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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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In Reply to: 'audiophile' recording (Mapleshade, Cardas, etc) suggestions posted by twisty on May 4, 2006 at 13:50:44:
I've never heard a Cardas recording, but I've got dozens of Mapleshades. It's an excellent label, and Pierre Sprey, the owner, is a wonderful recordist, but the discs are uneven and some can be either incredible or incredibly bad on certain systems, especially if your rig tends towards leanness or brightness. Otherwise the sense of space and presence is usually startling. Try Clifford Jordan's "Live at Ethell's" for sure. You won't find many live jazz recordings more realisticly done than this one. Amazing room feel. "Cats Are Stealing My Shit" by Warren Smith is bongos, flutes, a shockingly real tympani along with beat poetry and an unsettling version of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit". If you like bluegrass, or have dipped into country from time to time without ill effect, try "Still Light of Evening" by the Williamson Brothers, which could be the best-recorded bluegrass I've ever heard. Their harmonies just hang there like they're in the room with you. All of Sprey's piano recordings are excellent.
But avoid, in general, discs with lots of brass on them. I am convinced that Sprey has some hearing loss in the highs, because his recording chain way overcompensates for it. Almost all the brass recordings are shrill, nails-across-a-blackboard ear-bleeders. So skip the big bands. And the massed vocals, like the Arc Choir, are fabulous, riveting performances, but the recording technique is so extreme (dry and shrill) you may not like it. I think that among all the audiophile labels that produce their own music, Mapleshade's performances are right at the top, and more consistently than the recordings are.
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Follow Ups
- Re: 'audiophile' recording (Mapleshade, Cardas, etc) suggestions - SalD 17:10:14 05/04/06 (0)
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