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Why do so many great albums sound so bad?
Apr 17, 2011 at 4:18 AM Post #46 of 156
Yes, a useful site. And also slightly frustrating that the detailed information is so variable and many of my favourite artists are poorly represented, or not at all. And navigation is cumbersome, unless there's a search facility somewhere that I've missed. No doubt, this will all get better in time.
 
But my main point is that this database confirms to me that mastering/compression is just one part of the whole recording process, and that the end result is a sum of all parts. The database has countless examples of an album with a middling DR score, which I rate above an album with a higher score. Personally, I'll avoid the albums that are deep into the red, but the intermediate amber albums are not necessarily worse sounding than the green ones.
 
It's a bit like choosing an amplifier purely based on distortion measurements. If you remove the obvious extreme examples, you also have to look for other characteristics in order to find which amp sounds best. 
 
Apr 17, 2011 at 4:46 AM Post #47 of 156


Quote:
theattorney said:
But my main point is that this database confirms to me that mastering/compression is just one part of the whole recording process, and that the end result is a sum of all parts. The database has countless examples of an album with a middling DR score, which I rate above an album with a higher score. Personally, I'll avoid the albums that are deep into the red, but the intermediate amber albums are not necessarily worse sounding than the green ones.  
It's a bit like choosing an amplifier purely based on distortion measurements. If you remove the obvious extreme examples, you also have to look for other characteristics in order to find which amp sounds best. 
Click to expand...

 
You are completely correct. While high dynamic range is good and a good indication of the mastering, the resulting sound will depend on more than just the dynamic range. As you mention, the resulting sound is a combination of the entire process...from the microphones, to the musicians, to the room, to recording, to mixing, to mastering. All music albums require carefully developed human skills in discerning and manipulating the very finite spectrum of sound in its infinite characteristics and parameters without harming the sound in any way and producing the best result possible. Dynamic range manipulation is just one aspect of the final sound. FUN STUFF!!!
tongue_smile.gif

 
 
 
Apr 20, 2011 at 5:01 PM Post #50 of 156
Most music today are very poor recordings period.  Terrible, terrible! terrible. Having such wonderful modern audio equipment we should be able to enjoy the best music of all times, but that's not the case.
 
Dec 15, 2011 at 4:16 PM Post #51 of 156


Quote:
lff said:
Be happy to...try these:
 
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade / Borodin: Polovtsian Dances ~ Beecham



Recorded using a single point microphone technique...more specifically a coincident figure of 8's angled at 90 degrees. It's a very objective technique and most listeners can accurately judge the position of the instruments from the microphones.

Gershwin to Sousa



Recorded by Joe Grado (of Grado HP-1000 fame!!!) using his self-built stereo holophonic microphone. Very nice imaging and sound from both headphones and speakers.

Markus Schwartz & Lakou Brooklyn - Equinox



Recorded using two microphones in the Blumleim Difference Technique by the great Barry Diament. It has made numerous "best of" lists due to its fantastic sound. That fantastic sound is due to the minimalist technique and having someone in charge who knows what they are doing.

If you want some amazing sound on headphones using minimalist binaural, then look at this thread I wrote a while back:

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/511850/awesome-binaural-albums

I have also done some binaural recordings which have been posted on my blog for FREE!
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Hi LFF,
 
Actually, I don't use Blumlein's method - at least not the popular one utilizing directional microphones.  I use my own variation of another technique he was experimenting with - a matched pair of omnis (techincally "AB" rather than "XY") separated by a baffle of my own design.
 
We just released our latest recording, "Confluence" by Jason Vitelli.  This album may be the world's first "purist" recording of pop/rock music.
 

 
Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com
 
 
Dec 15, 2011 at 7:01 PM Post #52 of 156


Quote:
bdiament said:
Hi LFF,
 
Actually, I don't use Blumlein's method - at least not the popular one utilizing directional microphones.  I use my own variation of another technique he was experimenting with - a matched pair of omnis (techincally "AB" rather than "XY") separated by a baffle of my own design.
 
We just released our latest recording, "Confluence" by Jason Vitelli.  This album may be the world's first "purist" recording of pop/rock music.
 

 
Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com
 
Click to expand...

Wow. Thanks for the reply Barry!
 
I know you didn't use the popular version of the BDT but I made an educated guess based on pictures I saw of your session. It definitely looked like a variation of his technique. I could see you were using Earthwork mics and a large rounded baffle, about the double the size of a Jecklin disc and the mics looked about double the recommended space setting.
 
From the samples I heard...it definitely produced some amazing results!
 
Once again, thanks for the post!
 
 
 
Dec 16, 2011 at 7:27 AM Post #53 of 156
xnor said:
Plus the engineers' hearing also deteriorates with their job.

While it can sound perfectly fine on speakers I also think that some clipping or other noise can only be spotted with (certain?) headphones. I'm sure not everybody carefully checks the mixes / masters with decent headphones in their entirety.

And another factor: time (is money).
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depends on the room and your amp and speakers. using speakers won't save you from bad sound. lot of well made speakers are very micro-detailed and bring out everything from simple pressings of pedals,key strokes,guitar scrapes,room acoustics the recording was done in,ect. just takes more to get it out of speakers cause always fault with the room itself and needs to be eliminated of echo/reflections. i like dead rooms cause it allows the speakers to take full control over the stereo image without reflecting off the walls,floors or ceilings.
 
Dec 30, 2011 at 8:42 AM Post #55 of 156
i knew something was off and now i can see why -explains alot- me thinks its time to start checking the back of cds now for dates :p
thanks guys very enlightening
 
Dec 30, 2011 at 9:21 AM Post #56 of 156
is there some thread or place where are recommendation of some great recordings?
im asking because soon (after saving up a lot of hard work) im going to buy a hi-end amp and headphone and i was wondering if there is some expert in the area that could tell me some good albums.
i dont care if it is classical,rock or jazz,i just wont hear (althought i am a metalhead) darkthrone or burzum recording on my new hd800!!!ready to enter to the hi-quality nirvana listening!
thanks in advance and good thread indeed!!!
 
Dec 30, 2011 at 5:31 PM Post #58 of 156
Dec 30, 2011 at 5:47 PM Post #59 of 156
Re: remasters of older albums - I almost exclusively try and get the original version. If I buy the CD and it's a newer version as that's all that's available, I torrent the older one, as luckily there is a big community online for FLAC versions of good recordings and I rip to lossless anyway. I also use the Steve Hoffman forum to search out the best versions of those types of album, as sometimes there's more than one older release. It's a right PITA!
 
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