In Reply to: Fine, but the outputs of the 'Music industry' are so much worse posted by Timbo in Oz on August 20, 2019 at 02:08:06:
There's a fair amount of substance to what you're saying.
Side story:
When my daughter was in elementary school, she was part of a spring concert held in the meeting room at her school. I thought it would be a good idea to record it. A nice keepsake, and fun to make. So, I searched around for a Sony Walkman Pro, which had recently gone out of production. The local Nobody Beats The Wiz store had one in stock. (Shows you the date...) I bought some binaural microphones that snapped onto my eyeglass frames and some metal cassettes. Off I went.
Although I had practiced some to make sure I understood the Walkman controls, I'd absolutely zero experience or knowledge of what it took to make a passable recording of an event like this. So, I sat near the back of the room and made sure I changed cassettes at the right time. Tried not to cough or sneeze.
A couple days later, I hooked up the output of the Walkman Pro to the home audio system. My main hope was that I had something not destined for the landfill.
Boy, was I surprised.
The sound quality was much higher than almost every recording we owned. It sounded more lifelike, all around.
I couldn't believe it. Still can't. My wife was completely amazed, as was I.
Of course, this wasn't a recording of great musicians. Nor, the ideal venue. But, it was still great.
Obviously, this wasn't due to any genius on my part. Or, incredible equipment. No post recording engineering, either.
The conclusion I came to is similar to yours. The commercial recordings I was comparing to were not made to accurately represent live musicians performing. They were and are something else. There's some exceptions, of course, but I think the conclusion is fair. Live reproduction is not what the consuming public apparently wants, and the various people in the music chain are happy to oblige.
BTW, I'm not slandering the folks who make home "hi-fi" gear here. They're largely doing the best they can with the material they have to work with.
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Follow Ups
- RE: Fine, but the outputs of the 'Music industry' are so much worse - CG 08/20/1904:28:27 08/20/19 (2)
- Dynamic range - Dave_K 14:57:19 08/21/19 (1)
- RE: Dynamic range - CG 15:43:29 08/21/19 (0)