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The bomb ? That kind of "KF contact" ?
Good patchs ? There is only two good sources, and, yes, they are expensive. But who want to lose a recording for a contact's problem ?
http://www.switchcraft.com/Photo_En...ImageURLHiRes=~/Product_Images/mtph48k3no.jpg
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I don't understand your point. What is a difficult recording ? When i have a problem of contact, i hear a problem of contact, that's all: the sound is noisy and not fluid, or hashed, that's all, and it does not depend on the record.
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It's a matter of degree, there are different sensitivities to such, and far be it for me to claim a "better" ear than yours,
...Difficult falls into different categories: there's relatively old recordings, 20's and 30's, which have a very dense sound, and which have been "handled" differently in terms of noise reduction -- some of the hardest to get "listenable" are where that noise reduction is very heavy handed, so much has been thrown out with the bath water ...; there's classical recordings with very, very deep acoustics, Nimbus comes to mind here; aggressively recorded pop efforts with everything and the kitchen sink thrown in, say from the 80's; and probably most severe of all, heavily overproduced and compressed current pop recordings, Adele 21 is an obvious one ...
If the contact problem is subtle then all the worst qualities of these recordings will scream at me, a "good" recording will barely show a problem. That's how I see it ...
Frank
I Know "KF" an European one, John has indicated an US one. Most of the time a mix of very light oil ans solvents.
Their are bad medicine, most of the time. Good to save a session or two, then, better to clean the contacts with any abrasive product or change the faulty part.
I use to frost my contacts with thin sand paper when they are too shiny.
Chemical pollution, in big cities, is a big problem, omho. Worth than oxidation. Gold does not protect against them. I don't know why, but in the professional area, we do not use many gold for connectors.
Their are bad medicine, most of the time. Good to save a session or two, then, better to clean the contacts with any abrasive product or change the faulty part.
I use to frost my contacts with thin sand paper when they are too shiny.
Chemical pollution, in big cities, is a big problem, omho. Worth than oxidation. Gold does not protect against them. I don't know why, but in the professional area, we do not use many gold for connectors.
And the seaside is a killer. Some time ago when we moved there, had the standard cased PC, and it died after a year. All the gold connects were slimed with an ugly, green muck; not very impressive ...
Frank
Darn, my invite got lost in the e-mail...
jn
You are always welcome, if you find yourself here just call and we can arrange a visit.
We had toads, lava-lamps, gargoyles, and turn-tables too.
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Aérosol 200 ml KF F2 Spécial contacts (1002) sur le site Internet Conrad | 065292
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It is funny, what you said about "bad recordings". For me it is exactly the contrary. I hear better any problem when the record is very clean and balanced, as it is more difficult for me to separate distortions from distortions.
But i do not listen to "my system" when i'm not working on it. I listen to music. And i do not take care of little details witch does not change the "life" of what i hear. Sound change with temperature, humidity, personal mood etc.. Little changes of fluidity, like the difference between a cold and a hot system, i can hear-them, but it do not too much bother-me.
As long i can have a piano i can believe in (if well recorded) , real brass sections and drums at their levels, and i can follow each part well localized and separated in front of me, I'm happy enough
May-be the habit to go from a studio to an other ?
I'm more bored by the records themselves. There is always something i don't like in them: Singers too loud in the mixes, unatural corrections on drums, too much compression on instruments, artificial reverbs i can identify, movements of faders or noise gates, saturated guitar solos too far in the mix etc.
Those i dislike the much are the ones which want to be impressive, unrealistic everywhere, like the Love over Gold Dire Strait album.
But i do not listen to "my system" when i'm not working on it. I listen to music. And i do not take care of little details witch does not change the "life" of what i hear. Sound change with temperature, humidity, personal mood etc.. Little changes of fluidity, like the difference between a cold and a hot system, i can hear-them, but it do not too much bother-me.
As long i can have a piano i can believe in (if well recorded) , real brass sections and drums at their levels, and i can follow each part well localized and separated in front of me, I'm happy enough
May-be the habit to go from a studio to an other ?
