Home General Asylum

General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories.

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ General Asylum ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

Many of us seek to self-medicate with sound rather than music.




It's a real problem not only for listeners but also for recording engineers.

In order to capture the kind of information (amplitude, arrival time, and phase) that is needed to create a convincing illusion of individual instruments in a stereo soundfield, the microphones have to be so close that the timbral balance they pick up is not natural when compared to what you hear at a live recital or concert.

David Hancock once rhetorically asked me, "When you walk into a church and there's a string quartet playing, do you hear any high frequencies separately as such? Of course not!" The problem of course is that while most of the audience is seated past the "critical distance" where direct and ambient sound is equal in intensity, if you record from there or even farther out, to the middle of the hall, the result will be either "wide mono" or "just plain mono."

So if we record a string quartet from six feet back, the timbres are going to be exaggerated. But we get used to it.

Listen to some of the Nimbus piano recordings, such as Perlemuter's Chopin Nocturnes. Compare that to a "modern" big-label, big-star recording... . The Nimbus is more natural, so it sounds: Dull.

A puzzlement, says the King of Siam.

JM

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Western Glow Tube Service  

Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups
FAQ

Post a Message!

 Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.

[ Top Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]