As system improves, do bad recordings sound worse?


My early efforts to improve my system usually resulted in making bad recordings sound worse. But at some point in my upgrade history, bad recordings started to sound better - in fact, better than I ever thought possible.

Anybody have a similar experience? Anybody have a theory as to why?
bryoncunningham

Showing 1 response by jamegla

what are you aiming for? if its transparency and detail, sorry to say, all the flaws in a recording will be painfully realized. if your aim is making every recording acceptable, save yourself a lot of money and time and opt for a system that is warm, lacks detail and resolution hiding the ugly problems that are inherent in a medium that lacks standardization.

beyond transparency and detail revealing flaws, the closer to “realism” you get the more your brain recognizes the discrepancies similar to a cartoon where you accept the stylization vs cgi where the closer you get to mimicking reality the more the tiny flaws spoil the illusion.

a room dialed in for a flat response with gear intended to mine the intimate detail of recordings is a sublime experience w a sublime recording but for poor recordings you hear the tape splice, the minute differences inherent in over dubs, poor mic technique, poor mastering, aspects the recording engineer was trying to emphasize, the inherent gloss and loss of texture of synthesized instruments, recording studio vs venue reverb and ambiance, the list goes on and on.

i live with this enjoying those few sublime recordings and for the rest enjoying getting to recognize what could have been improved to elevate it.