I'm more bored by the records themselves. There is always something i don't like in them: Singers too loud in the mixes, unatural corrections on drums, too much compression on instruments, artificial reverbs i can identify, movements of faders or noise gates, saturated guitar solos too far in the mix etc.
Those i dislike the much are the ones which want to be impressive, unrealistic everywhere, like the Love over Gold Dire Strait album.
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I'm sure a lot of it is listening with different ears -- you're listening from the perspective of someone who's responsible for creating a finished version of such a product. Much of the time. A film director would find it difficult to "switch off", watching a contemporary's effort, and seeing flaws and things he wouldn't do himself everywhere ...
Perhaps in some ways I'm more fortunate than you, I can just go with the "illusion", I have insufficient knowlege of what was done to "fake" it. Unless, I can hear the electronics, on my side, "working" ... as you can hear the hands of the sound engineer, on the "far side", working ...
Frank
Perhaps in some ways I'm more fortunate than you, I can just go with the "illusion", I have insufficient knowlege of what was done to "fake" it. Unless, I can hear the electronics, on my side, "working" ... as you can hear the hands of the sound engineer, on the "far side", working ...
Frank
Which is regarded by many to be a peak of recording skill ... I guess it's what you're after, I've just been listening to Yello, and everything there is fake, it's meant to be. But I enjoy hearing what the skill of montaging with sound achieves, and I would enjoy Dire Straits in the same way, essentially ...
If I wanted something "natural", which would perhaps appeal to you, then I would refer to a live double CD by Bondi Cigars that I listened to recently. Good, solid R&B by a sharp local band, beautifully recorded in a club environment; as real as it gets, without worrying about someone adjacent spilling alcohol on you ...
Frank
So true, (and the same when i watch a movie), but when the music is good, i forget everything, i'm just with the musicians. And when the movie is good, i'm just in the story, whatever the technical imperfections
Listen the drum kit: The snare drum is just awful, all in medium, no body, thin like a paper. The tom-toms have no resonanse, no skin, killed by the compressors. Just remain the attack and this luxurious artificial reverb witch give them no place in the room, I believe they have mixed on big enclosures not damped at all, creating false low medium, and wanted to add attack in a wrong way. The guitar of Knofler is nowhere too, drowned in all those effects. It is a produced album, no grove.
Now listen to some old albums of Larry Carlton, with Ab Laboriel and Steve Gadd
Or His session with BB King, in his studio, from his 'Friends" album !
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Ab Laboriel and Steve Gadd
The difference lies in the fact that theses two are genuines
musicians who , as such , have extreme control over their instruments
voicing , wich is not the case for average instrumentists as Knopfler...
And Carlton a genius, wich is not the case for an average musician as Knopfler.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0Q5QzsPTlc
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Read this comment from "Fetzilla - The Builders Place" thread:
I've been lucky enough to have recently built three amps, an LM3875 chip amp with regulated 28V rails and a 6DJ8 based tube buffer, a Hypex NC400 Ncore set of monos, and the highlight of course was the Fetzilla. I would be hard pressed to sell the Fetzilla, it is such a good amp. The thing I like about it most is the lack of listening fatigue, it's got all the attributes I like, punchy bass, detail etc, but the gem is in the relaxed presentation. When comparing it against the Ncore for example, the Ncores can sound more dynamic, more detail, however ultimately the Fetzilla always snuck back and replaced them after a while.
This is a typical review, by typical listeners. Like I said, it can be simply about taste, or it can be caused by listener's higher sensitivity or ability to feel the fatigue or appreciate "low level" information.
So, there is a possibility that some listeners may have very good ears to differentiate sound, but less sensitive or may be not experienced enough to discern this fatigue or low level distortion phenomena.
Listen the drum kit: The snare drum is just awful, all in medium, no body, thin like a paper. The tom-toms have no resonanse, no skin, killed by the compressors. Just remain the attack and this luxurious artificial reverb witch give them no place in the room, I believe they have mixed on big enclosures not damped at all, creating false low medium, and wanted to add attack in a wrong way. The guitar of Knoppfler is nowhere too, drowned in all those effects. It is a produced album, no grove.
