> all the upstream inputs -- like fancy, palatial recording studios
Digital audio from the listener end had its piece, but two other trends also converged:
- Digital audio from the producer end continued to advance and become cheaper. You can make pretty good recordings on a laptop with the appropriate sound interfaces now, if you have a decent soundproofed room. That is assuming your music isn't digital synth based. Studios are a thing of the past or what a person who likes to produce music calls their bedroom or basement.
- People started caring about the portability of music much more than the quality of it. That trend goes as far back as the Walkman. Regarding the quality, now no one cares if the SNR of your "recording studio" can accurately record all 20-20KHz band of a pindrop from 5 miles away at delta-sigma modulated 192Kbps. If it sounds good with headphones or a car stereo it's fine. This is why MP3 was successful despite its audio quality issues.
Digital audio from the listener end had its piece, but two other trends also converged:
- Digital audio from the producer end continued to advance and become cheaper. You can make pretty good recordings on a laptop with the appropriate sound interfaces now, if you have a decent soundproofed room. That is assuming your music isn't digital synth based. Studios are a thing of the past or what a person who likes to produce music calls their bedroom or basement.
- People started caring about the portability of music much more than the quality of it. That trend goes as far back as the Walkman. Regarding the quality, now no one cares if the SNR of your "recording studio" can accurately record all 20-20KHz band of a pindrop from 5 miles away at delta-sigma modulated 192Kbps. If it sounds good with headphones or a car stereo it's fine. This is why MP3 was successful despite its audio quality issues.