desirable distortion

[SIY]

Like I said, I'm old fashioned. I preferred the sound of his voice and guitar au naturel. The decisions about sound are heavily in the hands of the producer (and by extension, the engineer).

Edit: "PS/FWIW: What a shame songs don’t come with recommended SPL, which is the SPL at the recording venue! " This was a point Peter Walker often made.

 

[svart-hvitt]

Like I said, I'm old fashioned. I preferred the sound of his voice and guitar au naturel. The decisions about sound are heavily in the hands of the producer (and by extension, the engineer).

Edit: "PS/FWIW: What a shame songs don’t come with recommended SPL, which is the SPL at the recording venue! " This was a point Peter Walker often made.

Ok, purista and an old geezer, then!



Teasingly yours,

 

[SIY]

Guilty as charged.

 

[Blumlein 88]

I've the same problem recording. My best recordings, imo, sound most like real. Nobody likes real. Musicians didn't hear themselves that way, and everyone wants a little sauce added. I was thrilled after a few hours of recording at how easy it was to get a natural real sound or at least closer than most CD's manage. Not so thrilled when everyone complains, "I kept having to turn it up in the car, can you fix that?", and "I don't like all the spacious sound, it is like noise between me and the music."

Yet I can't help it, when I do get a decent space, and decent musicians, and I don't bollux it up, the sound of real music in real space is beguiling if only to me.

 

[Wombat]

A good account of studio teamwork or otherwise.

 

[andreasmaaan]

Recordings tend to sound very flat and lifeless with absolutely nothing done to them. So everyone is adding sauce. The question is simply what sauce, and how much?

 

[SIY]

Recordings tend to sound very flat and lifeless with absolutely nothing done to them.

Not to me, no. They sound like actual live music, assuming decent mikes and mike positions. Now I grant that most people don't have constant exposure to live, unamplified, acoustic music so they use processed studio sound as a reference. I think it was Peter Aczel who related the story of taking an audiophile to a classical concert, and the audiophile remarking, "It wasn't as loud as I expected it to be."

 

[andreasmaaan]

Not to me, no. They sound like actual live music, assuming decent mikes and mike positions. Now I grant that most people don't have constant exposure to live, unamplified, acoustic music so they use processed studio sound as a reference. I think it was Peter Aczel who related the story of taking an audiophile to a classical concert, and the audiophile remarking, "It wasn't as loud as I expected it to be."

Fair enough What processing do you do to the music you record then (or is it literally none)?

 

[andreasmaaan]

...and I have a totally diffent perspective btw....

To me, audio reproduction is a beautiful illusion, and the recording - rather than the performance - is the artwork that the audio system is there to reproduce.

 

[SIY]

I'll do fade-in and fade-out. I'll gain-ride applause, when there's an audience. And that's pretty much it.

 

[andreasmaaan]

I'll do fade-in and fade-out. I'll gain-ride applause, when there's an audience. And that's pretty much it.

I'd actually be really interested to hear one of your recordings. Are there any online, or would you be willing to shoot me one or two?

 

[SIY]

Here's one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite performers. I think the uncompressed download limit was already hit, but even with lossy, you can get a sense of his voice and guitar tone and the space we were in (a large living room in Austin).

 

[andreasmaaan]

Here's one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite performers. I think the uncompressed download limit was already hit, but even with lossy, you can get a sense of his voice and guitar tone and the space we were in (a large living room in Austin).

Many thanks

 

[andreasmaaan]

Here's one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite performers. I think the uncompressed download limit was already hit, but even with lossy, you can get a sense of his voice and guitar tone and the space we were in (a large living room in Austin).

Great piece of music, am enjoying listening to it and the rest of the recordings on your soundcloud.

Unfortunately I don't have anything other than my laptop speakers with me here atm, so can't really appreciate the sound, but very much like what I hear through this tinny little thing.

 

[SIY]

Thanks! I was unhappy with the sound of the Peter Mulvey recordings (poor room) but the music was delightful- Peter is a terrific performer. Lee Barber is the greatest songwriter you never heard of, and my god, what a voice. I have a lot of other recordings which I can't put out publicly because of contractual issues, but I have a new one I've been working on with some Chicago session guys moonlighting which may see the light of day by the end of the summer.

 

[Sal1950]

Is there really such a clear line between artist and craftsperson? I think in reality this line ranges from fine, to non-existent

Or the line between artist/craftsperson and butcher.

Then we sit there listening to our expensive systems, hear that blast of distortion, and wonder what went wrong?

 

[Sal1950]

Here's one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite performers. I think the uncompressed download limit was already hit, but even with lossy, you can get a sense of his voice and guitar tone and the space we were in (a large living room in Austin).

I loved the sound! It has that smoothness and lack of bite that's so hard to find.

 

[svart-hvitt]

Thanks! I was unhappy with the sound of the Peter Mulvey recordings (poor room) but the music was delightful- Peter is a terrific performer. Lee Barber is the greatest songwriter you never heard of, and my god, what a voice. I have a lot of other recordings which I can't put out publicly because of contractual issues, but I have a new one I've been working on with some Chicago session guys moonlighting which may see the light of day by the end of the summer.

On your recordings; What we’re really discussing here, is taste. And I can guarantee you, your taste is better for you.

 

[andreasmaaan]

Or the line between artist/craftsperson and butcher.

Then we sit there listening to our expensive systems, hear that blast of distortion, and wonder what went wrong?

Isn't the main thing to be able to rest assured that you're hearing exactly the type and amount of distortion that the artist intended?

 

[Fitzcaraldo215]

Recordings tend to sound very flat and lifeless with absolutely nothing done to them. So everyone is adding sauce. The question is simply what sauce, and how much?

Well, yes, probably in the world of pop music. But, "everyone" is something of a stretch.

The minority of us who prefer classical music don't really have the same issues forced upon us. Yes, there is still an art to classical music recording, and there has been some manipulation and "sauce" added by some labels, EQ for example. But, there is still mainly an emphasis on "naturalness" for the best of classical recording, also including dynamics and spatial imaging. Those of us who go to live classical concerts have a pretty good sense of this, and we don't appreciate obvious manipulation of the recordings.