Herbie Hancock, River: The Joni Letters


Having read favorable comments on this disc in the likes of Hi Fi+, I purchased this cd over the weekend. What a huge disappointment! This recording is compressed to a significant degree and even worse is a spitty/crackly sound to the vocals and some of the spot miked instruments. It sounds like a poor cable connection or bad pot in the mixing/monitor console. I have not tried to play it on my truck cd/stereo to find if it is any more listenable.

I would be interested to hear if anyone else is similarily disappointed with the sonics of this disc. BTW, it sounds really bad on both of my home systems.
rhljazz

Showing 1 response by jymc

rhljazz

nothing at all wrong with this recording. The mic placement on piano and sax is definitely ’close’ and there is the feeling that a ’clip’ could be coming. You can almost hear the piano hammers striking the strings; the initial breath that begins to vibrate the reed of the sax. On a great system, this is one of my favorite recordings for showing subtle performance details/characteristics of the piano and sax, that go entirely un-noticed on lesser systems. Furthermore, the most premium 2 channel store in the USA (in Scottsdale, AZ) and many other shops that follow suit, have often used Tracks #1 and #6 for demos to sell half million dollar 2 channel systems. Yep, if there are problems, they are related to YOUR system my friend.