Now listen to some old albums of Larry Carlton, with Ab Laboriel and Steve Gadd
I believe it is not too difficult to understand what Frank is saying here (But for some who do not have open mind character it can be very difficult).
My little tip is: forget first about recording "quality". Listen: do great musicians play music better? Do great singers sing better? Do expensive piano sound better? Good sound system should be able to expose the truth about this.
I like to try to catch the "emotion" in a sound (where high quality studio work may ruin it). Better is with LIVE performance (where low level information is usually still there). Video is good because we can relate the voice and sound with face impression (mimic).
Here are some of my favorite (may be not good enough from sound engineering perspective):
Eric Clapton Live In Hyde Park
Diana Krall Live In Paris
Norah Jones & The Handsome Band: Live in 2004
Dido Live In London
Looking at recent preamps / power amps on the market by Classe Audio, Meridian, Mark Levinson, Krell, Linn, Bryston etc that all received glowing reviews - all were built with large main PC boards with surface mount components and microprocessor controlled volume and selection functions. Each piece $15,000 to $25,000 or more. Repair would be tough, your out of luck if the manufacturer goes under, lots of features, but not a lot of long term viability... Don't even open a home theatre receiver with main filter caps the size of cigarettes. Nothing to leave your kids with your plywood speaker boxes when your gone, just throw it away and get a new one. Worst of all very hard to modify if you could afford them... What's a DIY guy to do?.. Just sit there and listen to the music? We'll have to see if Richard will share the Stolichnaya when he finds it.........
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Or people with no idea of what can be dynamic on micro details or loudspeakers unable to reproduce-it in a non distorded way ?
Like typical HQ peaks in medium due to cones resonances that most of the traditional enclosure produces, or, worse, non linearities in bad horns ?
Or people with no idea that a fatiguing source (many CD players or CD records) *have* to be reproduced in a fatiguing way ? As a brass section ?
Remember the review of Lazy Cat, comparing SSA to Ncore: "They are very similar in character and presentation" and all those reports about the SSA *fluidity* ?
It means, may-be they are both transparent, sounding so similar with so different technology ?
Did-you have heard a N400 ?
So many people reporting "Easy listening, good separation, light and fluidity of the Ncore...?
So many people comparing the both to tube amps ?
(Not trying to say any bad about fedzilla, a very good amp, since not enough detailed on my taste)
About listening fatigue, what do-you think ? (Just try to stay one hour in front of any UREI monitor at high level, awful experience !)
Sound engineers, working sometimes > 16 hours on in recording studios during decades not aware of fatigue for their system or the one of their own studio?
What about their ability to discern 'low level distortion', when *they* are responsible of the recordings you listen to ???
As far as i'm concerned, what fatigue-me most is the lack of details and separation, le lack of freedom witch oblige-me to more attention, or harsh amps like many high end amps i know sounding "loud".
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That is what I mean. What fatigue you can be different with what fatigue others. It's about taste, preference, if not something else.
Observe this phenomena experienced by many: When we were young, we listened to poor hifi, mostly with fullrange speaker. Then we were introduced to so called high end. We want that seducing highs, soundstage, details, separation, etc. Our system get more and more advanced and expensive. But there is that one truth: we lost those moment when we really enjoyed listening to our music. Or we then don't listen to music as much as we used to. Some have frustration, some do not even notice there is difference.
We have had great debates in this audio hobby, probably more than in other hobbies. What is the reason? Audio Electronics hobby is NOT only about listening to music. Some are happy designing in simulator without listening to any music. Some are happy to build a very good looking stuffs. Some are happy to solve problems such as to build the lowest THD amplifier. Some are happy posting in DIYAudio without building and listening anything...
When those people with different objective and background have to agree on something, you can see it is not always easy...
But some of us note those other who walk the same path, then quietly learn from each other.
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