Audiophile/placebo effect

[Electricide]

Just came across this on Andrew Sullivan's site. Apologies if it's been posted here.

http://www.anxiousmachine.com/blog/2013 ... ibo-philes

[T]he specter that loomed over everything was the idea that this was all some big placebo effect. I would occasionally spend an evening listening to a song on my new set of headphones and then on my old set, or with my new amplifier and then my old amplifier. I would make my wife listen to see if she heard a difference. Sometimes she did, sometimes she didn?t. Sometimes I didn?t. Every once in a while, I?d read a post on Head-fi about someone who was selling everything he?d bought because he realized he was listening to his equipment rather than music. I finally had the same realization and made the same decision. At the time, I felt like a recovering addict, or a victim of a con artist, reformed but slightly ashamed.

[vvv]

Interesting article, far more accurate than I would wish it to be.

Thanks!

(Goes back to thinking about which mic, pre, axe and amp to use on the distorted rhythm guitars ...)

[digitaldrummer]

this will also be the review for my next album...

"?.It is a little shy [song] like a gazelle." "Like a leprechaun." "Dappled in a tapestry window." "and this is a wise old [song]." "A prophet in a cave." "and this is a necklace of pearls on a white neck." "Like a swan." "Like the last unicorn."

[Gregg Juke]

Actually, there are some old Lester Bangs and Joel Ferbacher record reviews that read just like that...

GJ

[winky dinglehoffer]

I was thinking about the placebo effect recently, in a similar vein--I mean, if a placebo can work in medicine (at times), why can it not have some validity in audio as well? A couple of old Tapeop interviews come to mind as being somewhat illustrative of this from the enginer/producer angle. There was an interview with former TOMB denizen Brian Beattie where (as I recall--it's been years since I read it) he basically espoused the belief that a couple of pieces of gear he worked with would not fail him when he needed "audio magic." It occurred to me at the time that his faith in his gear probably helped him have faith in his own recording skills. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

And then there was the T-Bone Burnett interview--all that BS about removing all plastic from the studio because the reflections sounded bad or some such--he sounded to me like a snake oil salesman or a cheesy tent revival preacher (I loved Jim Dickinson's response in the next issue.) But Burnett gets results-- whether he's full of shit is secondary to the work he does, and the confidence and trust he inspires in the artists he's working with.

So if faith--however unsubstantiated by actual audio measurements--in a mic, or compressor, or preamp gets you to where you need to be as an engineer or producer, is that a bad thing? If, as a fan of music, a particular amp or set of headphones gets you closer to the music, is that wrong?

I don't advocate being an idiot about it, but maybe there are times when a little faith, even if a touch misguided, is more valuable than whatever the fancy audio measurement gear tells you.

[red cross]

(I loved Jim Dickinson's response in the next issue.)

What did he say?

[winky dinglehoffer]

http://tapeop.com/letters/single/981