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Hi-Rez Highway: Re: Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... by Chris from Lafayette New high resolution SACD releases, players and technology. |
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In Reply to: Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... posted by music@waterlilyacoustics.com on July 23, 2005 at 18:59:13:
Kavi,I think your last post did not have as much useful information in it as your previous posts did. Be that as it may, please allow me to respond. As usual, the excerpts from your posts are in quotation marks:
“I do happen to know something about orchestral balance and human nature. Orchestral balance in a given hall, is a combination of the seating arrangment, hall acoustics, the dictates of the composer and the artistic disposition of the conductor.”
. . . and, you might have added (if you’re recording the performance), the placement of the microphones!
“Those of us who make one point stereo recordings that entail no gimmickry, wherein we strive to capture the reality in a "documentary" style and do not impose our idea of balance via miking, panning and EQ, as all the majors invariably do, consider perserving the original balance in the given hall, at the time of recording, the Holy Grail.”
Please don’t take offense, but I’m going to use a reductio ad absurdum to get my point across. You say you do not impose your idea of balance via miking. But the very position at which you choose to place the microphones is an imposition of your idea of the balance! It’s a subjective judgement of where YOU think the most realistic balance is achieved – even if you have Russian acousticians to support your judgement. Now for the reductio ad absurdum: Suppose a producer got it into his head that the perfect place for his microphones was directly in front of the brass section, and that this placement was best at “preserving the original balance in the given hall”. Although the resulting recording would achieve a certain reality (yes, that’s how it sounded right in front of the brass section!), I’m sure that most listeners would not applaud that producer’s efforts. Some listeners might even have a PRECONCEIVED IDEA (based on their attendance at any number of orchestral concerts) that the strings ought to be more prominent in that recording, even though they did not attend the actual recording session.
OK, this crazy example is far from what we hear on your recording, but I hope you take my point. You can’t just go around proclaiming that you’re “preserving the original balance in the given hall”. What you’re really preserving is a certain balance from the vantage point of where you place the microphones.
At this point, let me stop and say, believe it or not, I’M ON YOUR SIDE (at least partially) – I don’t like tons of microphones sprouting up all over the place, with the balance reconstituted by (as I mentioned in another post) some dweeb in the control room. I think the difference between us is that I’m less doctrinaire about one point stereo recordings. When you have your minions implying that any other recording technique, even a relatively purist technique such as spaced omnis, doesn’t even sound like music, I think, in your heart, you know that’s not true. (Not that the other techniques don’t have limitations, but they can certainly be effective vehicles for the honest capture of a given performance.)
OK, back to your post. . .
“Human nature being what it is, you are couching the obvious in such a manner so as to make look silly.”
Believe me, this is not true. I’m just trying to get my points across. I’m actually frustrated with myself that I can’t be clearer sometimes.
“Of course I know that what the mikes picked up would have been different in a different place! But I had made it clear as to WHY I had picked the chosen spot. And had you paid a little more attention you would notice that the CD comes with a 16 page booklet with excellent notes, including 3 pages on the recording.”
After I read this part of your post, I scoured the Mahler Fifth program booklet once again. I may be overlooking the obvious, but I sure can’t find any section where the microphone placements (as you so kindly provided in your previous post) were stated. Since you brought up the subject of the program booklet, I agree there’s lots of excellent information therein. But I think you could have used a better graphic design and a more judicious choice of fonts. That’s just my opinion – I’m not pontificating, just offering some friendly advice.
“You can certainly "do" a Lord Nelson by putting the telescope to the blind eye. That too is numan nature but hardly a balanced view!”
Great quotation! I’d like to toss one back at you, and I’m on kind of a Latin kick today, so see if you think this quote from Varro will do:
Non omnes qui habent citharam sunt citharoedi [Not all who have a lyre are lyre players]
(Please don’t construe that as applying to you!)
-Chris Salocks
(Take my opinions with a grain of salt – everything else being equal, I prefer DVD-Audio!)
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Topic - WARNING! Sad to say I am very disappointed in the new Water Lily Acoustic SACD - Teresa 20:47:06 07/19/05 ( 80)
- Re: The reality of figure of 8 microphones: - Jean-Marie Geijsen 13:17:25 07/27/05 ( 11)
- Re: The reality of figure of 8 microphones: - regreene 14:48:46 07/29/05 ( 4)
- Re: The reality of figure of 8 microphones: - Jean-Marie Geijsen 17:59:09 07/30/05 ( 1)
- Re: The reality of figure of 8 microphones: - regreene 20:24:58 07/30/05 ( 0)
- REG I have just one question ... - Teresa 00:43:39 07/30/05 ( 1)
- Re: REG I have just one question ... - regreene 09:10:56 07/30/05 ( 0)
Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 01:37:36 07/28/05 ( 5)
- Re: The reality of figure of 8 microphones - Jean-Marie Geijsen 13:21:38 07/28/05 ( 4)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 21:18:03 07/28/05 ( 0)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 17:32:15 07/28/05 ( 2)
