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RE: I was responding to what you had said about "obvious hiss" and "familiar flaws".

Hi Clark

“Here I thought we had been discussing LPs and CDs. But let it pass.”

I assumed the discussion was about if and how faithful to the original each of the mediums could be. More like discussing the quality of paper and pencils as opposed to what is drawn with them.

“"Have you ever compared any good 15ips tape recorder side by side with a decent digital one, recording and playing back a live performance or event you were present for?

"Similarly, I suspect not."

Actually I have. It was a Mahler Second in Symphony Hall. The digital sounded like hell.”

Perhaps that was not the best case example, it is certainly possible to make a bad recording with either tape or bits, I’ve made plenty of both..

Part of the problem (I see) is they each have very different rules, like most importantly, zero dB means ZERO dB and thou shall not pass even for an instant or be covered in terrible funkyness. Ah digital clipping, what a great effect for creating ugly grating sound..
With Tape, it is like loudspeakers, short distorted peaks are to a point inaudible and that give Tape its headroom and gentle, near invisible compression.

“Huh? Another whole topic, 24/96. But: "It is pretty clear". I never said that digital masters couldn't sound better than the CDs made from them. In fact, they normally do! (Ditto the analog realm.)”

I wouldn’t want you to get the idea that 16/44 is the last word, but that format was about the maximum realistic goal for electronics in a commercial product “back then”.
I can switch between 16/44 and 24/96 and there is an audible difference which is most pronounced on quieter things (well down from 0dB).
Digital having the inverse misbehavior compared to most analogue anything, in that it gets increasingly granular as the signal level falls (one bit describes the lowest 6 dB step)

With computers, it is certainly possible to have lossless data transfer, if that is the case in a given situation, or in audio, is another question. Unless it were deemed important never to loose data however, it wouldn’t be implemented “by the book”.

Remember the people who made many of the “Great” recordings, did so with very little and often comparatively simple equipment. They had to figure out where to place mics and a million other things by sound alone. They were artists, part of what you hear is that.
Nowadays a real danger to sound is the huge variety of effects processors and sweeteners that are available and are “commonly known” to improve the sound and are often always engaged.
Best,

Tom



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