Music and Recording Features

Sidebar: Sonics

How does Make More Noise sound? It sounds like it should sound, or as near as it could come without ticks and pops.

This music ranges from the late analog era through the early CD era—from five years before the first commercial CDs were released, in 1982, to five years after. Some tracks sound good; a few aren't very good at all. It's all pretty flat and in-your-face. You wouldn't mistake any of it for perfectionist audio.

This is primitive music, in the best sense, much of it made and recorded with a DIY aesthetic. It's not supposed to sound polished, and it doesn't. Even if it was possible to improve the sound, you wouldn't want to, since that would violate the spirit of the music. A good audio system can do more than produce lifelike sound. It can help us hear into a recording—to hear it for what it is—no matter what it sounds like.—Jim Austin