the chutry experiment

I think Adorno has it backwards. At the time he was writing, of course, the sound quality of even the best recordings was pretty poor by today's standards. But nowadays when I try to listen to historical recordings (pre-1950), I'm more aware of their inauthentic nature because of their poor quality. Adorno's observation may have been valid from about the birth of recording to the invention of Dolby, though.

Interesting observation, Chris. I tend to agree with Adorno at least to the degree that "over-produced" CDs tend to sound really fake to me, especially pop stuff, which paradoxically appears heavily produced but also tends to hide all traces of that production through the elimination of background noise, etc.

I'd agree with your observation that Adorno's argument is very much rooted in the historical moment when he wrote the essay....

I was thinking more along the lines of classical and jazz. But it's interesting that underproduction in the early 20th century and overproduction in the early 21st have something in common.

I realized after writing that comment that we might be thinking about different kinds of music. I realize that Adorno is writing before the rock music industry kicked into gear, but even some of the big band stuff seems "more auratic" when I hear the popping of the needle, etc.

Adorno's theory reminds me of what is relevant and 'realistic' about so-called lo-fi recording. Think of Ween, Sebadoh and Beck's early recordings, all made on 4-track home recording equipment. It is definitely within the audio artifacts and fidelity that a listener is given a sense beyond the performance or the song and where those signs are apparent they are read as authentic, truthful and realistic in spite of their technological shortcomings. Not surprising then that of the groups mentioned above, their early home recorded works are generally considered definitive and superior beyond subsequent studio efforts.

Allan, the artists you mention illustrate Adorno's point quite well. I'm probably most familiar with Beck's early stuff (which I'll agree is superior), but I think it applies to Sebadoh and Ween as well. I think there's a similar logic with lo-fi video (and maybe 16mm or 8mm film) recording as well, come to think of it.