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Greg Milner

Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music Paperback – May 25, 2010

by Greg Milner (Author)

155 ratings

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In 1915, Thomas Edison proclaimed that he could record a live performance and reproduce it perfectly, shocking audiences who found themselves unable to tell whether what they were hearing was an Edison Diamond Disc or a flesh-and-blood musician. Today, the equation is reversed. Whereas Edison proposed that a real performance could be rebuilt with absolute perfection, Pro Tools and digital samplers now allow musicians and engineers to create the illusion of performances that never were. In between lies a century of sonic exploration into the balance between the real and the represented.

Tracing the contours of this history, Greg Milner takes us through the major breakthroughs and glorious failures in the art and science of recording. An American soldier monitoring Nazi radio transmissions stumbles onto the open yet revolutionary secret of magnetic tape. Japanese and Dutch researchers build a first-generation digital audio format and watch as their "compact disc" is marketed by the music industry as the second coming of Edison yet derided as heretical by analog loyalists. The music world becomes addicted to volume in the nineties and fights a self-defeating "loudness war" to get its fix.

From Les Paul to Phil Spector to King Tubby, from vinyl to pirated CDs to iPods, Milner's Perfecting Sound Forever pulls apart musical history to answer a crucial question: Should a recording document reality as faithfully as possible, or should it improve upon or somehow transcend the music it records? The answers he uncovers will change the very way we think about music.

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Print length

416 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date

May 25, 2010
Dimensions

5.48 x 0.96 x 8.38 inches
ISBN-10

9780865479388
ISBN-13

978-0865479388

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Perfecting Sound Forever is an exhaustively researched, extraordinarily inquisitive book that dissects the central question within all music criticism: When we say that something sounds good, what are we really saying? And perhaps more importantly, what are we really hearing?” ―CHUCK KLOSTERMAN

“A compelling look at the birth and evolution of recording, and how it changed the way the world hears itself.” ―MARC WEINGARTEN, Los Angeles Times

“Greg Milner tells the story of recorded music with novelistic verve, ferocious attention to detail, and a soulful ambivalence about our quest for sonic perfection. He shows how great recordings come about not through advances in technology but through a love of the art, and that same love is the motor of his prose.” ―Alex Ross, author of The Rest Is Noise

“You may never listen to Lady Gaga the same way again . . . [Milner is] a gifted storyteller with an ear for absurdity . . . You might not think a book about reverb could thrill. Milner's does.” ―MIKAEL WOOD, Time Out New York

“Very, very, very few books will change the way you listen to music. This is one such book. Read it.” ―JARVIS COCKER

About the Author

Greg Milner is a senior contributing writer and columnist for Spin magazine. His work also appears in Slate, Salon, the Village Voice, Wired, and other publications. He is the author of Perfecting Sound Forever.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0865479380
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 25, 2010
Edition ‏ : ‎ Illustrated
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780865479388
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0865479388
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.48 x 0.96 x 8.38 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #306,335 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #62 in Music Recording & Sound (Books)
- #338 in Music History & Criticism (Books)
Customer Reviews:
155 ratings

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Customer reviews

155 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book impressively researched and well written, making it a fascinating read for music enthusiasts. The history of music recording is covered in detail, with one customer noting it succeeds well as a general history of recording technology. The sound quality receives mixed reviews, with one customer describing it as "PERFECTING SOUND" while another finds it muddy. The book includes many lengthy sidetrips and stories.

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History Readability Writing style Story length Sound quality Fidelity

22 customers mention "History"20 positive2 negative

Customers appreciate the book's comprehensive history of music recording, noting its impressive research and informative content, with one customer highlighting its engaging anecdotes and technical details.

"This beautifully written and meticulously researched non-fiction is both a history and a perspective of our various audio media...." Read more

"I'm almost done with chapter 2, but am already finding this book very informative and well-researched...." Read more

"...It’s great to read about this early history and new developments. Very informative." Read more

"...Milner clearly is enthusiastic and knowledgeable about his subject, and he has been energetic and industrious in his research, which extended to..." Read more

21 customers mention "Readability"21 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable and fascinating, particularly noting it is great for music afficianados.

