On the classical side you can find realistic sound and great performances IMO if you look at recordings made towards the end of the analog era. EMI, for example, really excelled at this time, and they sound just as good in Redbook as in analog. I would cite as an example the Tchaikovsky 4th Symphony with Muti and the Philharmonia. Play the 3rd movement (the pizzicato movement) at a comfortable level (perhaps just on the low side) and, if your system is up to it, the dynamics of the fourth movement will shock with volume and clarity just as at a concert.
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!
162 responses Add your response
Yes, from the point of view of great sound some of the best DG recordings ever have been produced within the last decade or so. But they are inconsistent. Apparently DG has contracted with different independent producers to do their recordings. Some of the best, at least to my ears, are represented by the Shostakovich - Nelsons - Boston Symphony series. Try the 10th, for example. But some they have done in Berlin have been less than stellar acoustically IMO. |
The Gillian Welch / David Rawlings albums on Acony sound pretty amazing using a very detailed "home recording" approach, especially on vinyl. If you like acoustic, folk, Americana, acoustic blues, alt country, etc. they are very worthwhile. Soul Journey is probably my favorite, but Time(the Revelator), The Harrow & The Harvest, All The Good Times are all fantastic. Cheers, Spencer |
In this category the SOUND LIAISON One Microphone recordings rules in my opinion.
|
Thanks everyone for the recent comments. I'm loving the suggestions. @kefas, thanks for pointing out the one-mic recordings. That sounds very intriguing and I will definitely look into that. Forgive my ignorance, but I must ask a technology question (and if you don't know, that's ok). How does one mic capture and preserve the left-to-right soundstage/imaging? Does it have something to do with the capsule count/positioning within the one microphone? I can understand how it can capture some amount of depth, but it's unclear to me how it can preserve width. Anyone know how this works? |
| Post removed |
