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Why Don't More People Into Music Reproduction At Home Play Around With Musical Instruments

 In the pursuit of music reproduction in the home it is my firm belief that you must listen to live music every now & again so that you know & understand how real music,with real instruments,in real physical spaces sounds...
 With that as a foundation I used in judging equipment's "voice" I also believe that playing around with a musical instrument is an excellent way to gain first hand experience with musical sound...EVERY person that reads this can learn a few musical notes,on ANY musical instrument on the planet..For instance I play around with electric guitar.NO I can NOT play,but I can play the notes EFG,on first string & BCD on the second string...Now  I know those few notes & easily recognize them in any song..I am just this coming week going to start playing around with an electric keyboard....So I wonder,why don't more audiophiles simply play around with real instruments as part of their pursuit of honest reproduction in the home?Surely the education in reality is worth the $100.00 it takes to get an entry level guitar,keyboard,horn etc...
freediver

Showing 2 responses by russbutton

russbutton's avatar
russbutton
445 posts
 
I’m both an engineer and a performing musician, which is why it was natural that I live my life as an audiophile. I’ve been doing location recording for more than 40 years. My wife is a professional violinist here in the San Francisco area. The link I am showing here is of a concert her string quartet did last August with guest pianist, Carl Blake,  of the Dvoark Piano Quintet. It’s a gorgeous piece and one I feel worthy of being presented on any hi-end audio system.

Y’ll who just buy gear and tweak with it are missing out on half the fun by not engineering your own recording. The web page has links to all four movements in 24/96 resolution and you’re welcome to download them by right clicking the link. The photo on the page shows the ensemble and the microphones in an ORTF configuration, so you can see for yourself where everyone is sitting and then imagine that in your listening space.

Enjoy.

Temescal String Quartet - Dvorak Piano Quintet
russbutton's avatar
russbutton
445 posts
 
@tomic601 

The mikes I used for this recording are modified Oktava MK-012 mikes.  The mod is supposed to make them into a clone of the Neumann KM84.   The guy (Michael Joly) who did the mod gave it up in 2018.   It's a very popular mod and chances are you can find a used pair as I did.   I paid $600 for the pair.

I don't do enough location work to justify dropping the $2000+ it takes to get something like a pair of real Neumann mikes.  So far I'm happy with these.
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