"Great book" Read more

"Fascinating , but sometimes infuriating..." Read more

"Good book." Read more

"I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book from the perspective of an audiophile. I have recommended it repeatedly to many friends." Read more

7 customers mention "Writing style"7 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the writing style of the book.

"This beautifully written and meticulously researched non-fiction is both a history and a perspective of our various audio media...." Read more

"...The book is incredibly well written, which helps when some of the subject matter becomes a bit academic...." Read more

"...Really well written with lots of historical sidebars." Read more

"...The writing is informal, often colloquial, and at times irreverent. It includes many four-letter words that Amazon won't permit in this review...." Read more

4 customers mention "Story length"3 positive1 negative

Customers appreciate the book's length, with one mentioning it includes many lengthy sidetrips and stories.

"...great people stories. the technical explantions are such that I could almost understand most of them...." Read more

"...But it includes many lengthy sidetrips and stories which will engage readers who take an active interest in both the development and the application..." Read more

"...at least for me qua interested novice, is that the story is told in far too much detail...." Read more

"...That is an apt summary of the book...." Read more

9 customers mention "Sound quality"6 positive3 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the sound quality in the book, with some praising it while others find it mediocre.

"...vs. electrical recordings; cylinders vs. discs; the dramatic advance in sound of magnetic tape; multi-track tape recording; solid-state electronics;..." Read more

"...lesson seems to be that people get the music they deserve, and mediocre sound quality is perfectly satisfactory to the average listener...." Read more

"...technology being used in politics and engineering, Perfecting Sound Forever is an important book...." Read more

"...It sounds a fascinating book so have just ordered a copy." Read more

3 customers mention "Fidelity"2 positive1 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the audio quality of the book, with one finding it crystal clear while another describes it as fuzzed-out in spots.

"...2000, produced by George Young and mastered by George Marino, was crystal clear but sounded perhaps a bit too crisp for its own good, with a kick..." Read more

"...An M's album that I've always loved sounded too crunchy, fuzzed-out in spots (particularly on vinyl, surprisingly)...." Read more

"...recording technology, with its promise of greater sensitivity and higher fidelity, is fascinating...." Read more

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Oscar R. Garcia
Loudness War; If you lived through it... read this.
Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2020
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is a fantastic book that opens with the Edison Phonograph and the dynamic interaction with the recording artists/engineers/listeners and continues through radio, tape decks - of all kinds including DAT but the surprising history and origin of the magnetic tape, the industry shaking impact of the CD and again with ProTools and the curious audiophile predictions of the end of sound art at each phase. This goes into some enjoyable technical details but what is equally informative is the revealed dynamic between the everyday listener and the artist, program manager, recording and mastering engineer (the latter in particular) and the curious world of sound these people live in.

Amazing work of journalistic research. My only regret for it is that it was published in 2010 which is too soon to go into the world of Vocaloids. I was hoping for a supreme treatment of the anti-presence phenomena of a Vocaloid concert or a Zappa redo concert. Carrie Fisher is still performing too I guess.

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S. Williams
this gives insight into the "whys" of recorded sound
Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2013
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Fascinating book that goes into the history of sound recording including somewhat of a philosophical, psychological and sociological perspective along with the nuts and bolts of the hardware. It's also a bit of a character study and story of movers and shakers from Edison to Protools, Columbia, RCA, Phillips and Sony, the personalities behind the quest for recorded sound and a bit of their motivation.
All the early marketing pseudo-science experiments that "proved" audio recording had reached a state of perfection such that audiences could not tell a recording from live - in 1918 !
The speed wars to the loudness wars, analog vs digital, the quest for "high fidelity" and what that means ; capturing and reproducing the tone of an instrument, bringing the listener to a space in time with people playing in it, to the trend to create things that never existed in a real time or space till they were reproduced as created art, it's all in here .

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2 people found this helpful

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Ben Rothfeld
Thoughtful history of the interconnection of recorded music and the music business
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2015
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
I read this book on the suggestion of Mike Johnston of The Online Photographer. An audiophile as well as a master photographer, Johnston keyed in on one of the outstanding aspects of Milner's book: the conflict between forces that wanted to record music as purely as they could and those who wanted to capture, somehow, the effect of the music. This struggle began with Edison's recording cylinder and continues through today.

