i do have some classical and jazz, acoustic etc. songs on my playlist that I have discovered in the last few years and I enjoy them. I’ve just always been so surprised so many here rely on that type of music to build their system around. I guess that type of music is above my pay grade being a blue collar guy.
Is Sound Stage an artifact of recording?
Yesterday had the opportunity to hear a fine chamber music concert featuring musicians from the NY Philharmonic in a small modern chapel with a slightly domed wooden roof. We sat about 15-20 feet from the musicians. The all acoustic sound was excellent. The Schubert Trout piano quintet and Brahms piano quartet in G were the program. Afterwards while de-briefing at dinner with an audiophile friend who went with me and our wives, he made the point that despite the excellent acoustics and premier seating he could not close his eyes and see a "sound stage" during the concert. I had noticed the same thing. The locations of the instruments were diffuse. You could not pinpoint the location of the violin as you might expect you could on a good recording of the same work! We agreed that this was not the first time we had noticed this about live music. So I put the question to learned assembly here on Audiogon. Is sound stage something that is invented or perhaps just an artifact of the recording process to help us get the illusion of real musicians playing in front of us. Responses from those of you who have made recordings will be particularly appreciated.
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@ghdprentice You may not have read the full details about the recording of Body and Soul by Joe Jackson. Multiple microphones were used.
In the history of the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album—classical or non-classical—there have been few, if any, recordings made using only two microphones. Please do your due diligence. |
Comparing live versus recorded sound is only meaningful for unamplified music. The typical amplified concert manipulates the sound . Not all concert venues were designed with an acoustics as the primary consideration. The OP describes a chapel. Places of worship may not have taken into account how well they might project any music except choir and organ. A Piano Quartet is a very different kind of ensemble.. Recordings tend to spotlight certain instruments. Compare the sound of a violin in a concerto on a recording versus what it actually sounds like in most concerts. The typical recording makes it sound much louder than the concert experience |
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