I also have two ears, but I can listen to 360 degrees. When I walk down the road I can hear maybe the car to my side, the plane above, the dog barking to my left etc etc.
What...??
This has no relation to listening to music.
When will there be decent classical music recordings?
With "pop" music the recordings are such that you can hear the rasp of the guitar string, the echo of the piano, the tingle of the percussion ... and so on .... and in surround sound.
Surround sound is brilliant in picking out different instruments that would otherwise have been "lost" or merged with the other sounds.
Someone will say well that is not how you listen at a concert, but that is just archaic. As a friend said many years ago to me ... whats wrong with mono?!
I am sure Beethoven or whomever would have been excited if they could have presented their music in effectively another dimension.
I have yet to come across any classical recording that grabs me in the way it should, or could. Do they operate in a parallel universe musicwise?
I used to play in an orchestra so I am always looking out for the "extra" presence in music ... in amongst it, not just watching and listening from a distance
Surround sound is brilliant in picking out different instruments that would otherwise have been "lost" or merged with the other sounds.
Someone will say well that is not how you listen at a concert, but that is just archaic. As a friend said many years ago to me ... whats wrong with mono?!
I am sure Beethoven or whomever would have been excited if they could have presented their music in effectively another dimension.
I have yet to come across any classical recording that grabs me in the way it should, or could. Do they operate in a parallel universe musicwise?
I used to play in an orchestra so I am always looking out for the "extra" presence in music ... in amongst it, not just watching and listening from a distance
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That there is technology capable of reproducing live music as well as it does is essentially a miracle that everyone should be thankful for. When hifi first hit the mainstream it was a big deal and resulted in many very high quality recordings in short time because there was appreciation for such things. Now it’s taken for granted or deemed not good enough like so many things these days. How jaded we all are! |
No matter how good and big the room is, it will not make a average recording come alive. I believe the COST of making records sound great from big scale works or orchestra are the primary contraint. The venue from where the music are recorded plays a key factor here. Many were recorded in large studio instead of stage hall. The equipments used in recording directly from a hall cost a lot more and the manpower involved multiplies. Experienced recording engineers aren't cheap too. As mentioned earlier, many records sound compressed or smeared perhaps due to poor recording environment and modest equipments used in the first place. There's a limit on how much a mixing engineer can do to replicate that event if the original master tape are poorly done. I've heard great records done by Japanese labels, their CDs don't come cheap even today. Try YouTube for Joe Hisaishi, he's the top composer, conductor and pianist himself. His productions on CDs and DVDs are always great. From the beginning to the end of making a CD, it takes a lot of effort, time and money for an orchestra to sound good. |
I saw an quite interesting musical presentation several years back at Inhotim Museum and Botanical Gardens in Minas Gerais Brazil. It consisted of 40 B&W monitor speakers setting up an oval with the listener in the middle. of this quite large space. The musical selection was a Bach piece. Each speaker represented a voice or instrument. Each instrument/voice made an individual entry as is often typical in Baroque music but I must say there was nothing at all typical about the presentation. By the time all voices/instruments were playing one was surrounded by all these individual voices/instruments clear and discernable. The ultimate surround sound, maybe better than live? :) |
I have several uniquely recorded albums (LP's) on the "Repeat" label. They were recorded without using microphones in producing the master tapes. According to the liner notes, "all musical instruments employed being equipped with specially-designed transducing systems which convert the energy of the original sound source into a corresponding electrical signal. This output is then fed directly through the recording mixer and onto tape." These recordings have the most "presence" of individual instruments in my entire collection, including any of the so-called audiophile recordings I own. Do they sound "better?" Well, yes, from a "presence" standpoint ... but there is something that is just not right. Oh yes, they have the "wow" factor, but as a steady diet? No way. Totally interesting though. Here's the titles if your intersted in tracking them down: 1. Western Swing - Noel Boggs on steel guitar along with fiddles, guitar, drums and bass. 2. Rural Rythm - Fiddle, fife guitar and bass. 3. Borodin string quartet #2 in D Major. The Da Sallo String Quartet. 4. Dvorak Quintet in G, Opus 77. Two violins, Viola, Cello and bass. Anyone of these LP's will satisfy the most detail and presence audiophile freak on the planet. Really fun to listen to ... for the first few times. Great for demonstrating your stereo to friends. Lot's of "wow" factor. So, all of that "extra presence" the OP is seeking is/was available, but a steady diet of it? I don't think so. Jump on this one, guys: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Norman-Whistler-Ted-Nash-Rural-Rhythm-Repeat-Records-RS-300-4-Dee-Ford-/1219... http://www.ebay.com/itm/NORMAN-WHISTLER-THE-RURAL-RYTHM-MASTERS-RURAL-RYTHM-VINYL-LP-REPEAT-RECORDS-... Frank |
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