In the music industry, there is always a drive for what's new and next. With the advent of high-resolution audio, it's no different.
But what does this mean for professionals who work in the music industry? And what changes will need to be made to accommodate this shift?
This blog post will explore high-resolution audio and how it's changing the music industry.
What Is Hi-Res Audio?
High-resolution audio (often called HD) is a sound that can reproduce the entire range of recordings recorded from high-quality CD-quality music sources.In some ways, you can compare it to two photographs side by side. One has a low resolution and is blurry, while the other is crystal clear. Looking at the low-resolution image alone, you probably would overlook its imperfections until you compare it to the high-resolution photograph.
High-resolution audio describes music files with a low sample rate and bit depth in basic terms, more than CD, defined as 16-bit/44.1kHz in length. The more bits there are, the more precise the signal measurement will be. High-resolution audio files are most often recorded at a sample rate of 96kHz or 192kHz and 24bit.
While it's been around for over a decade, it's still relatively new. More and more people are willing to spend a little extra cash to hear excellent sound quality music.
The Trend Of Hi-Res Audio
Because there's been a real push for higher-quality audio, surround sound is becoming the norm in movie theaters and homes. People are starting to expect the same level of immersion from their music. This has led to the rise of high-resolution audio, which offers a much fuller, richer sound than traditional mp3s.
There are several high-resolution audio formats available today, and most music streaming services offer at least some songs in this format.
How Are Streaming Services Implementing This?
There are various ways streaming services have chosen to implement new audio formats into their platforms. Apple Music offers Spacial audio with Dolby Atmos, bringing lossless audio, which is CD-quality or better, to its entire catalog. With true multidimensional sound and clarity, Spatial Audio allows musicians to offer their fans genuinely immersive audio experiences.
“Listening to a song in Dolby Atmos is like magic,” Apple's vice president says. The music appears from all directions and sounds amazing.
TIDAL also offers Lossless audio and Master Quality Authenticated (MQA), which is even higher quality. MQA is a technology that verifies and sends original recordings directly from the artist to the listener.
What does this mean for the average listener?
Well, it means you can now enjoy your music in a way that wasn't possible before and experience an original studio recording on a much more visceral level. High-resolution audio is quickly becoming the new standard whether you're listening on your phone, laptop, or home stereo system.
This trend will only continue as technology improves and people want a better listening experience. High-resolution audio may very well be the future of music streaming.
How Smart Speakers Are Changing Our Listening Experiences
As anyone who's ever used a smart speaker knows, they can be a game-changer when listening to music. That's not even considering that we can now use our voice to control what we want to listen to. 3D audio allows listeners to perceive sound from every direction. This is done by creating a three-dimensional soundscape superior to surround sound.
Experiencing 3D audio on a high-quality speaker system can dramatically affect the songs we listen to. Many consider it to be the future of sound, changing how we experience music.
What This Means For Music Industry Pros
Naturally, these sonic advances impact the world of mixing and mastering engineers. Now more than ever, they need to stay on top of trends and advances in sound technology. After all, the way we listen to music is changing, and they need to ensure that they provide us with the best possible listening experience.
It's an exciting time to be involved in the audio world, but a lot is changing in the predominantly digital music industry. For instance, music consumption is already very passive, and music industry pros must adapt without listeners even noticing.
Proper Metadata Management Is Crucial
With the vast amount of music released onto streaming services daily by new artists, fan recommendations are more essential than ever. As a result, metadata management at its finest is required. Metadata is like a license plate on a car: it's essential, but most people ignore it.
All known details about a song are found in the music's metadata. The earning potential of an artist depends on this data. The metadata helps an artist's music be correctly identified, stored, and sorted.
So, the ability for a song to be discovered is determined by getting the metadata correct, making it a crucial part of today's music industry. It's how a songwriter is instantly recognized, just as a license plate is what identifies a car.
A song's metadata includes information such as the track title, producer, composer, duration, artist name, genre, and many more details. Getting the metadata right ensures artists get paid what they deserve, have opportunities for curated playlist features, and get their songs placed on movies and tv shows.
How Reprtoir’s Tools Can Help Music Professionals
Proper metadata management is essential but also a time-consuming process. To correctly identify music, record labels and publishers must attach accurate metadata to songs.
Reprtoir's powerful management solution can help you get more done in less time by allowing you to automate the management of your metadata.
It's the ideal platform for organizing and storing tracks, videos, and works files and metadata in one place. The software suite was developed for music industry professionals on a cutting-edge CMS only intended to manage music metadata.
Music Industry Advances: In Closing
As we move into an age of hi-resolution audio, it’s more important than ever for music industry professionals to be on top of technological advances and have accurate and well-managed metadata. Metadata is the key to getting your music accurately identified and heard in the right places by the right people.
Luckily, Reprtoir can help you manage your music metadata seamlessly so you can focus on what you do best - making great music. Click here to get a free trial of this cutting-edge software and learn more about how it will help you streamline your metadata. From smart bulk upload tools to automatic audio recognition, Reprtoir can help you manage your catalog and get your music heard by the world.
