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Live versus Recorded & Reproduced Music

Why do you all think that most of the time, you can tell whether music is live vs. recorded / reproduced in a second or two even though you can't see the source ? When you walk into a bar or hear music coming from down the street or in a park, you know right away if its live & it s often utilizing less than top quality equipment. 

I've heard many fine high end systems w/ top brands (as recently as the 2021 Capitol Audiofest) & in some fine audio stores that are very expensive which sound quite nice, clean, tight, extended on both ends & even image well but not really sound live which I would have thought would be the ultimate goal. High "Fidelity" means very faithful to the source. In some ways, these systems clearly are not. 

The systems that I find come the closest to the live music I've heard at The Narrows in Fall River, MA (Intimate venue - rock, blues, bluegrass, acoustic) )or the BSO at Symphony Hall in Boston involve good quality horn speakers & good tube amplification despite their potential shortcomings they might have. 

Any thoughts?

 

 

jonwolfpell

Showing 1 response by jonwolfpell

jonwolfpell OP
342 posts
 

I agree that large venues with giant speaker systems set up in an array generally sound terrible, too loud, hard & annoying. I don’t go to large venues any longer for this reason. I saw the Grateful Dead twice in the 70’s & it was still the best sound I’ve ever heard for amplified rock music; very clear, clean & smooth. It wasn’t their big wall of sound system but it was still pretty substantial w/ 27 - Mac 300 watt / channel amps that I counted. 

I guess it’s the layers of sound degradation in most recordings that prevent even top systems from having the transient response & dynamics that make live music sound do distinctive. Eva Cassidy - Live at Blues  Alley / sounds pretty realistic on my system.  Pretty well recorded & quite dynamic. 
 

 

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