I've been away and haven't noticed this tread before so a big caveat - I haven't read all of the posts and I'm confident someone has already asked the question - but, what the hell is the "soul of music" as it's related to audio replication of a recorded event.
If a piece of music touches my soul I would be as touched if it were on a '78 or an SACD. I would be listening to the composition and the performance to find its "soul", not how good it sounded over my audio system. I'm not against great audio reproduction, in fact its one of my hobbies. I've just never though of it as being the the source of "the soul of music".
I'll go back under the bridge now............:-) |
Detlof, I'm taking up latin as a primary language. Then no one will realize how illiterate I really am! Your use of English remains exceeded only by....well, what is your first language anyway? :-)
Now, that aside, lets have some fun. Lets talk about what specifically we find distracting about the sound we get from our speakers. The sound that is so distracting that you wouldn't no longer hear the 'soul', when such soulfulness is actually in the pits and grooves, with our advanced audio systems and trained ears.
I'll start. Could it be - 1)Pitch, 2)Timbre, and 3)Noise - oh, lest I forget, 4) distortion? Pitch, for example, is a killer for me.
Perhaps, just perhaps mind you, soul is truly found only when we dumb down our audiophile expectations and listen to the performance.
Fun thread............... |
Detlof, LOL! English is my first language and your competency in a second (?) language brings tears to my eyes. I'll never lift my eyes/head again. I'm so embarassed!
That said, I really agree, for the most part at least, with Mt T's sentiments. For myself, and for a very simple reason, the performance itself is what imbues music with 'soul'.
By way of example, I happen to be very moved by a recording of Sibelius' Finlandia Hymm which was reduced for male chorus and intended to be sung, acapella by simple marching soldiers (as in going to the front in the war with Russia).
Finns in general are all moved by 'Finlandia', with or without(more common) the Finlanda Hymm. It amounts to their national anthem, at least for the Finns I have known.
For myself, the full orchestrated version of Finlandia is very enjoyable and I can intellectually understand why it is considered patriotic. However it doesn't 'move me' in any recorded form, nor did a complete version move me live a couple of weeks ago. But two women with me at the live performance were moved to tears by the inclusion of the Hymm.
What moved me about the recorded acapella version of the Hymm by male chorus was my ability to appreciate the nature of the music as it might have been sung by common solders actually marching to war! I can tear up. I can visualize it!
Now that has NOTHING to do with recording format or any live v canned preferences. Its simply the sum of understanding the composers music and his intent as well as its effective communication (to me). Interestingly, this same music performed by a mixed chorus, has much less impact on me.
From this I conclude that, for myself at least, its the music and the style of its performance that imbues it with soul.
I think hearing the 'soul' as a result of the performance of music will always be dependent on the actual performance. The method of hearing the performance, whether live, or recorded on tape, LP, CD, etc will always be subordinate.
You can have a soulful performance without a specific format, but you cannot have a 'soulful recording' without the soulful performance.
IMHO. |
Kijanki
"I remember seeing similar threads on SS amps lacking the soul compare to tube gear"........
And I could imagine that I wrote them long ago after getting my SP10! Only I would have just said 'music'. :-) |
Shadrone, Love your summary. It's been said before though. To no avial, unfortunately.
IMHO, the reality is that a lot of folks need to reinforce their personal observations/beliefs so they make a polorizing statement to find support from like believers. A human condition that defies any rational cure. After they have found their counterparts they form a gang and attack all others as non-believers.
It all starts with the title of the thread. If anyone thinks that any particular format has 'soul' they are listening to the wrong thing. Any 'soul' to be found is found in the music, and it can be heard live or over boom boxes by those who have an open mind and ears, those who are not just obsessed with the quality of sound reproduction.
Interestingly the self-proclaimed 'music lovers' who decry and avoid any one particular format because of its inability to convey the soul of music, have no real interest in music. It is just a vehicle for the sound. What they worship is the sound.
One of my favorite performances of Mussorgsky's Pictures is a 1956 recording of a live performance by Richter. I have it on both LP and CD. It is a terrible recording! In either format! But, IMHO, no better performance has ever been recorded. I suspect many audiophiles, in particular, but especially format freaks, would never 'hear' its greatness, or even listen to it, because of recording issues.
Its OK to focus on sound quality, after all it is the foundation of this hobby, but lets not get sanctimonious and pretentious about format preferences having 'soul' or being able to convey 'soul'. That is nothing more, or less, than a bumper crop of crap, being farmed by a bunch of past, present, or future merchants. IMHO of course.
If 'soul' is something to be discussed, why don't we just start a new thread about which religion best portrays or encoumpasses 'soul'. Now that would really be fun!
Rant over. :-) |
Mapman, Out of curiosity, this 'pitch warble' you are hearing, is this from an analog source remastered to digital or was it a digital recording in the first place? One of my few dis-satisfactions with vinyl was related to constant pitch, even with TT's that had excellent wow and flutter spec's. I assume it might have been sourced to the recording processs as well as playback. Interestingly, amoungst my complaints about digital, maintaining pitch is not one of them. |
Mapman, Good observations about fine tuning your system to two different formats. Very difficult. Hell, I've had a hard time just trying to tune one system to accomodate two different digital systems, let alone vinyl. Everything compromises something else, IMHO. |
Hey guys, how can you make such broad statements about the effect of format choices, like digital v vinyl. IMHO you can tune your system to enhance either format so there is NO fatigue. It only gets tough when you try to tune your system to enhance both. In my experience anyway - I've always had a hard time optimally tuning for more than one source, let alone different formats. But its fun trying! :-) |
