... POORLY RECORDED SONGS THAT ...


Hello to all...

Was thinking about the songs I luv, that are so poorly recorded that it hurts my ears to listen to them - but because they are so great I just can't help myself 'cause they really moves me:

MEATLOAF: BAT OUTTA HELL

SPRINGSTEIN: ROSELITTA

NICKELBACK: BURN IT DOWN

Can you give me a couple or more, that you think are really great songs and such a disappointment in how they come across recorded (on vinyl, CD, Cassette or whatever...)



justvintagestuff

It doesn’t matter on what system you play any recording of Ginger Baker’s drums, how you "tune" that system, or at what level you set the volume, his cymbals and drums will still sound terrible.

Here’s an interesting fact: while audiophiles decry compression, it’s use on the overhead mics used to record cymbals results in each tap on a cymbal with the tip of a drumstick (as opposed to striking the cymbal with the shank of the stick) creating a very percussive "click" out of the cymbal. Listen to Jazz recordings from the 50’s and 60’s, you will hear that cymbal sound on many of them. That click is very important in the ability of a drummer to create the very fast swing/shuffle cymbal pattern used in that music, and in Blues and Traditional Country.

Some cymbal makers are renown for their cymbals inherently producing the "click" sound, foremost amongst them the K. Zildjians made in Turkey. That was the cymbal preferred by many of the old school Jazz drummers, Elvin Jones, etc. Being hand made, each and every K. Zildjian sounded different, some great, many bad. The best drummers know the sound they are looking for, and hand-picked theirs from a pile of cymbals. Some drummers either don't know how to listen for cymbal quality (like non-audiophiles and hi-fi gear), or have "bad" taste. That may make me sound like I think my opinion is the last word, but you'd be surprised by how universal that opinion is amongst drummers.

Rock and/or studio drummers whose recorded drum sound features that cymbal sound include Jim Gordon (Derek & The Dominoes. His cymbals and drums so SO good on that album), Levon Helm (The Band), and Hal Blaine (everybody ;-) . Now listen to Ginger’s cymbals and drums. Trash. No offense, Ginger Baker lovers!

Two albums with great music but horrid drum sound are the debuts of The Who and Nick Lowe, both of which have drums that sound like garbage cans crashing down a flight of stairs.

Ime, the playback system has a large influence on the contrast. The better the system, the smaller the contrast. Through my Acoustat Monitor 3 and DD servo charge amps, Oppo 205, it's more of a difference rather than a contrast.
I'm not a Ginger Baker fan or Lovin' Spoonful fan, but I just happen to play both the other day. Ginger's drums and cymbals were great and no missing top end on the Spoonful.
Yes, michaelgreenaudio, I too would like to know how any system can compensate for elements in a bad recording. I hear this fairly often but it doesn't make sense to me. I don't doubt that there are things that can be done to help some. But especially in the case of compressed DR I don't see how any system can make a big difference there.

As I mentioned in another thread I can see how an equalizer might be able to take advantage of the fact that different frequencies will have different perceived volumes at the same system volume setting. (I'd like to try my hand at this sometime.) But even that can't make a huge difference when dynamic range is compressed as much as in many new recordings.


Hi Guys

The average playback system (pre-tuning) plays about 1/10 of the recorded content of the source. Note that this number did not come from me only, but from others including me, who have researched and tested this same topic "real space". Real space is the actual space of a recording. Every recording has "real space/real size". Every recording has it’s own "real space" content that differs per recording. I have given the term "recorded code" to this content to make it easier to comprehend, but this understanding goes back to the beginning of the playback soundstage, mono, stereo and multi-channel.

In the 1990’s I toured with several audio reviewers to other reviewer’s systems uncovering the real space of given recordings. We tuned these systems, per recording, using a variable method called "Tuning". Tuning has 3 main ingredients Acoustical, Mechanical and Electrical, all of which host the playback signal at sometime during the audio pathway. Everywhere along the audio pathway is the physical part called the "Audio Chain". Anytime we make a change to the audio chain we affect the audio pathway.

To break it down we have the "recorded code" that becomes the "audio code" once the signal becomes physical (analog) as it makes contact with physical mechanical conduits (parts that host the signal). As the signal travels through the audio pathway it makes contact with the each part of the chain. The audio code is affected by the four fundamental interactions of nature (look up fundamental forces) as it travels making the signal itself variable. Tuning is how we adjust the signal.

michael

http://tuneland.forumotion.com/t268-the-audio-code