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Re: Some points

Posted by Rick W on July 30, 2002 at 20:19:24

In Reply to: Some points posted by David Aiken on July 30, 2002 at 15:44:37:

David, while I agree with some of your points - and I certainly agree with Chris Redmond about musicians' financial concerns limiting their options - I still think some of my points are being missed.

Yes, when playing, musicians' perspectives are unlike the perspective of an audiophile sitting in front of a pair of speakers.
We are not in FRONT of the group, we are in the MIDST of the group. But c'mon guys, musicians DO go out to hear other musicians play, and we DO listen to sound systems in our homes. At these times we are listening from the the same FRONT perspective as everybody else.

Being a saxophone/flute/clarinet player, I CAN hear and understand some things related to playing technique that non-musicians can't distinguish. But it is incorrect to imagine that musicians just concentrate on these technical aspects and don't listen to the TOTALITY of the music. Why do you think we became musicians in the first place? Believe me, when I listen to Coltrane or Sonny Rollins I can easily discern their technical mastery and I'm astounded by their instrumental chops, but what I concentrate on is the emotional content of their music and their MUSICAL creativity. I am swept away if anything even more than non-musicians. Musicians may be keenly aware of the beautiful tone, articulation and command of the instrument displayed by the first chair clarinetist in the CSO, but we, just like non-musician audiophiles and music lovers, are transported into a sea of emotions (and sometimes images) by the totality of a wondrous piece of music like Rite of Spring.

I also agree that the kind of listening audiophiles do requires astute observation and practice, and not every musician gives a damn about things like "soundstage" portrayal. I am a composer as well as a player, and I can tell you that when I'm writing music I NEVER hear stereo, let alone spatial cues in my head. Some aspects of audiophilia are not very important to many musicians.
Personally, I have found it useful, entertaining and worthwhile to educate myself audiophile-wise, and devote the time and funds necessary to purchase a system able to do things like create a fairly accurate "soundstage".

My original post stated the things I know most musicians DO consider to be important in music reproduction via our sound systems. I just wish more designers, manufacturers, reviewers, and fellow audiophiles would concentrate more on those things and less on locating squeaking chairs. It ain't like perfection has been achieved in the areas of tone, timbre, natural articulation etc. and now we can move on to delineating the north/south/east/west direction of the subway underneath the recording studio.

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