Most mics are a lot like one ear plugged. Of course, there are various stereo mics and stereo micing techniques. There is always some compromise, but pretty good sound can be picked up with just 2 mics. That can work well to capture a symphony performance, but not particularly useful for pop. Some examples can be found here: http://emerald.tufts.edu/programs/mma/mrap/StereoMicTechniques.pdf
Looks to me like there are more words in the Stereophile list than there are known cognitive biases: List of cognitive biases - Wikipedia And there are a lot of cognitive biases. 
Also, although one can make a dictionary of every word somebody ever uttered to describe hi-fi sound characteristics, I'm not sure how useful some of them are because many seem to describe a listener's mental experience and or source material properties as much as or more than a hi-fi system itself.
Do we have a way to work backwards from mental experience and or source material properties to something measurable or potentially measurable in a hi-fi system?
Also, although one can make a dictionary of every word somebody ever uttered to describe hi-fi sound characteristics, I'm not sure how useful some of them are because many seem to describe a listener's mental experience and or source material properties as much as or more than a hi-fi system itself.
Do we have a way to work backwards from mental experience and or source material properties to something measurable or potentially measurable in a hi-fi system?
In general I think the strong imaging of placement in soundstage is kind of a big lie. I've never been at a live performance that was etched or super distinct for sound in the way you could hear the shape of the instrument.
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I believe it is the firmware of our brain in charge of our hearing process, but the recording distance from an orchestra that gives more or less the same 'feeling' of distance than our listening position is a lot closer.
Agree, it is a illusion (which can be entertaining) that bears no resemblance to listening to live music.
Brand new two track tape..I forget what formulation.
Early nineties young rock band, all analog signal chain recorded to multitrack.
The multitrack mixed down and sent to two track cal'd to record 2dB 'hotter' to tape wrt metering (VU meters), ie magnetic reference level set 2dB higher than spec for that machine and tape for this 'single' release.
The two track rewound and played whilst standalone CD writer real time captured to physical CD.
All recordings restarted and ABC switched for comparison purposes.
Wrt the multitrack the two track sounded a bit squashed and (nicely) 'grungier' as expected/desired.
Wrt the two track the CD playback sounded slightly more 'distant' and loss of fine detail and nuance and 'groove'.
This was long time ago, of course AD conversion process has much improved and is an example of techniques used before digital ITB recording and effecting became practical or affordable.
This is also an example of deliberately overloading the tape to create an effect or signature sound.
The band went on to become 'famous' and IIRC the single went to #1 for a week or two.
Dan.
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In my youth there was a period where I could sing. I had the pleasure of singing in a couple of venues with 32' pipes that would go down to 16Hz. The lowest note was demo'd to us and can best be described as giving you a feeling of unease.
I've also witnessed a contrabassoon in action at the CSO and that is not the only thing that goes under 30Hz in an orchestra 🙂
I've also witnessed a contrabassoon in action at the CSO and that is not the only thing that goes under 30Hz in an orchestra 🙂
One of the instrument technicians at the music store where I worked didn't like working on contrabassoons because they made her eyeballs vibrate. 
Thanks Mr. Marsch
For bass power tests, electric bass is good.
For testing how clean bass comes out (distinct pitch and attack) , I prefer music with acoustic double bass ( I had posted a link to Charles Mingus album a few days ago)
Bill
Contrabassoon
Organ low notes, impressive. A room rattling tester 😀
George
This seems to be the case. It's unfortunate as moving the mics closer, the recorded mix of direct and reflected energy doesn't match a normal concert customer. The relation between "pluck sounds" and instrument timbre becomes something that is not heard at 8th row. Also, mics seem to be placed in odd positions like from the roof. I bet that the sound of an orchestra is not the same hanging from the roof as seated at 4th row. Jecklin disc seem to be a way to maintain a more real "distance" in recordings of what you hear at mic position.
In this field there are improvements to be made. I want more of the room but not the hollow, far down the hall, kind of sound e.g. as in some Water Lily recordings.
I has been done quite well in the old days it seems...
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I read somewhere that one classical record company said there is demand from people who buy a lot of symphonic recordings for close micing. They want to hear everything in great detail, more so than they could hear from the 8th row.
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Since the 70s there has been a drive for 'audiophile' recordings, but the press has been complaining about them all along. However the labels ignored that and we ended up in the stupid position where audiophiles would finally go to a concert and complain that their hifi sounded 'better'. So concert halls starting putting reinforcement in.
And then people wonder why living presence recordings are so cherished.
And then people wonder why living presence recordings are so cherished.
I remember, back in 70, the sound engineers in the radios, which were, at this time, specialized in classical recording, as well as the guys from Deutsche Grammophon or Decca, were joking at us, R'N'R guys, blaming our multi track close miking techniques.
And now ?
Decca started phase 4 in 1960 with close miking
DG was using the technique throughout the 60s and by 1970 was installing mix suites in symphony halls.
So RnR was only a decade behind classical 🙂
DG was using the technique throughout the 60s and by 1970 was installing mix suites in symphony halls.
So RnR was only a decade behind classical 🙂
I tend to think the contrary, as I said. If you want to match the same feeling of distance and room's reverberation, you have to put your mikes closer than your ears. Just record your speakers in your listening room from the place you sit, for a good illustration.
In fact, while it is always possible to bring "distance" to a close miked instrument by several methods ( sculpting the response curve+ adding artificial reverb), the contrary is, most of the time, impossible.
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actually, even that is becoming a target of DSP magic. There is new work in that area to deconvolute signals with too much room. And it appears to be working to some extent. I have no idea how it sounds, just some papers I've seen on it.
The new exciting world of tomorrow!!
Alan
The new exciting world of tomorrow!!
Alan
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