What percentage of the real think does the microphone capture? What percentage is lost in the cable from the microphone to the microphone preamp? What percentage is lost in the mic preamp? What percentage is lost in the cable from the preamp to the mixing console? What percentage is lost in the mixing console? What percentage is lost in the cable from the console to the recording device? What percentage is lost in the recording device? What percentage is lost in the cable back to the mixing console? What percentage is lost in the mixing console as EQ and level are adjusted? What percentage is lost in the cable going back to the recording device? What percentage is lost in the cable going to the A/D converter? What percentage is lost in the A/D conversion? What percentage is lost by downsampling to 44.1KHz and reducing the word length to 16bits?
The above is a very simplified version of the recording process and I haven't even got to the playback process. The biggest drop in quality is at the very first stage -- the microphone. There are some marvelous mics out there, but I don't know of any experienced person suggesting that the mic captures more than 50% of the original sound. Being that the losses in quality are additive I suspect that 5% is about right.
The above is a very simplified version of the recording process and I haven't even got to the playback process. The biggest drop in quality is at the very first stage -- the microphone. There are some marvelous mics out there, but I don't know of any experienced person suggesting that the mic captures more than 50% of the original sound. Being that the losses in quality are additive I suspect that 5% is about right.