100% - that said, the benefit of analog gear is that it's a lot less surgical, and a lot more forgiving. So you can push it hard if that's what you're looking for, and will still get a generally pleasant, musical sound. Or say, you're a newbie, and you don't know what you're doing, it's a lot more forgiving of your lack of experience (and I speak from experience, having once had no experience at all).

Same, and agree. The issue here is that song form has changed (devolved is more accurate) in the last 2-3 decades. With social media blanketing the musical spectrum with only hooks now, no one bothers with strong verses, or bridges. Most songs hover over one tonal center - you know it's the chorus because the whining got louder, that's all. So shorter songs are a result of little to no intros or codas, no bridges, and shorter/crappier-get-to-the-chorus-already verses.

In theory, that's true. It's subjective. In practice, in real life, outside of school/college/university, it is a much darker world. I fly a lot - practically for a living - and I don't get scared during turbulence much. Maybe 2-3 times in my life. I was told by a Purser I dated, "look at the flight attendants: if they're scared, be scared." Well, it's the same with billionaires: when you see billionaires building bunkers, hospitals and farms on "ranches" the size of a small country they bought in Argentina or New Zealand (complete with landing strips), it means they're scared. And if they're scared...

 

There was a time before the invention of the internet and a time after. Almost everything went digital. Suddenly, with the invention of DAWs and drum machines, everyone could make music from home. In the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, there were clearly more new musical styles, starting with beat and rock and roll from America and England.

Then came the progressive rock of the 70s, the hippie movement, and later in the 70s, disco and funk. The 80s saw the breakthrough of electronic music, including electronic body music, electronic dance music, synthpop, and Italo disco. Then came the 90s with the evolution and revival of older music. Good songwriters and composers contributed to the worldwide success of modern music, including Latin and funk, combined with the expertise of great people and producers.

... Around 1997, the PC arrived, and with its ever-faster chips and RAM, a new generation of musicians emerged from their home studios. With the invention of YouTube, Spotify, and Bandcamp, as well as the flood of direct-downloadable content on the World Wide Web, it's no longer about quality, but about individual self-expression; every inhabitant of the planet becomes visible.

Of course, there are still people who study music, have talent, or truly learn a musical instrument, but finding them in the jungle of the internet is a bit difficult.

 

Not at all what I commented. I said "Negative" to your: "The audio TECHNIQUES got nearly perfect nowadays." They are not "nearly perfect." A knife is a knife, a sword is a sword. With all our "nowadays" technology or "techniques," we still can't rival the great Japanese swordmakers of centuries ago. It's the same with audio. We have much better AD/DA or monitor technology yes, but not "nearly perfect" (not yet - how will they sell us new interfaces and keyboards and preamps, compressors and EQs otherwise?) and I offered a comparison with a couple of albums because I did this comparison myself, and I was floored by the sound coming out of my monitors (I hadn't listened to those albums for years, and when I did, I was a teen, and not an experienced record producer).

Hope that clears it up for you: it's not about technology - technology is great - but about the ears of the engineers and producers.

 

Music changes; whining about music is eternal.

 

In your case I think it's just that those older releases tick your personal boxes.
I'm a darkwave/gothkid and I dig both. The stuff Depeche Mode or New Order did in the 80ies is among my favorite tracks. But my favorite acts/bands are Diorama and Solar Fake, newer bands. Both produce in the 'state of the art atm' and I like the sound of any of their albums.
Lately I found an act that has (to my ears) a very modern sound (Yukno). And while that is not a gothic act, their 'we hate major scales just as much as you' approach works very well for me. So maybe you just haven't found the acts of today that do what you like.
//Edit// To be fair:
When I listen to music I have a strip of vst plugins running.
One is a Revox B77 emulation and from there the more important stuff is a fast multiband compressor similar to a desser and a slow multiband compressor for leveling (down!) high frequencies. So what I do ist what a professional vinyl cutting would have to do to make cutting possible.
A well done mix does not trigger those plugins. But a lot that is produced today makes them reduce high frequencies at about 12db. And maybe that's why I don't have a problem with modern stuff. I emulate vinyl cutting and fix the deaf mastering engineer syndrome myself.
//Edit2//
The guy that taught me mixing showed a picture of an analyzer with a heavy downward slope in the HF area.
And said 'that is what a good mix looks like'.
These were the truest words I have heard ever.
And now analyze modern stuff, line stays flat up to infinity.

