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... 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
michaelgreenaudio's avatar
michaelgreenaudio
643 posts
 

Received my "Sound and Color" a couple of days ago. I was working on Mick Ronson recordings so needed to finish that up first. Put the SC recording on for it's first pass. I usually let the system make about 3 passes before I start referencing, but could hear certain things right off the bat before getting serious.

Sound and Color works best, in my room, with the subwoofer crossed at around 68-72 hz. If your not able to adjust that range you might find the stage too shallow for you. A lot of modern recordings can fall apart easy without the use of a good subwoofer.

The recording has no problem filling the soundstage without black holes. If a recording is over compressed black holes will appear in the stage when you go to stretch the depth of the stage. Again no holes.

Next I looked for a percussion instrument to follow. On the 3rd track I found a nice cymbal splash that covered the stage front to back and left to right. This is another sign that the playback compression is ok and not squeezed.

You can clearly hear compression used as an affect applied to certain parts of vocals for example, but that's an on purpose effect and not part of the general soundstage presentation.

I'll give an overall soundstage size after a couple of play throughs, but the stage itself is not compressed on the recording. So far that is.

michael

n80
1,227 posts
 
That’s interesting Michael. I have to say, soundstage is not my main criteria for SQ so I can’t say much there.

I do not have a subwoofer.

My system is fairly high end circa 1990. No EQ. My immediate impression of the album is volume. Way out of proportion to CDs with broad DR. The next immediate impression is harshness and loss of expected subtlety on some tracks. My reaction to that loss of subtlety and some separation is to turn up the volume a little. That does not help and in some cases makes it worse.

I found the CD so unpleasant the first time I played it that I have not played it more than a few times from the CD player. I have played it from a rip of the CD through iTunes with EQ adjustments that make it more palatable.

I’ll listen to the CD again later today and listen for soundstage and pay more attention to clarity (particularly of bass which is one of my main criteria) and separation.

My thoughts, however, are that I have a system that seems to be well selected for the playback of a wide range and variety of CDs without significant DR compression and it does so, in my limited experience, superbly. I would have a hard time saying that such a system is flawed because it will not reproduce high SQ from media intentionally recorded without DR.

I understand your point that there is more to a recording than most systems can (or do) get from it. But if a recording has a dynamic range of 5 then a recording with a (log) dynamic range of 12 is certainly going to have a lot more available to exploit (it seems to me).
michaelgreenaudio's avatar
michaelgreenaudio
643 posts
 

Hi n80

I'm on my 4th pass on this recording and no dynamic range problems what so ever, so it's definitely your system's setup. Cool recording btw!


mg

johnto
183 posts
 
Got out my Fresh Cream lp for a listen on my system Bakers drums and cymbals are as good or better than any other rock lp from 67. Lets not forget too that this was probably a first for recording power rock.Maybe the problem is in the system you are listening on.
n80
1,227 posts
 
michael, thank you very much for looking into this. You must have a wonderful system.

Reviewers have complained about this album and it has similar DR to the Metallica album that first set off the contemporary loudness wars. Three measurements (two CDs and downloadable file) confirm exactly the same numbers so it is fairly clear that the DR is not there from a technical standpoint. Which could call into question the validity of the measurement software. Interestingly the vinyl has much better DR.

I guess if things continue down this road and I feel compelled to modify my system to accommodate bad recordings I will be in need of your expertise. Thanks again. You have been helpful and patient.

Edited to add:

Agree. It is an interesting album. Still impressed with the musicianship. A pretty daring turn for the band as well.

After relistening I am actually impressed with the soundstage. Quite broad and deep. Unfortunately even at about 1/3 volume I'm actually hearing some distortion of the bass, if not clipping. Not sure. And for the record, my system renders most bass very accurately and pleasingly to me.....even under torture tests like Saint-Saenz's organ symphony.
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