@gdhal - I agree that each recording seems to have a level, given room, system and recording, where everything comes together.
I think that sometimes, "turning it up" is meant to get more immediacy, impact and get the system out of the way, and if everything (including the recording) isn’t up to snuff, it’s just playing louder at you, but doesn’t sound more real. So I get @geoffkait ’s point, in that some recordings are compressed where there is no real dynamic range- a/k/a loudness wars.
I went to hear Crimson several months ago in a good hall here in Austin. The next morning, I played some material from the 2016 Live in Toronto LPs- there was just no way I could reproduce the scale of that recording, or the level of bass, in my room (which is fairly large by normal residential standards) at anywhere near what I heard live. Nonetheless,the recording and system acquitted themselves pretty well in that half-assed live v. recorded comparison.
I’ve aimed to get the resolving power of my system to a point where it doesn’t have to be super loud to be fully engaging and I do listen to a lot of very hard rock (mostly early stuff, before the term "proto-metal" was invented).
It is a shame that some of the records I like from that era, e.g. the first two Zep albums are not very good recordings. But, there are some that are- try Brian Davison’s Every Which Way (U.S. Mercury) circa 1970 or 71. You can turn it up and enjoy it like you would a well recorded jazz record- sounds like early Traffic. Some of the better known heavy rock records, like the first Sabbath album on Vertigo Swirl (UK) sound very good, even though they are primitive.
I find that I have to wear ear protection at almost all live rock events. They are just too loud and too often, overwhelm the room.
I think that sometimes, "turning it up" is meant to get more immediacy, impact and get the system out of the way, and if everything (including the recording) isn’t up to snuff, it’s just playing louder at you, but doesn’t sound more real. So I get @geoffkait ’s point, in that some recordings are compressed where there is no real dynamic range- a/k/a loudness wars.
I went to hear Crimson several months ago in a good hall here in Austin. The next morning, I played some material from the 2016 Live in Toronto LPs- there was just no way I could reproduce the scale of that recording, or the level of bass, in my room (which is fairly large by normal residential standards) at anywhere near what I heard live. Nonetheless,the recording and system acquitted themselves pretty well in that half-assed live v. recorded comparison.
I’ve aimed to get the resolving power of my system to a point where it doesn’t have to be super loud to be fully engaging and I do listen to a lot of very hard rock (mostly early stuff, before the term "proto-metal" was invented).
It is a shame that some of the records I like from that era, e.g. the first two Zep albums are not very good recordings. But, there are some that are- try Brian Davison’s Every Which Way (U.S. Mercury) circa 1970 or 71. You can turn it up and enjoy it like you would a well recorded jazz record- sounds like early Traffic. Some of the better known heavy rock records, like the first Sabbath album on Vertigo Swirl (UK) sound very good, even though they are primitive.
I find that I have to wear ear protection at almost all live rock events. They are just too loud and too often, overwhelm the room.