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Let the best be your guide

All of us have had to come to grips with bad sounding recordings. They can be disabling and make you question your whole system. The trick is to accept them for what they are and not to generalize. I try to listen for the music and skim over the imperfections. When confronted with a clinker, to save my sanity, I play a recording i know to be superior sounding. That restores my faith  in the system and brings me back to reality.

rvpiano

Showing 2 responses by mahler123

mahler123
3,501 posts
 

It’s a conundrum in that poor recordings exist, and the better systems reveal all the warts.  For example the CD transfers of Wilhelm Kempff stereo recordings of Beethoven, Schubert, and Schumann are barely listenable on my two channel system (and the one lp I have isn’t much better bud adds the joy of surface noise).  When I really want to hear them I use my mid fi systems which are more “forgiving “.

  DG should remaster these to see if they are sonically salvageable 

mahler123
3,501 posts
 

@rvpiano  

 

Many Classical recordings from the first few decades of stereo were mixed with following assumptions in mind:

1) Listeners would be using AM Radios 

2) If using a Hi Fi system, speakers would be bookshelf models, in small rooms, with very limited bass potential 

 3) Vinyl would be the source, and dynamic range, particularly bass, needed constriction due to groove spacing issues.

 

  It was interesting to see the return of intentionally bad mastering reoccur in the 21st century, as the assumption was that listeners would be using iPods with free earbuds

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