- Re: I've heard the some... - unclestu52 21:56:40 07/28/05 ( 1)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 23:09:29 07/28/05 ( 0)
Re: WARNING! - BS 20:01:35 07/22/05 ( 0)
Waterlily recordings - regreene 09:55:36 07/21/05 ( 42)
- Re: Waterlily recordings - Chris from Lafayette 21:11:22 07/22/05 ( 31)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 00:47:44 07/23/05 ( 30)
- Re: Water Lily Russian Recordings - Chris from Lafayette 11:04:27 07/23/05 ( 29)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 11:41:12 07/23/05 ( 28)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 13:39:43 07/23/05 ( 27)
- Re: Water Lily Russian Recordings - Chris from Lafayette 17:06:12 07/23/05 ( 26)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 18:59:13 07/23/05 ( 25)
- Re: Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - Chris from Lafayette 07/23/05 22:09:50 07/23/05 ( 24)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 02:14:51 07/24/05 ( 23)
- Re: Water Lily Russian Recordings - Chris from Lafayette 12:10:31 07/24/05 ( 22)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 23:06:33 07/24/05 ( 10)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 07:06:06 07/25/05 ( 1)
- Re: Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - Chris from Lafayette 01:00:36 07/26/05 ( 0)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 07:05:23 07/25/05 ( 7)
- Re: Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - Chris from Lafayette 00:51:32 07/26/05 ( 6)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 16:14:42 07/26/05 ( 5)
- Re: Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - Chris from Lafayette 23:56:13 07/26/05 ( 1)
- Re: Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - regreene 11:14:58 08/1/05 ( 0)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 19:56:41 07/26/05 ( 2)
- Re: Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - Chris from Lafayette 23:52:38 07/26/05 ( 1)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 10:36:26 07/27/05 ( 0)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 17:05:07 07/24/05 ( 10)
- Re: Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - Chris from Lafayette 19:11:06 07/24/05 ( 6)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 22:40:40 07/24/05 ( 5)
- Re: Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - Chris from Lafayette 00:45:52 07/26/05 ( 0)
- Re: Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - Chris from Lafayette 08:47:06 07/25/05 ( 3)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 10:18:50 07/25/05 ( 2)
- Re: Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - Chris from Lafayette 01:04:49 07/26/05 ( 0)
- Re: Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - Chris from Lafayette 00:39:25 07/26/05 ( 0)
- "The dog may bark, but the caravan moves on..." - Great quote! Dave555 18:04:39 07/24/05 ( 2)
- killer set- Sufi Soul - tunenut 22:15:47 07/24/05 ( 1)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 21:09:04 07/24/05 ( 1)
legality and morality - tunenut 09:23:03 07/22/05 ( 0)
The SKRYABIN / SVETLANOV Water Lily SACD is a sonic travisty and a slap in the face to anyone who loves realistic sound! - Teresa 19:26:11 07/21/05 ( 8)
- Re: The SKRYABIN / SVETLANOV Water Lily SACD is a sonic travisty and a slap in the face to anyone who loves realistic so - dmeinwald 09:24:22 07/23/05 ( 2)
- Brahms No. 1 with Artur Rubinstein, Fritz Reiner and the CSO on RCA LSC SACD - Teresa 17:40:06 07/23/05 ( 1)
- what about the lack of low frequency response on the Svetlanov? - Teresa 11:14:00 07/23/05 ( 1)
Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 16:43:53 07/22/05 ( 4)
- Hi Kavi, I have always loved and been a big supporter of Water Lily Acoustic Recordings - Teresa 20:15:04 07/22/05 ( 0)
This happens to nerdy folks who buy music based on the - Kristian85 09:22:00 07/21/05 ( 0)
Theresa, different listening positioning may be necessary - jim nj 09:04:53 07/20/05 ( 1)
- Teresa, sorry about extra h in above name! (nt) - jim nj 09:14:01 07/20/05 ( 0)
Thanks, and reading things like this..... - Sordidman 08:47:59 07/20/05 ( 1)
- he's not right - tunenut 09:32:01 07/20/05 ( 0)
umm yeah... my experience is completley reverse of yours... - danny kaey 20:55:36 07/19/05 ( 18)
- Great - We can have Dueling Reviews! - Chris from Lafayette 23:16:26 07/19/05 ( 13)
- Re: Great - We can have even more Dueling Reviews! - raffells 01:42:14 07/20/05 ( 12)
- About The Music? I Don't Feel That Is The Main Priority Here - Robertc88 03:46:59 07/20/05 ( 11)
- correct Robert, the music is excellent it's the recording quality that leaves me cold. - Teresa 08:13:11 07/20/05 ( 10)
- they are recorded correctly... - danny kaey 09:05:55 07/20/05 ( 9)
- I listen to orchestral music live and it has a solid bass foundation and lots of energy below 100Hz - Teresa 20:45:25 07/20/05 ( 8)
- again, my experience is the exact opposite... - danny kaey 21:51:15 07/20/05 ( 7)
- Agreed. - Kal Rubinson 05:42:06 07/21/05 ( 0)
- perhaps there's 2 versions of this Water Lily SACD? - Teresa 23:26:51 07/20/05 ( 5)
- Re: perhaps there's 2 versions of this Water Lily SACD? - Kal Rubinson 08:46:14 07/21/05 ( 4)
- I tried playing really loud through speakers and even though my Sennheiser HD580 headphones. - Teresa 19:31:08 07/21/05 ( 3)
- you can very well derive proper MCH from a 2ch 2mic recording... - danny kaey 20:56:53 07/22/05 ( 0)
- Your headphone rig sucks - BS 15:02:39 07/22/05 ( 0)
- Re: I tried playing really loud through speakers and even though my Sennheiser HD580 headphones. - Kal Rubinson 04:34:57 07/22/05 ( 0)
Attention all registered posters: E-mail me to listen to this SACD free, we will do like the Blues In Orbit SACD - Teresa 21:48:55 07/19/05 ( 3)
- Re: Attention all registered posters: E-mail me to listen to this SACD free, we will do like the Blues In Orbit SACD - cf@tiscali.se 09:44:04 07/31/05 ( 2)
- Hi Chris click on the "A" after my name and you will go the page to submit email. - Teresa 17:38:12 08/4/05 ( 1)
- Water Lily Russian Recordings and turning the other cheek.... - music@waterlilyacoustics.com 17:58:16 08/5/05 ( 0)