Has music production reached its peak?

[AndrewJordon99]

I always analyze how technologies evolve over time and noticed how rap music for instance of today (purely in terms of production quality) doesn't really sound any more advanced than 10 years ago to my ears.

Yet if I hear a 90s rap song, even late 90s, and compare it to early 2000s the sound difference is really noticeable, making 90s sound dated. I do notice a difference with pop music of now vs 10 years ago though.

Updates

+1 y

So literally not a single one of these comments even understood what I was saying, it's so bizarre lmao.

[Anonymous]

I think potential engineering and technology quality of music has long been ahead of the accepted commercial standard that the industry has commonly adopted. Which is why some songs and artists from the early eighties still sound very good and many others need rendering to keep up.
High bandwidth and 3d sounds to name but two technologies that have not been fully explored by commercial music and they've been around for a long while. The music industry does not seem interested in high quality generally. Which is probably why a computer company lead the charge into streaming.

[AndrewJordon99]

Don't think I've ever heard a popular 80s song that didn't sound like it was about that old.

[Mr_twoface]

I think like you said music in general has definitely changed and it seems more and more are just sampling old hits into newer versions! As for rap music, the rapping sounds the same, however, the rhythm has changed to my ears. In the 90s it used to be same beat and the rap sounded as if they were telling/explaining something. Today it can be about literally anything and not always does it rhyme nor mean anything. Also the tempo seems to have increased a notch.

[Nikki1989]

I hope you are not suggesting rap ever had any artistic merit ever?

[AndrewJordon99]

Well rap=a music genre. Music is art. So, rap is art and I don't know what the point is in saying it's not lol

[Astarlessnightsky]

Not really its just with streaming and mp3 compression, over tiny little ear buds, you won't hear a difference.

For quality to be audiable, you need quality sound equipment.

But even Vinyl is now pressed with digital data as the source.

And Rap and Pop are probably the worst choice for quality testing.

[genericname85]

the problem really isn't in music production. the problem is in music consumption. only pop music is dropping in quality, cause people aren't used to sit down and just listen anymore. but there are plenty of niches where that still exist and i think you won't find a decline there.

[Cheapskate]

Off topic, but I'm amazed at how advanced music production is relative to most contemporary songwriting and composition. The production is just in a completely different league.

[Cheapskate]

Or at least that was the case back when I listened to music. May have dropped off due to streaming etc.

[Sonorous]

I think production in terms of quality maybe has. For instance, even headphones & microphones produced in the 1900's usually have better frequency responses than the ones produced nowadays.

[itsclearlynicholas]

I'd say pop music has another 2-3 years left in it or less lol. Everything here gets replaced or outdated eventually, tis Earth lol 🌎🌍

[DarkWinterNights]

It’s not just music. Look at movies, TV, games, etc. I think as a society we’ve stagnated and become more and more creatively bankrupt.

[BCRanger10]

No. If anything, it's on a very sharp decline.

[strateguy632]

no just are lazy now

[In_Trance]

You answered your own question

[AndrewJordon99]

I don't see how, I mean I remember seeing one of those "evolution of music" videos and people claiming how they'd hear such a difference from the 2010s to now when I don't seem to recognize.