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posted by mrpg on Wednesday January 17 2018, @10:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the AI-likes-k-pop dept.

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

It's a commonly held grudge of listeners who are no longer pop's core demographic that the music of the moment is not what it once was [...] But [what] happens when science attempts to prove these claims? Here are some studies that suggest your parents might have been having a lot more pop fun than you are...

[...] This followed a similar study by a team from the Spanish National Research Council, lead by artificial intelligence specialist Joan SerrĂ , who examined nearly half a million pop songs over a similar period (in this case 1955-2010), and looked at their tonal, melodic and lyrical content. They concluded that pop has become melodically less complex, using fewer chord changes, and that pop recordings are mastered to sound consistently louder (and therefore less dynamic) at a rate of around one decibel every eight years.

[...] The Lempel-Ziv algorithm is a lossless way to compress data, by taking out repetitions, and Morris used it as a tool to examine 15,000 songs from the Billboard Hot 100 from 1958 to 2014, reducing their lyrics down to their smallest size without losing any data, and comparing their relative sizes. He found two very interesting things. The first was that in every year of study, the songs that reached the Top 10 were more repetitive than their competition. The second is that pop has become more repetitive over time, as Morris points out: "2014 is the most repetitive year on record. An average song from this year compresses 22% more efficiently than one from 1960."

Of course, none of this means that pop songs are any less fun. They may be slower and sadder than before, but if pop songs are now simpler and louder and more repetitive than they used to be, that might make up for it. In fact, a 2011 report called Music and Emotions in the Brain: Familiarity Matters, compiled by a team led by Carlos Silva Pereira suggests that the human brain enjoys knowing what is coming next in music. Having conducted fMRI scans on people listening to songs, the report concludes that, "Familiarity seems to be a crucial factor in making the listeners emotionally engaged with music."

Source: Has pop music lost its fun?


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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 17 2018, @07:07PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 17 2018, @07:07PM (#623727)

    >> ...better than 0.1dB

    It was a long time ago, late 70s, my friend borrowed a true RMS volt meter (from a test lab) to match the levels between the amps -- the kind of meter that uses a little thermocouple heater to give wideband response...and takes a moment to stabilize as the heater warms up. For level matching he used a noise source input (probably pink noise). My numbers could be off due to bad memory.

    What I took away was that it would be very easy to skew the results of any A-B audio testing by making one a little louder than the other. Beware of stereo store listening rooms, the speakers that have a higher profit margin may sound better because they are playing at a very slightly higher volume!

    On your other points, yes-- digging into hearing could be a life's work, with all the nonlinearities there is plenty to study.

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