Why most recordings sound like crap....

[flaevor]

I don't have a ton of experience recording, but a certain phenomena became clear to me as I accompanied a friend in the recording studio when he and his band did a demo.

Each member of the band was used to hearing a mix of the songs that depended greatly on the room acoustics and where he was standing while playing.
So then they go into the studio which was a completely different environment and none of them was hearing what they thought it should sound like.
I knew what they sounded like from a listeners point of view but nobody asked me how I would have mixed it.

The engineer in an effort to appease the different opinions and give it his own touch succeeded in destroying all the dynamics of their music and turning it into garbage.

The same friend moved on to bigger and better bands and equipment and recently told me how he wants to record in sort of a lo-fi sound. I guess out of artistic or nostalgic appeal.

After having gathered this info first hand I have started to believe that the Recording process isn't necessarily about fidelity but a creative process of it's own and yet it serves not one but many masters. Therfore it is not only likely, but almost a given that certain qualities will suffer in effort to serve the various masters (artist, engineer, label etc.).

Live and recording have since become two different worlds for me that will likely never unite. Those are my.02.

On the other hand I cannot explain why some recordings are just blatantly bad, not lo-fi just bad. I could give examples but that might be a little off topic.

[soongsc]

I agree that the recording process playes the major role, including the mixing process.

[fcotton]

I can make a recording that is almost as good as the orginal source so why cant I buy a recording that sounds good ?
record producers. thats why the sound on most cds sounds like crap
I can record a drum kit that sounds real on my home studio.
but I cant buy a cd that even comes close. tube amps have a form of hd thats makes music sound warm and cozy but it is still hd as high as 1% I Think Record companys keep the cd sounding bad so we will still buy lps on Paper the cd should sound better than anything else. but it doesnot.

[soongsc]

As flaevor mentioned. There are many situations where not all the ducks are lined up at one time in a recording. If you try to do them in multiple sessions independently the results are less than ideal.

Recording large scale live performances can also be complicated based on the type of instruments and the environment, and you only have one chance sometimes.

[Sam Lord]

Originally posted by soongsc

The original recording released on LP was great. When they first released the CD version, it was ****. The second release they made it right again, and changed the cover somewhat to distinguish between the two. I have both releases and notice the difference significantly.

I thought the second CD was about as good as you could do with a CD in the year that remastering happened--never heard the first. BTW, the stereo SACD is wonderful--have you heard it? They used a Meitner ADC. No mch mix, good for them. (It would have to be concocted from the 2 channels.) I also concur with rdegrove's list of great labels. Regards

[soongsc]

Originally posted by Sam Lord


I thought the second CD was about as good as you could do with a CD in the year that remastering happened--never heard the first. BTW, the stereo SACD is wonderful--have you heard it? They used a Meitner ADC. No mch mix, good for them. (It would have to be concocted from the 2 channels.) I also concur with rdegrove's list of great labels. Regards

Unfortunately I don't have an SACD player.

[phn]

Originally posted by AcuVox
Just picked up this thread and threadlets. Replies below:

1. "Commercial" music has sounded worse since patronage shifted from musically educated and adept aristocracy to status and entertainment seeking bourgeis circa 1800. Since most recording purchasers do not have a memory of what music sounds like (real music does not involve wires and speakers), it is not surprising that the major labels create melodramatic note-perfect renditions with overly warm, dynamically compressed, spatially confused sound.

But of course people have no memory. The people that had any memory of how music sounded in the 19th century are dead since long.

Music in the 20th century, and beyond, involves speakers and cables and electricity. The 20th century also involves cars, phones, computers, airplanes and a lot of other artificial and "unnatural" things that never existed before.