion about what is, and what isn’t hi-res music is starting to take root at other audio forums. In case you missed it, here’s a link about the topic from Metal-Fi: https://www.metal-fi.com/a-higher-resolution/
Nice to see the discussion expand to a an audience of mostly non-audiophiles.
I noticed this the other day…interesting! Metal in high-res!