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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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In Reply to: That is NOT 'microdynamics' posted by mikenificent1 on February 25, 2001 at 12:06:05:
"Ernestine Anderson often floats the faintest, subtlest traces of
vibrato on the very last breath of notes. A lot of speakers, even some excellent dynamic models, can't capture that vibrato, but the 3.6/R did it beautifully. I'd often find myself holding my breath, just to make sure I didn't miss these delicate whispers."- "Notice the words "shadings" and "subtlest" are used. Get the Point?"
I apologize for nitpicking, but if you are indeed trying to let someone know what micro dynamics are, the above example doesn't seem quite clear, at least as I understand micro dynamics.
It's not clear to me that a system needs good micro dynamics to capture the vibrato. A vibrato is a modulation of pitch, not amplitude, and thus this example *may* illustrate better resolution rather than better micro dynamics (i.e., in a lesser resolving system, the vibrato may be blurred, or obscured behind other instruments).
Mikenificent, (is your name Mike?), it seems your description of micro dynamics above the Stereophile quote is closer to the point.
My example might be a person playing a single instrument, such as a piano. On many speakers, the sound of someone running up a scale on a piano can be clean, so that we can hear the pitch of each tone well enough. But dynamically we hear a flat string of notes played, as if
the musician has hit all the keys with the same amount of force.On a system with excellent micro dynamics, when the musician plays the scale we hear the individual force applied to each note - even on a fast run we hear him push out some notes with extra emphasis, or recede others with a gentler touch. Thus the scale is given a dynamic shape, as well as a harmonic shape.
A crude visual representation of the notes would be:
No micro dynamics: c d e f g a b c d e f g a b c
With micro dynamics: c d E F g a B c d E F g a b C
Damn, doesn't really work using my browser to type this. Well, imagine the capital letters in the lower scale are in BOLD, as if the musician has hit them harder. Anyway...
Micro dynamics recreate those subtle dynamics that exist from note to note when a human plays music. Good micro dynamics recreate the liveliness of the sound, making us aware (even is subconsciously) of the presence of the musician, the physical effort being expended to modulate the dynamics of an instrument.
I'm listening to a system right now that is terrific with micro dynamics, and it's uncanny how this adds life-like nuance, which makes not only solo instruments come alive, but brings realism to group recordings - each musician is given their own sense of life within the recording.
Anyway, that's how I hear things.
Rich H
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Follow Ups
- Re: That is NOT 'microdynamics'...erm, uhm... - Rich H 02/25/0114:37:53 02/25/01 (1)
- Re: That is NOT 'microdynamics'...erm, uhm... - mikenificent1 16:26:45 02/25/01 (0)
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