I gotta say that, for the past forty or so minutes I've been getting absolutely outstanding fidelity from an Idagio CD level stream of Beethoven String Quartets performed by the Ehnes Quartet. Natural, sweet tone. Small live room ambience. All the dynamic range a string quartet can muster.
Most Realistic Recordings
I was recently listening to my daughter practice the piano and I was enjoying quite a full-body sonic experience. I later went to my system and picked out a few piano recordings that I suspected were recorded well, but as I listened, I just didn't have anything close to the same experience. The piano just didn't sound right, nor nearly as full as I had just experienced while listening to my daughter. I know what pianos sound and feel like. I grew up playing many different types and understand their differences. I've done some research on recording pianos and have learned they are particularly difficult to record well.
As I've delved deeper into this audio hobby/interest and acquired more respectable gear, the more general question that keeps coming to my mind is this: How did this music sound at the time it was recorded? (presuming it was a person playing an instrument, not something "mixed" or electronic). Meaning, if I had been in the room, would I have heard or felt the same? Or is there something about the recording setup/micing/mixing/etc. that has failed to capture the moment? Or has the audio engineer intentionally filtered some of that out?
Now, being an audiophile (i.e., a music lover) has many paths and many goals. For me, I love lots of different kinds of music and am not too caught up in the ever changing landscape of audio gear and the need to try something new. I hope to get to the point where a well-captured recording sounds realistic in my room on my system. I like full-spectrum sound (i.e., if the note/sound is in the track, I want to hear it). I know that accurate, realistic reproduction through any system is depends a great deal on the equipment and the room it's being played back in. I don't expect my system to give me that jaw-dropping "I'm there" experience (yet), but some day I hope to get there.
So, to my question above, I would very much love to hear if anyone feels they have heard an album, a track, a recording of some kind that could be used to test out the "realism" of one's system. What would you say is a recording that more accurately captured the sonic hologram of the moment it was performed. Any genre is ok. And if you think a particular studio/company does this well, I'd love to hear about it!
And, please, I don't want the conversation to about gear or room treatment. This is about the recording itself, the source material, and how accurately the entire moment is captured and preserved. I respect everyone's personal experiences with your system, whatever it's comprised of. So, please don't argue with each other about whether a recording didn't sound realistic to you when it sounded realistic to someone else. Let's be civil and kind, for how can you deny what someone else's ears have heard? Thank you! I'm excited to learn from you all!
Showing 8 responses by edcyn
@bdp24 -- Yeah, I was held up at gunpoint at the place, one night, when I was behind the counter "working the reg." Gave her (yeah, her) all the money. It wasn't much later that they tried to make amends to me by getting me a job at the Classics store on the Sunset Strip. |
Yeah, I have a piano and play it practically every day, but I still can't give you a definitive answer as to what recording best approaches the sound I hear "live." The major problem is that my piano sits in its own special, but quite small Piano Room and my stereo is in its own stereo room. It doesn't help that when I play the piano my ears are a mere two feet away from the sound board. Then, when I do go to a concert, the piano is often at least 25 to fifty feet away in a very large room. |
Yeah, James Boyk -- I don’t seem to have his LP in my collection but I remember him showing up at Tower Classics when I was working there as a clerk in the early 1980’s. Or was it at the Panorama City store where I worked previously? Anyway, his LP was featured on a shelf at the front. I took the LP off the shelf and put it up next to him. I said, "good likeness." He graciously tolerated my hipster rudeness. |
You forced me to break out my old A&M Tea For the Tillerman LP. Most likely not an initial pressing as it took me a while to warm up to the music on the album. The sound is a little buzzy-fuzzy, exactly how I remember it. I have most of the guy’s other LPs, and I think the majority of them sound better. I remember going to the Pea Soup Andersons in Buellton to listen to a buddy play at the bar. He did his share of the artist I used to refer to as Stephen Katz. Anyway, his simple, elegant guitar playing had a lot of influence on my style back then. |