Science-based lawn eviction
September 16, 2012 12:04 PM Subscribe
The Computer as Music Critic. In an article published in the journal Scientific Reports (available as a preprint pdf here) researchers use computer analysis of nearly half a million pop songs to identify certain trends: "We counted the different transitions between note combinations and found that this number decreased over the decades. Our analysis also indicated that pop music’s variety of timbre has been decreasing since the 1960s; in other words, instruments playing the same notes sound more similar than they once did. Finally, we found that recording levels had consistently increased since 1955, confirming a so-called race toward louder music."
This post was deleted for the following reason: Sorry to break your streak, but this does look like a double -- restless_nomad
There were a couple of posts this time last year on computerized analysis of music, if that's what you mean, but I don't find anything on this particular project.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 12:20 PM on September 16, 2012
posted by Horace Rumpole at 12:20 PM on September 16, 2012
This was similar. Maybe that's the one you're thinking of, Valued Customer?
posted by MonkeyToes at 12:22 PM on September 16, 2012
posted by MonkeyToes at 12:22 PM on September 16, 2012
So they've confirmed what most music theorists already believe? I'm a little confused by their quantitative analysis but I don't see much of anything revealed by it that isn't well known by even casual music aficionados: as the means of producing music are digitized, the range of novel timbres narrows. Meanwhile pop music has become increasingly, and similarly, simple, even as it becomes more compressed and louder. Am I missing anything from the paper?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:31 PM on September 16, 2012
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:31 PM on September 16, 2012
Yeah, that's the same paper. Rats, I was actually kind of proud of having made 190 posts with no deletions. Although, now that I don't have to worry about keeping the streak alive, I guess this frees me up to post all the Onion articles and breaking political news I want.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 12:32 PM on September 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Horace Rumpole at 12:32 PM on September 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
Hmmm. This is a new writeup of that info, though, and the earlier post didn't have the same PDF link. I could see this standing, if we wanted to talk about it some more.
My personal theory is that musicians and producers are getting better, more efficient, at pushing the pleasure buttons in people's brains, just like food producers are getting better at the same things. In the case of food, studies have shown that there are certain ratios of salt and sugar that just do it for people; in the case of music, I've definitely noticed that newer songs are kind of like sonic candy. (It sort of feels like something similar is happening in literature, too; newer authors are packaging ideas in ways that are somehow more appealing. See also: the growing popularity of pop-psych authors and TED talkers who wrap up complex ideas in quick, bite-size servings.)
I remember in college being very adamant that I didn't care nearly as much about any sort of deep meaning or context in music; I just wanted it to sound good. And so I defended pop-punk groups like Fall Out Boy or Green Day, because they so efficiently delivered what I wanted in a song. It just sounded good, and so I sought out more music that sounded that way. I just wanted those buttons pushed in my brain.
Then my husband-to-be played Guided by Voices for me...and because I liked him, I listened with an open mind, even though it wasn't the easy kind of sonic candy I'd been enjoying. Then I listened some more...and for most of a year, that's almost all I listened to. I obviously can't quantify this, but I felt then (and still believe now) that that year literally changed the structure of my brain—since I got into Guided by Voices and Sonic Youth, in particular, I've found whole other sets of sonic structures to be pleasing to me now.
Do I still love mindless power pop? Of course...and GBV does deliver some of that, too. But musically, discovering that band was like being raised on Twinkies, only to belatedly discover the joys of a subtle, tart homemade berry pie.
posted by limeonaire at 12:40 PM on September 16, 2012
My personal theory is that musicians and producers are getting better, more efficient, at pushing the pleasure buttons in people's brains, just like food producers are getting better at the same things. In the case of food, studies have shown that there are certain ratios of salt and sugar that just do it for people; in the case of music, I've definitely noticed that newer songs are kind of like sonic candy. (It sort of feels like something similar is happening in literature, too; newer authors are packaging ideas in ways that are somehow more appealing. See also: the growing popularity of pop-psych authors and TED talkers who wrap up complex ideas in quick, bite-size servings.)
I remember in college being very adamant that I didn't care nearly as much about any sort of deep meaning or context in music; I just wanted it to sound good. And so I defended pop-punk groups like Fall Out Boy or Green Day, because they so efficiently delivered what I wanted in a song. It just sounded good, and so I sought out more music that sounded that way. I just wanted those buttons pushed in my brain.
Then my husband-to-be played Guided by Voices for me...and because I liked him, I listened with an open mind, even though it wasn't the easy kind of sonic candy I'd been enjoying. Then I listened some more...and for most of a year, that's almost all I listened to. I obviously can't quantify this, but I felt then (and still believe now) that that year literally changed the structure of my brain—since I got into Guided by Voices and Sonic Youth, in particular, I've found whole other sets of sonic structures to be pleasing to me now.
Do I still love mindless power pop? Of course...and GBV does deliver some of that, too. But musically, discovering that band was like being raised on Twinkies, only to belatedly discover the joys of a subtle, tart homemade berry pie.
posted by limeonaire at 12:40 PM on September 16, 2012
Everything feels old. There have been no radical changes in style, culture, art, and fashion over the last 20 years.
posted by stbalbach at 12:40 PM on September 16, 2012
posted by stbalbach at 12:40 PM on September 16, 2012
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posted by Valued Customer at 12:12 PM on September 16, 2012