Most Realistic Recordings


I was recently listening to my daughter practice the piano and I was enjoying quite a full-body sonic experience. I later went to my system and picked out a few piano recordings that I suspected were recorded well, but as I listened, I just didn't have anything close to the same experience. The piano just didn't sound right, nor nearly as full as I had just experienced while listening to my daughter. I know what pianos sound and feel like. I grew up playing many different types and understand their differences. I've done some research on recording pianos and have learned they are particularly difficult to record well.

As I've delved deeper into this audio hobby/interest and acquired more respectable gear, the more general question that keeps coming to my mind is this: How did this music sound at the time it was recorded? (presuming it was a person playing an instrument, not something "mixed" or electronic). Meaning, if I had been in the room, would I have heard or felt the same? Or is there something about the recording setup/micing/mixing/etc. that has failed to capture the moment? Or has the audio engineer intentionally filtered some of that out?

Now, being an audiophile (i.e., a music lover) has many paths and many goals. For me, I love lots of different kinds of music and am not too caught up in the ever changing landscape of audio gear and the need to try something new. I hope to get to the point where a well-captured recording sounds realistic in my room on my system. I like full-spectrum sound (i.e., if the note/sound is in the track, I want to hear it). I know that accurate, realistic reproduction through any system is depends a great deal on the equipment and the room it's being played back in. I don't expect my system to give me that jaw-dropping "I'm there" experience (yet), but some day I hope to get there.

So, to my question above, I would very much love to hear if anyone feels they have heard an album, a track, a recording of some kind that could be used to test out the "realism" of one's system. What would you say is a recording that more accurately captured the sonic hologram of the moment it was performed. Any genre is ok. And if you think a particular studio/company does this well, I'd love to hear about it!

And, please, I don't want the conversation to about gear or room treatment. This is about the recording itself, the source material, and how accurately the entire moment is captured and preserved. I respect everyone's personal experiences with your system, whatever it's comprised of. So, please don't argue with each other about whether a recording didn't sound realistic to you when it sounded realistic to someone else. Let's be civil and kind, for how can you deny what someone else's ears have heard? Thank you! I'm excited to learn from you all!

tisimst

Oh yeah, forgot about that one Herb! Took me years to find a copy of For Duke after HP raved about it so much. It was going for pretty big money there for awhile.

Joe Jackson has numerous well recorded albums (New York Live and others).

I have the originals, but there are now some remasters out that are highly thought of.

I would like Body and Soul on CD (for the little computer setup) and am considering a remaster from Japan.

 

DeKay

For voice and acoustic guitar, get a copy of Tea For The Tillerman by Cat Stevens. However, make sure it is the version on Analogue Productions (available as a single disc at 33-1/3 RPM and a double disc at 45), as it is the only version on LP that was mastered properly (by Bernie Grundman): without Dolby A processing.

For years HP raved about the version on Island UK (the "pink label" pressing), which perplexed me; my copy sounded weird, the overtones characteristic of Cats' Ovation guitar and the drumset cymbals strangely muted. The kick drum was also absent it's weight and punch.

Bernie Grundman discovered, when mastering the album for Classic Records in the mid-90's, that the original mastering had been done assuming the recordings were made using Dolby noise reduction. They weren't! All released versions of the album were issued with their high frequencies depressed by the Dolby playback equalization and compression!