I hope this is the right community to ask. Are radio stations doing something to songs? Or is it the playlist they use? Or is it me?
Can I achieve the “radio effect” for any music somehow?
Because you’re paying attention. More mental effort.
Why can I listen to radio for hours but when I listen to music I actually like I feel exhausted after 1 or 2 albums?
Submitted 1 year ago by EfreetSK@lemmy.world to [deleted]
Comments
ebits21@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
FullOfBallooons@leminal.space 1 year ago
Maybe you like variety. When you listen to an entire album all the way through, you’re getting a bunch of songs that are (most likely) the same genre, the same singer, possibly the same tempo, etc.
Radio stations aren’t going to play a bunch of songs by the same artist over and over (unless it’s some sort of programming block), so you get a variety of sounds and voices. Even a radio station that sticks to a specific genre will play a bunch of artists each with their own unique style.
Listening to an album front to back can be fun experience, but also there’s merit in a big shuffled playlist of various songs from multiple artists you like.
flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
…and then there’s prog music, where pretty much anything goes
Setarkus@toast.ooo 1 year ago
It’s the opposite for me, though mainly because the radio people don’t seem to want to play anything besides the “latest hits” for a few months before changing to the next set.
There was a week where I headed to work with a colleague every second day and we heard a song on our way and heard the same song on the way back again. This happened on all three days of that week, though I don’t remember if the time was similar as well. And I don’t know about the other two days where it was my turn to drive as I had my own list of random music playing.Well, and a second reason is the constant talking of the hosts between songs that seems to be almost in sync across different stations, as well as the max level cringe prank phone calls some stations do, pretending to be some celebrity’s manager and spouting nonsense in a weird voice, like, “Hello, I’m Ed Sheeran’s manager and I’m calling in regards to the anti-toenail-wrinkles-cream he wants to sell.”
paddirn@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I’d assume because you’re actively listening to music that you like and pick out. Maybe you’re singing along to it, or you’re actually listening to and interpreting the lyrics, tapping along to the sounds, you’re aware of every song that comes on. With radio music, it’s easy to passively listen to it, you’re not really fully aware of every song that comes on, maybe every now and then something plays that you recognize/like and you sing along to that, but then there’s probably a lot that you just tune out and ignore. It’s easier to “listen” to longer stretches of music if it’s just sort of background sounds you’re not as focused on.
TheInsane42@lemmy.world 1 year ago
When you listen to FM, the frequency is cut-off, at 15 KHz when I remember correctly. It could be that the higher frequencies make you tired.
The radio in my car was setup so bad I couldn’t stand any source, until I found the hidden equalizer settings. That helped, but the plastic dome tweeters in the rear speakers were the main cause. (I removed them completely)
sk1nnyjeans@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Yeah, I figured it would come down to ear fatigue and specific frequencies being the cause, if not volume.
I bet you’re totally right.
brandneworld@feddit.de 1 year ago
Emotional commitment through familiarity. For me music is a great tool for getting into the flow and the only music that does that and not overload me is atmospheric ambient music. Any singing automatically grab my attention and getting me out of the flow, surprisingly chanting does not. On the other hand Classical/Jazz music is highly stimulating so it goes well along physically demanding activities.
FelipeFelop@discuss.online 1 year ago
There’s lots of reasons including psychology.
When you listen to Radio you generally don’t know what songs will be played unless the DJ teases what’s coming. When they tease it’s always something that the vast majority will like.
So with radio you have the anticipation factor which helps bridge the advert gap (if the station plays adverts in between tracks)
When you listen to radio you are often distracted or doing something else.
If you put in an album then you now exactly what order the tracks will be and unless you skip tracks will inevitably have some that are fillers. Also, you are more likely to concentrate on the music which involves more thinking. All of this leads to boredom or fatigue.
Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
I’m weird as hell in that I enjoy music, but I rarely ever sit down and listen to it. Then the other day I learn that my three-year-old discovered Bush’s Glycerine on the way home from daycare and has now been asking for it on our Google Home. I realize, “Dude, I fucking loved Glycerine.”, and immediately set to assembling a playlist over the course of three days, made up of mostly older music I grew up with. But you bet your ass I still don’t listen to it. Anyway… That’s my TED Talk on music.
machinaeZER0@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Could be off base here, but for me an album can be a fairly emotional experience. If it’s something you’ve spent years listening to you may be feeling emotions (knowingly or otherwise) from your past experiences. I don’t know if it’s the feeling you’re feeling, but I often find myself pleasantly exhausted after a good album :) and it’s good to take a break after a couple of those, in the same way you usually wouldn’t watch several movies back to back!
lechatron@lemmy.today 1 year ago
If you’re playing full albums there are so few songs on an album that are as good as the singles that get played on the radio. I bought a lot of tapes and CDs as a teenager and was very disappointment when there weren’t more than a couple on the album I liked (most of which were the singles).
ReallyKinda@kbin.social 1 year ago
There’s something about knowing there are hundreds of others listening to the same station at the same time that makes my local EDM station somehow more interesting than just shuffling the same playlist at home. Could your issue with albums have a social element similar to how watching a live sports match is just more exciting than the rerun an hour later even if you don’t know the outcome?
Also, I disagree with people saying that albums tend to be more boring because only the radio hits are good! I have many albums I like to listen to start to finish.
HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 1 year ago
One thing not mentioned is the quality of songs and how they are put on the album.
It is very rare that more than three songs from an album get radio play. There might be some album deep cuts that are good, but a lot of those songs aren’t on the level of their singles.
Also, depending on the artist, the album may not be arranged to be a cohesive listening experience.
Very_Bad_Janet@kbin.social 1 year ago
Create Playlist of your favorite songs by genre. It would provide enough variety but still be cohesive enough not to distract you. Or rely on a streaming apps algorithm.
richieadler@lemmy.myserv.one 1 year ago
Non-responsive.
Saganastic@kbin.social 1 year ago
I think music tends to be exhausting when we're not able to predict what will come next in the song. It requires us to out much more effort into learning the rhythm. Maybe the albums are just new to your, or a new style that you're not used to?
ghost@xcore.social 1 year ago
There’s a few things at play:
Radio stations tend to play “radio edits” which are usually versions of a song that may have a bridge or section of the song removed or shortened to fit play length requirements
Radio stations have commercial breaks which break up blocks of music and provide your brain with a different “variety” of sound (voices/speech) as opposed to a CD or playlist that plays music with no breaks
Similarly, radio stations typically have a host or DJ who will announce song names/info between tracks playing, giving your brain a brief break between songs.
ghost@xcore.social 1 year ago
Also: some radio stations do play songs slightly faster than their album versions play, which cab shorten a song by a handful of seconds. This allows them to cram in those announcer breaks between songs or potentially play additional ads.
I think this is less common now than it used to be though.