What does "Recorded using B&W Loudspeakers" mean?

[ejoy]

Hi all,
I recently bought a 4D recorded CD "Carmen-Fantasie" played by Anne S. Mutter. When viewing the leaflet of the CD, I noticed an interesting sentence on page 13:

"Recorded using B&W Loudspeakers"

Why the CD was recorded using a B&W Loud speaker rather than a, say, Shure microphone?

Is the B&W part of the 4D technique of DG?

Puzzled.

ejoy

 

[sejarzo]

I have always presumed that statement was sort of a bad translation, and what they really mean is B&W's were used as the control room and/or mastering monitors.

I only know a bit of German, but the common German verb "to record" used in DG liner notes is "aufnahmen".

If I recall correctly, it can mean to take a photo, or tape/record a sound, or otherwise document an event in any fashion (even something like taking notes.) As a noun, it commonly means "snapshot", so translating it into English requires looking at the context.

 

[tkam]

Yeah they just mean that B&W speakers were used for the mixing/mastering of the recording

 

[Oski]

From the B&W website:

"Throughout his career John enjoyed a close relationship with recording engineers who provided vital feedback on how loudspeakers could be improved. As a result of this relationship, B&W’s famous 801 was launched in 1979 and soon became the reference speaker in nearly all of the world’s classical recording studios, including EMI Abbey Road, Decca and Deutsche Grammophon."

 

[ejoy]

Thanks for the response. I now have a silly follow up question: why they do not use a reference level headphone such as DT-880, or similar ones from senns in the mix stage? From what I read in this forum I think you can hear more details from a high quality headphone.

 

[jagorev]

Good speakers usually have a more flat/neutral frequency response, and they have much better imaging - which would be important for classical recording.

 

[memepool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ejoy Thanks for the response. I now have a silly follow up question: why they do not use a reference level headphone such as DT-880, or similar ones from senns in the mix stage? From what I read in this forum I think you can hear more details from a high quality headphone.

It's much harder to perceive the relative loudness of the various elements in the mix through headphones because they are too close to your ears. Generally they will use various different monitors depending on what the mix is destined to end up on.

Commonly nearfield monitors at low volume levels are used for most of the mixing process with a switch to bigger full range monitors for reference. PMC, Dynaudio and Genelec seem to be the most popular in studios in the UK currently. Abbey Road would be one of the few studios that can afford B&W Nautilus.

For soundtracks which will end up on anything from 5.1 to tinny television speakers there willl be a full surround set up and any good quality micro monitors. I have even seen Tivoli radios with the extra speaker used for this purpose.

If headphones are used at all at this stage it will be something like Stax Electrostatics. The Beyers and Sennheisers like you mentioned are widely used in radio and commonly used by location recordist's in the Film and TV industry, by musicians in the studio or else DJ's.

 

[Garbz]

There is significantly more to music then can be perceieved in headphones. Headphones for one do not give you the ability to properly soundstage a recording (unless the recording itself is biaural). Speakers normally 2.0 or 2.1 arrangement are used for most stereo recordings as they try and replicate what a stereo hifi would hear. The other problem is that of bass. Bass seems to be percieved differently in headphones and speakers, for one because it can't be felt.

B&W make fantastic speakers which is why they are the number one choice for many recording studios. Abbey Road had a set of Matrix 801s, then upgraded to Nautilus 801s and were also the first to shift to the new 801D speakers from B&W. Not having $25000 myself I have Nautilus 805s and even for $5000 they are a fantastic speaker.

Basically the CD cover is advertising that the recording studio has some money for lovely sounding toys