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"Bridge Over Trouble Water" sounds artificial

During the pandemic I've been upgrading my sound system.  I used to enjoy Simon & Garfunkel, "Bridge Over Trouble Water".  With my upgraded equipment the hi resolution audio sounds very synthetic, with one track on top of another, not like real music at all.  The voices are doubled and violins just layered on top.  On my same system, I played a live concert of Andre Previn playing Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue".  It sounded real and beautiful, like a live performance.  Am I doing something wrong?
aeschwartz

Showing 3 responses by onhwy61

onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,300 posts
 
To build upon Dave b's post -- if you put together a system that makes music you love sound bad, then what exactly have you accomplished?

As a thought experiment, imagine how BOTW would sound on a good system in 1970.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,300 posts
 
The internet is actually quite useful for researching information about the actual recording of this album.  If you're truly interested, there's even a documentary movie where the songwriter, vocalists, instrumentalists and engineer/producer describe making the album.  They really weren't thinking about car and portable fm radios.  BOTW was a high dollar prestige product from the largest record label at that time.  I wonder what the SQ matrix quad mix sounds like?
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,300 posts
 
When you put down the sound of BOTW you are denigrating the work of this man, Roy Halee.  He knows more about what sounds good than you do.
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