[sum]

So I just bought Motown 1*s, which is a great mix of music, but being mastered from fairly old recordings, it sounds horrible on my k701s. I haven't tried it on another can yet, and I'm sure that'll be better. What I'm wondering is what everyone else does to deal with bad recordings?

 

[c0mfortably_numb]

Unfortunately nothing can fix a badly mastered CD, I have quit a few cd's I can't listen to at all through headphones, instead playing them on regular speakers that aren't quit as revealing.

 

[milesbeyondjazz]

I just try to ignore how bad the SQ is and just get into the music,but sometimes the recording is so bad (anything by the red hot chili peppers)that I cant' listen to it on anything including speakers.

 

[jdimitri]

ibuds fixes bad recording
Seriously, it's incredible

 

[FalconP]

I keep it. There isn't usually not much I can do with a bad recording anyway: selling it is not an option as I'll just get enough money for an ice-cream cone.

There must be a reason that I brought that "bad" CD anyway, most probably it piqued my curiosity. I'll wait for a similar whim to hit, then I'll put it in the CD player again.

 

[m_memmory]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milesbeyondjazz /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just try to ignore how bad the SQ is and just get into the music,but sometimes the recording is so bad (anything by the red hot chili peppers)that I cant' listen to it on anything including speakers.

I find that the Red Hot Chilli Peppers music is just that good it can get over the fact that the SQ isn't as good as it could be.

As for bad recordings - generally if the music is good I can get past it (even with my headphones), maybe my ears just aren't good enough to be able to notice the bad sound quality

 

[infinitesymphony]

You could always clean it up in the same way that a remastering engineer would. Granted, you don't have access to the original source material. I usually just accept the fact that it won't sound as good as a good recording, and with that in mind, I can forgive almost any sound quality issues.

 

[puiah11]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sum /img/forum/go_quote.gif What I'm wondering is what everyone else does to deal with bad recordings?

--> eBay

 

[hciman77]

Keep it but resent it big time or use it as a coaster

I just got Love Songs in Shakespeare's Time onFine Classics - a collection of John Dowland songs, beautiful songs but truly apalling recording, drop outs channels vanishing periodically, huge distortion, thankfully it was molto cheap but it is basically unlistenable and I will have to buy another version.

 

[DarkAngel]

If you are tlking about thin sounding CD with treble grain/hash you can improve sound a bit by making black CDR of CD......I do this with most of my really bad sounding Cds and find sound easier to take, like using Senn 580/600/650 cans makes CD sound a bit warmer and richer.

 

[infinitesymphony]

The darker the disc, the darker the bitstream, eh?

 

[Konig]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkAngel /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you are tlking about thin sounding CD with treble grain/hash you can improve sound a bit by making black CDR of CD......I do this with most of my really bad sounding Cds and find sound easier to take, like using Senn 580/600/650 cans makes CD sound a bit warmer and richer.

yeah. one guy kept pushing me to try it. in fact he bought a special dedicated marantz cd recorder to do this to avoid the RF radiation in a computers cdrw. He said there is a big difference..........

 

[infinitesymphony]

Actually, creating a CD-R copy of a CD will likely yield an inferior copy with more jitter / less accurate timing. Perhaps you prefer the smearing jitter provides over the original mix?

 

[jpr703]

Put it on the shelf and forget it.

 

[GlendaleViper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by c0mfortably_numb /img/forum/go_quote.gif Unfortunately nothing can fix a badly mastered CD, I have quit a few cd's I can't listen to at all through headphones, instead playing them on regular speakers that aren't quit as revealing.

x2

I'm really not too hard to please though, to be honest. It's the music first, sound quality second. Now, with that aside, I can definitely say that I am VERY hard to really blow away. It's amazing how so much of my music library has been set aside since I got into this hobby, as I focus on the truly good sounding albums. Thankfully, my trusty Grados are pretty forgiving. There is a lot of stuff I wouldn't even consider listening to through mt AKGs.