Milner describes the technical challenges that musicians and recording engineers have faced, but places them in the context of demands from the music industry (recording studios, record labels, radio stations, etc.), which gives the story an angle that makes it more meaningful to fans such as myself. After all, I don't understand what frequency modulation really is, but I am interested in how FM stations used electronic devices to manipulate the sounds of records and CDs.

If I had any criticisms of Milner's work, I'd focus on two things. One, he focuses somewhat narrowly on popular music. While he seems to like a lot of the same bands that I do, I wonder how the book might have been different had he focused more on classical (which gets some good coverage, especially Telarc) or other styles such as jazz (which seems almost wholly absent). To be fair, maybe popular music stretched the technology further.

My other criticism focuses on the scope of the work. The book focuses on a relatively narrow set of people. I would have liked to have learned more about some of the other personalities in involved. That said, I doubt the market for a 1000-page book on music recording is very large.

All in all, a fascinating read and a must for music lovers who care about recording quality.

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2 people found this helpful

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Paul Wetor
Things We Never Knew About Sound Recording
Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2016
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
A fascinating look at how sound recording has changed over the years. (I posted a review from my Kindle version, but it never showed up).

Two items missing when describing the warmth of LPs:
1) Are the new 180 gram LPs mastered from digitized master files or the actual master tape?

2) Years ago I re-bought one of my favorite LPs, as I was wearing out my original. But it sounded muddy and terrible. Later I found out that record companies would make a new version of an album's "master tape" from the previous version, which would then become the current version. I was shocked, as I knew that copying analog to analog would degrade the sound.

From a sonic perspective, CDs are great in that they induced record companies to go back to original master tapes to get the best sound. Had CDs not come out, LPs would be in a sad state. Quality of sound became an important factor in music. Sadly, too much emphasis gets placed on how music sounds, rather than the music itself.

Side note: I recently bought some HDTracks super-audio downloads online, but I can't hear any greater quality. My headphones only cost $50, but I should be able to detect something more.

Side note 2: While I love digitized movies (which have made old movies look better than ever), you can see where digital degrades the image by looking at "2001: a space odyssey". In the original film version, the "eye" of HAL looked perfectly murky, but in digitized versions, it looks like there are bands of color in it. It's a minor issue, but perfectly illustrates what is lost when images are digitally compressed. The same is true of audio compression. But if you're only missing 1%, how much do you want to spend to get that 1% improvement?

Side note 3: I loved how the book ended by going back to an Edison recording and finding out that they didn't sound as awful as the scratchy versions we usually hear.

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Andrew Stanish
changed the way i listen to music
Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2025
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
i’m a musician and audio engineer, and this is probably the most singularly insightful thing i’ve ever read on the subject.

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Top reviews from other countries

Alexander Meade
Excellent book for teachers
Reviewed in Canada on May 17, 2020
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Incredibly detailed history of recording and music production. Excellent research that goes far beyond the info that is commonly available on the internet. A+

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User
A good read, well written
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 3, 2019
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
A well written historic lesson in audio.
From Thomas Edison to The Loudness War.
Recommend

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Mark Sherman
Prompt shipping
Reviewed in Canada on February 26, 2020
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
It was in very good condition.

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S. Earl
Very heavy going and uninviting format/layout. Sent it back.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 16, 2021
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Not an easy read at all. Quite confusing in it's layout. Not aesthetically appealing on the inside at all.

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Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music Paperback – May 25, 2010

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Top reviews from the United States

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5.0 out of 5 stars Loudness War; If you lived through it... read this.

5.0 out of 5 stars this gives insight into the "whys" of recorded sound

4.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful history of the interconnection of recorded music and the music business

5.0 out of 5 stars Things We Never Knew About Sound Recording

5.0 out of 5 stars changed the way i listen to music

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for teachers

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read, well written

5.0 out of 5 stars Prompt shipping

2.0 out of 5 stars Very heavy going and uninviting format/layout. Sent it back.

Loudness War; If you lived through it... read this.

this gives insight into the "whys" of recorded sound

Thoughtful history of the interconnection of recorded music and the music business

Things We Never Knew About Sound Recording

changed the way i listen to music

Excellent book for teachers

A good read, well written

Prompt shipping

Very heavy going and uninviting format/layout. Sent it back.