 

Last edited: Jan 25, 2026

Im an old fart way back from 1959 and have listened to all kind of music since then - often with pleasure but the last 15-20 years
It's been really hard to find really good music that's worth listening to.

Every generation has its favorites, tastes, and focus. That's perfectly fine - anything else would be unnatural.

Imho music is basically about direct relationships between people. Use of AI in music production, the purpose of creating music almost completely disappears - unless it's just about making money.

I'm so "primitive or old-fashioned" that I prefer music played by real people on real instruments.

My favorite genre is jazz, especially from the forties to mid seventies - and preferably in mono, as stupid as it may sound.

That´s all

 

Because it's true. It's not a thought per se so much as an observation.

 

Digital dementia is a buzzword from media psychology, popularized around 2012 primarily by Manfred Spitzer. It refers to the theory that increased use of digital media causes mental deficits. Children and adolescents who use digital media early and frequently do not reach their full potential intelligence quotient, and adults are said to experience an accelerated decline in mental and social skills.

 

You describe "Radio Mixes" - an arrangments made specifically for radio and that's reasonable. It's not devolytion but justice - no (keyword) popular station will allow 7, 9 or even 11 minute songs because radio is a type of media that is background.

When you stuck in traffic, would you prefer one long bad song on the radio or three shorter in - from lack of better words - questionable quality? You would notice it at some point and turn the radio off. No company wants this.

I repeat, music is not a luxury good anymore.

Do you think same now?

Assuming your genre is niche, there's more room to improve. It's same as the community law:

 

There's good music made if you can find the spits in todays ocean. The music commercial corporate mainstream media pushes on the masses has only gotten steadily worse since, afaic, the late 90's, lol. But even the commercial crap before then was better.
The times I lived in where labels like 'alternative', 'underground' 'indie' or 'punk' were authentic and not words co-opted by corporate media for their commercially produced crap. Imo, corporate media completed their takeover and stranglehold on music in the mid 80's.

Anyone old enough in the US remember, at least in the NYC market, that fusion music was played as mainstream 'hit' music on some FM stations? Al Dimeola, Mahavishnu, Billy Cobham's Spectrum album? That sophisticated MUSICIAN music was popular? Even so called 'smooth jazz' was very popular for a time. Even though the butt of jokes, that's also very sophisticated music that was very popular.

And what have you got mostly since the creation of the internet and the widespread availability of 'song producing algorithms' with their 'producer' teams cynically vomiting forth lazy pop crap for the adhd generations. I can count on one hand the 'musical' guests I didn't ffwd past on SNL over the past 20 years, lol.

Only thing I'm actually thankful to the internet for, is that I can stream my old favorite radio stations, best of which...WFMU & WZBC... and contemporary stuff like Nordic Lodge Copenhagen

 

Last edited: Jan 25, 2026

Commercial radio stations are financed solely through advertising. The more listeners a station has, the more expensive the advertisements become. Therefore, a radio station always needs a large audience and will play the music that is in demand.

In Germany, we have both public and private broadcasting. The most listened-to station is probably NDR 2, which is financed by all license fee payers and has a mandate to be balanced. Another station is called Freies Senderkombinat (FSK) https://www.fsk-hh.org, and it is financed only by private shareholders or supporting members. Accordingly, its programming is sophisticated and outside the mainstream.

 

How far Bach do you want to go?

 

For young people, who was Bach? Johann Sebastian Bach (born March 21/31, 1685, in Eisenach, Saxe-Eisenach; died July 28, 1750, in Leipzig, Electorate of Saxony) was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, and violinist of the Baroque period. He was the most prominent member of the Bach family of musicians and, during his most productive period, Thomaskantor and music director in Leipzig.

3 generations of the same piece:

J.S. Bach : Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565

UK instrumental band SKY playing electric treatment of Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor".

Bach - Toccata And Fugue (Techno Mix)

 

Last edited: Jan 25, 2026

Is not a issue for me enjoying music from all the eras the same way.

 

Nah, I think of it as the year The Grateful Dead started to play really awesome jams.

 

I long for those evenings when we would all gather 'round the Gramophone and listen to Enrico Caruso blaze! Those were the days!

 

Much to Pigpen's chagrin!

 

Loudness war is definitely THE case.

High compression results in listening fatigue.