I recorded at Pierre's and have since done alot of my own live to 2 track recording. The more minimal and the higher the quality/transparancy gets, the more everything shows up. The same with the system; but it gets tweekier and tweekier, more critically balanced. I used to think Live at Ethels' and The Blue Rider Trio were bright. Now that my system has progressed I'm not so sure. On the other side of it, another long time demo of mine is Sara K's Closer Than They Appear on Chesky. It's very smooth and au naturel with only a stereo mic, so you can trust it as a reference, with a wide range of frequency and timbers. The first cut'll show up all kinds o' stuff including problems in the bass with the big ol' upright. As my system has progressed, it shows up the understated sonics of the Chesky nicely with increased transparancy while not adding edge to the dangerously revealing Mapleshade stuff. Mapleshade uses a stereo mic AND usually additional spot mics so the perpsective can be a little broken up on a revealing system.
Another of Pierre's to try is Portraits in Ivory and Brass with Larry Willis on piano, Jack Walrath on trumpet and Steve Novosel on upright. There's some beautiful tunes on there with some very delicate interplay and excellent sonics. The second track is an original minimalist piece with Jack blowing a conch and then his trumpet into an open piano with the sustain pedal down. The effect is stunning both aesthetically and sonically.
Live at Ethel's was one of Pierre's first attempts. Huge sonic strides have been made since then. It's very difficult to strike an appropriate balance between close and natural distance and it's generally not what most audiophiles might expect in that if you literally place a stereo mic where the audience might usually sit it'll be way too distant for most types of music. If you put the mic close enough to compensate for the loss of even a top notch system it'll give an exagerated stereo image. If you use spot mics your perspective gets wacky and you start running into phase problems eroding natural timbers. In the end you do what you can and you make your choices. Pierre chooses a pespective that puts you in the room with the musicians as one of them, an intimate choice that humanizes the event revealing every detail of the instrument as well as every zit.
Another issue is that Pierre (used to at least) use Stax electostatic headphones for monitoring while recording. These provide almost no isolation and he cranks them so he can discern live room bleed from what goes to tape since he sits essentially in the same room as the musicians. In my experience, this can skew the sense of balance. This coupled with his pursuit of detail compels him to mix the spot mics too high so the percusionists array of tinkly things will be right in your face for instance, along with a 3 foot wide, close miked singing head.
Re: buying for sonics, with all due respect to the sentiment, what's sad is that there aren't more recordings with better sound. But it's a big world with room for everyone's priorities. eh? It's also sad that the ego in us wants to take potshots at other's to bolster a false sense of security. If all of us guilty of that were to quietly say "aye" none of us would have ears left to listen to our CDs, audiophile or not.
