[supersleuth]

 
Quote:

Now, concertos, that's a different matter.
 

 
But that's a problem as much of how recordings are usually made (with close miking of the soloist) as it is of reproduction.

 

[Kreisleriana]

There is, especially when musicians aren't able to 'cheat' during live music, like they can in recording studios.
Sadly, performances that I'd love to attend seldom occur.

 

[JoeyRusso]

Quote:

Maybe I should said headphone and speakers cannot do recorded music  even close to the live event. In a proper venue its just cannot be duplicated with a recording.

Agreed... We're all chasing our tails, so to speak...   We're asking our equipment to "reproduce" an experience or capture sounds that are best experienced in person.  I guess it comes down to our personal tastes and/or budget to determine how close is close enough.  

 

[WhiteCrow]

Lol headphones can never reproduce the live show at GWAR...ya know unless they spray you with fake blood and body parts. but in all seriousness, you can get phones that really do open up the sound stage in the crowd. 

 

[Uncle Erik]

If you're playing something like a vocal soloist or a very small group of acoustic players on a good set of planar speakers, you can get eerily close to the real thing. A few times I've left my ribbons playing the radio when I went out, only to think someone was in my place when I came back because I heard voices.

It would be fun to see if people could distinguish between a good ribbon or 'stat and a live female singer behind a curtain.

 

[HibyPrime]

What if you bought the same equipment they use + direct mic (just the mic -> mic amp -> recorder, no mixing involved) recordings.  You could then literally reproduce exactly what is coming out of the speakers, and even mix it to your own liking.  
 
Maybe even have an extra mic that records ~10 feet from the band/artist.  I don't know if anyone else notices this, but if the venue is small enough (or you're close enough to the front row) you can hear the drums un-miced bleed through the miced version.  That way even the bleed is recorded.
 
This will not work for concerts that do not use amplification.  Sorry classical fans 

 
The venue, crowd, ambiance and a thousand other things that really have nothing to do with music, however, can not be reproduced by speakers.

 

[LapTop006]

Quote:

Well there IS a difference between a concert music and a recording studio..

Yes, seats
There are certainly various schools of thought on studio design, but at best for recording live music a studio should essentially be an excellent acoustic performance space

 

[maddog07]

[size=10pt]anybody ever heard of the "LIAR" test?  "Listen In Another Room"? This is a phenomenon that many reviewers refer to from time-to-time.  If you walk into a different room while your “big rig” is playing back in the room you just came from and your mind “tricks” or nearly tricks you into thinking live music is playing - then you’re onto something with your system. [/size]
 
[size=10pt]I don’t think anybody has ever quantified exactly what is going on here, or at least I’ve never read it explained.  But if you try it, you will quickly experience what they are talking about.  “Something” about live music can almost always be detected correctly by your brain when you try this.  Your brain queues off something and is rarely fooled between live and reproduced.  [/size]
 
[size=10pt]I have managed to get my home system to produce this “effect” a few times.  Everything has to be pretty much perfect, including the recording.  Obviously clarity and resolution must come into play here.  But I speculate “scale” is one of the more significant factors.  If you’re system can’t produce the scale/size of the recorded performance in a realistic manner then you are likely to never experience “performance [/size][size=10pt]recreation[/size][size=10pt]” in your listening room - merely [/size][size=10pt]reproduction[/size][size=10pt].  [/size]
 
[size=10pt]I have owned about every type of speaker known to man and it has been my experience that planar’s, such as Maggie’s, ML’s and dipole and bipole types tend to do a better job of producing recording scale than most.  And the more dynamic, as in start and stop quickly, the speaker is, the more likely it is to sound “live” in my experience as well.  I think speakers that are of high sensitivity/efficienty tend to do this well.  The speaker must “pressurize” the air volume of the room to the same level as the live event in order to get close to sounding real.  Speakers with large radiating surfaces simply do this better than those that are small.  But then if you have a big speaker in a small room, you get into boundary issues, early reflections, room modes, etc.  All of which are highly likely to not be the same as where the recording was done!!!!  And so we continue on our quest for the audio holy grail !!!  So get out and hear some live music... small local bands and venue's tend to provide some of the best performances and sound you're gonna hear - not to mention less expensive and smaller crowds so you can actually enjoy it - so get out and support your local musicians. 

[/size]

 

[maddog07]

bump... would like to hear what others have to say on this topic...

 

[Armaegis]

Hmph, I don't even try to reproduce live music. I'm accept my low/mid-fi system for what it is and am perfectly happy with it. The money that I save from not buying hifi I use to go to concerts instead. Or on food/women/mortages/etc.

 

[sharkz]

I think you can get closer with speakers than headphones. No matter how much bass is rocking your head through headphones, its just not the same as that visceral bass that hits you at a live show. I like my headphones for subtle details I can't get with my speakers unless I was to spend about 5x as much as I have.
 
The closest I have gotten though was with my Realistic Mach Ones. Two 15" subs went a long way towards helping live music. I loved listening to Hell Freezes over or any Pink Floyd on those things.....