Try this tune. Same effect. It is enjoyable in small doses.
https://tidal.com/browse/track/97240315?u
Incredible Audiophile Imaging -- at a Concert!
I was just at a music festival in the mountains near the border of Portugal and Spain. One of the shows was the duo of Maria João (vocalist -- either an acquired tasted or too weird, depending on your preferences) and Mário Laginha (an excellent pianist). The concert was outdoors in the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Ammaia. The sound system consisted of two line arrays, nothing more. But it was incredibly well mic'ed. A pic with the techs setting up is attached. We were seated very close to the sound boards.
About two songs into the concert, I realized that Laginha's piano was mic'ed so that an image of the keyboard, in incredible detail, was mapped from the left line array to the right. Closing my eyes, I could "see" this entire 70 foot wide keyboard image, to a level of detail that any musician who knows keys and scales could easily reconstruct exactly what Laginha was playing. It was absolutely amazing! I had never heard sound with that level of clarity, detail, and imaging in a concert before. The purpose-built San Francisco Jazz Center probably comes close in my experience, but a somewhat distant second place to this simple line array system.
I'm sure this effect was helped by there being no walls or ceiling to create any reflections. And I'm sure being right next to the sound engineers contributed. Did the altitude or cold temperatures matter? Regardless, it made Laginha's playing that much more enjoyable. It was such a treat compared to concerts held at stadium venues, or even large clubs, where the sound often sucks.
I read up on line arrays at https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/line-arrays-explained to get a better appreciation.
Wondering if any other 'goners have experienced something like this at a concert. If so, what was the venue? What do you think contributed to the stellar imaging?
- ...
- 41 posts total
You bring up a very good point. Some folks want to hear a sonic spectacular and some folks want to hear the real thing. Here lies one of the fundamental differences in manufacturers of equipment as well. You have Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, etc on the reproduce natural music precisely and then you have Burmeister, Rowland, etc that work to do sonic spectacular. I held season tickets to the Oregon Symphony 7th row center for a decade. Then a couple years ago they installed a whole hall DSP system to make concerts sound better. It completely destroyed the natural musical sound... the violins hardened. the bass became too dominant. The snare drums came from behind the seating. I discussed it with management of the hall. No idea what I was talking about. I brought a professional sound engineer and musician to a concert... he was appalled and appealed to management. They discussed with the consulting firm... and made a couple changes with no improvements. Multi million dollar system that destroyed the sound. Can you imagine being twenty five feet from a world class violinist with a Stradivarius and hearing it spread across the sound stage, hardened and distorted by DSP. I thought for classical concerts they would turn it off... but no such luck. I guess when you bought a multimillion dollar sound system you have to use it. My system at home sounds much better... hence no reason to go to the symphony any more. |
Thank you all for the responses! @g2the2nd Thanks for the link. Yes, a very similar effect. It’s not "real sounding", much in the same way that many producers / sound engineers are fond of panning the drum kit all the way across the sound stage. But nonetheless interesting. @sns I realize that the way I described it, it sounds like it was very in-your-face. But it was more subtle than that. It was a very gestalt-like thing. It was in part why it took a couple of songs to perceive it. You could listen to the concert as a whole and not notice it (and in fact none of the 9 other people I was with -- of which one other was a musician -- noticed it). But once you shifted into hearing it (much like those 1980’s-era stereogram photos where you cross your eyes to see the 3D image), then you could bask in this virtual keyboard. @corelli Yes I like the SET / full range driver analogy. I think the sheer simplicity of this sound system, the absence of the complications of reflection, and the sound engineers’ maniacal attention to detail all combined in this uber-cool way... |
- 41 posts total