Tom, the only way the recording engineer knows what's encoded on the mix at any point in his activities is by listening to the tracks, singly, in any combination, and in total. And what he hears is always molded by the monitoring headphones, or speakers driven by the studio electronics ... the actual material on the tracks is always 'true' - he, doing his work is hearing just one version of that truth; imagine feeding the output of his mixing tool at any moment while he works, adjusting whatever, simultaneously to multiple audio rigs outside the studio by some means - and have various audiophiles, enthusiasts listen to each of those 'versions'. You would say the only valid version is that experienced by the engineer, which is correct in itself, but that version is impossible to replicate, in the consumer's environment.
The only way out, that I can see, is to be true to what is actually the data, the 'truth' of the recording - and that is what I try to do. Luckily , that's pretty damn impressive, and I'm quite content to stop at that point - it's giving me satisfaction in the hearing, so how the engineer wanted it to sound is not really interesting, for me.
The only way out, that I can see, is to be true to what is actually the data, the 'truth' of the recording - and that is what I try to do. Luckily , that's pretty damn impressive, and I'm quite content to stop at that point - it's giving me satisfaction in the hearing, so how the engineer wanted it to sound is not really interesting, for me.