Do we really know what "Live" music sounds like?

Used to go to Carnegie hall but that's history I'll stay home and play my MAGICO based system.Wont be going to concerts as I hate wearing a mask for 4 hours.Live music is history for me now so sad.

@rodman99999 Yes! Love going and hear bands, orchestras, choirs and the like at local universities and colleges here in the Chicago area.

I do and well. I married into a family of Jazz musicians. Also, I lived in the French Quarters where many bands would perform on the streets with no amplification. NOT ON BOURBON street, Frenchman Street. Never heard much good music on Bourbon, tourist stuff.

There is a famous post card of the Preservation Hall Jazz band. My wife’s grandfather and uncle are on that postcard. Two other uncles are famous musician, at least in Jazz, as well.

Stevie Wonder would call one uncle, a famous Jazz musician, every Christmas at the family Christmas dinner to wish him Merry Christmas. Dinner would stop and everyone was quiet while Stevie was on the phone. That uncle had produced a Grammy award winning album for Stevie.

Audiophiles are always complaining about how harsh something sounds. I am amused to no end because I realize that they may have never been in a room with someone playing a live trumpet, unamplified. Even at low volume, some of those high notes can cut like glass.

One uncle, that played sax, played with Cannon Ball Aderly. Herbie Hancock, B.B King, and many big names.

So soon after marrying my wife, the family informed the one that produced a Grammy album for Stevie, that I had a very expensive stereo and loved Jazz. He constantly reminded me of the Grammy and that Sony records had custom built his recording studio and gave me the dollar amount it cost. Years later during hurricane Katrina he would be a guest lecturer at Princton University while we were out of homes.

So, he came by one day." Let me hear what ya got!" So, I play some Mobile Fidelity stuff. He turns and lowers his head sideways and listens. Immediately he has a kind of grin and at the same time a smirk on his face. He turns to me, " I couldn’t use dat stuff. See cats like you, into that sort of stuff. I need something that can sound good on a tiny radio, a car radio, or anything. Sure dat stuff you got sounds good. But it’s not for me!" Initially, I was confused as to what he was saying. He was talking hip and using a lot of 60s and 70s slang. He kept saying, "I master my stuff. I master my stuff" Then I fathomed what he was saying. He was telling me that the music was uncompressed. My stereo had the dynamics to play it and make it sound great. But the masses do not and it would not sound good to them. I was shocked.

Interesting but hmm?  Yeah I know what live music sounds like.  Having played in bands for 20 years of my life including, marching bands, attending many acoustic shows, jamming with nothing but guitars a drum or maybe even just drum sticks or a bongo maybe a sax and a piano no amps yup I do .  That also being said also palying through amps attending well over 1000 live shows or even 2000 counting bar bands local players, piano bars etc... yes I know what i am listening for. 

Also why cant amplified music still be live music?  Whay does live music mean no apmplication ?  What we all strive to reproduce is the sound we hear seeing a live show so what sthe issues if its amplified?  I really do not agree with the premise of that whole article.

Maybe thats the key, to know what you are listening for amplified or not .  I can tell if its sounds close to live or as reasltic as it can be  or just music coming through a speaker.  

Here we go again with a post that asks if my listening habits are better than yours. It is now and always should be about the enjoyment of the music. Any way you hear it from any source. If you are listening and enjoying the sound then who cares what others think. Even at a live un amplified performance three people sitting together will hear three different versions. I also like the “musicians” who are on her claiming that since we do not play we have no idea what we are hearing. Yes I would have loved to play guitar but did not have the talent so I was a sound engineer. Believe me their are plenty of musicians who have all the talent in the world but can’t hear squat. It was me who made them sound good.