Abstract
This paper aims to develop a comprehensive theory of fidelity in recorded music.
There are several studies about fidelity, but research about high-fidelity and low-fidelity
has been done independently. This paper extends a theory of high-fidelity and discusses
both high-fidelity and low-fidelity.
Existing research defined fidelity as a relation between a recording and what it
captures, and in most cases, live performance is regarded as what a recording capture.
Due to the manipulability of recording, high-fidelity is criticized for the absence of the
performance as original. However, since it is constructed, fidelity is variable and has
three types depending on its original: (1) high-fidelity to performance, (2) high-fidelity
to recording, and (3) high-fidelity to composition. Manipulability of musical works is a
serious criticism of high-fidelity to performance, but not of high-fidelity to recording.
Low-fidelity is considered undesirable when high-fidelity is valuable, but sometimes
low-fidelity also has high value. For example, lo-fi music, a music genre derived from
indie music, has various kinds of imperfect sounds. And these imperfections give
high value through unmediated communication between artists and audience. So,
high-fidelity and low-fidelity are common in that they both gain value through the
unmediated experience for the audience.
