see above 😀I was working tonight with a band in the next room - and driving about on a Friday night hearing live music spill out of the clubs. Live music is often very messy - especially the drums. It just doesn't sound recorded. I still don't know why.
And the odd thing is that we had a hell of a lot less dynamic range available before digital. It is a symptom of "I want it all now.
perhaps model 1984, or the "Big Brother" 🙂
I know where you are coming from on the compression etc, but look at CD recordings from the 80's that DO work well on various systems and compare those to recordings of today.
There is a BIG difference in the dynamic range. Modern day recordings tend to be squeezed within an inch of their life. Everything is squashed together in an almost equally loud mismash of sound. I assume the reason is that to get decent volume out of an iphone/ipod the recording needs to be close to the limits.
Tony.
I'm a dumass and it went over my head!
Dynamic range? Could be....
What, you didn't like my 2nd guess at the model number?
I do know what you're talking about, about the intensity of the sound - that's what I'm after. The point is not to keep your ear that close to something that produces the transient dB peaks, somewhere between 130 and 140dB, all the time - the drummer certainly doesn't, otherwise he would be visiting the audiologist every other week.The real dynamic range of a close miced rock snare drum without mechanical or electrical compression would not be tolerable. Don't believe me? Stick your ear 4 inches from a snare drum played with brushes or lightly, then whacked a few times. You will not be worried about hifi much after that. Hard truth. You need either efficient speakers or more speakers to approach what we *could* give you. Small speakers and big amps are either going to compress or blow. And that really is a fact.
If you're happy to listen significantly far away from real instruments that go that loud then something that can crest at 120dB @ 1m will be fine - a future project would be to get clean 132dB @ 1m peaks, to 'perfectly' mimic the real thing.
Sorry, the small speakers and amps that work properly can do it - recreate the intensity of live sound, where the sound feels like it's completely invading your skull - without problems. I've been there many times - systems that are a bit dud are the ones that end up blowing speakers, etc ...
Oh crap. I am afraid to reread that one. 1984 and Anthym are prescient enough to keep Gillette in biz without my wrists.
Model # 4LG-2LB = Four Legs Good - Two Legs Bad
(some cables are more equal than others)
Another good test. You should be able to wind up a system inside the house, go outside, and hear "live music spill out" of the door. That tells you that you're in the ballpark, in terms of cleanness and SPLs ...I was working tonight with a band in the next room - and driving about on a Friday night hearing live music spill out of the clubs. Live music is often very messy - especially the drums. It just doesn't sound recorded. I still don't know why.
oo oo i got one!
fatigue induced by digital playback, filtration and amplification. Lets drive a 10 grand rpeaker with a 20quid T amp. Major headache.
fatigue induced by digital playback, filtration and amplification. Lets drive a 10 grand rpeaker with a 20quid T amp. Major headache.
It's been about fifty years since I've read Orwell -- however I recall it as "Two legs good, four legs better!" Nineteen Eighty Four would make a terribly dumb model number.
Anyhow, I'm so glad to have my crown back from repair and was listening to Schubert piano sonatas at moderately high volume on my B&W's at dinner. The bass was smooth but a little fatiguing, so I forwent a second bottle and switched to laird's apple brandy.
Anyhow, I'm so glad to have my crown back from repair and was listening to Schubert piano sonatas at moderately high volume on my B&W's at dinner. The bass was smooth but a little fatiguing, so I forwent a second bottle and switched to laird's apple brandy.
Yes! Exactly! A terribly dumb model number for a high end cable but this time fairly marketed as the name itself is a warning not to be duped. OK then. How about "IQ Test Interconnect" and model RUA0. I will go with that.
It's been about fifty years since I've read Orwell -- however I recall it as "Two legs good, four legs better!" Nineteen Eighty Four would make a terribly dumb model number.
Anyhow, I'm so glad to have my crown back from repair and was listening to Schubert piano sonatas at moderately high volume on my B&W's at dinner. The bass was smooth but a little fatiguing, so I forwent a second bottle and switched to laird's apple brandy.
One needs not be close. A small speaker box can not do anywhere near the dynamic range of a simple snare. Not even close. I get that this is tough to grok.
I do know what you're talking about, about the intensity of the sound - that's what I'm after. The point is not to keep your ear that close to something that produces the transient dB peaks, somewhere between 130 and 140dB, all the time - the drummer certainly doesn't, otherwise he would be visiting the audiologist every other week.
If you're happy to listen significantly far away from real instruments that go that loud then something that can crest at 120dB @ 1m will be fine - a future project would be to get clean 132dB @ 1m peaks, to 'perfectly' mimic the real thing.
Sorry, the small speakers and amps that work properly can do it - recreate the intensity of live sound, where the sound feels like it's completely invading your skull - without problems. I've been there many times - systems that are a bit dud are the ones that end up blowing speakers, etc ...
The topic is fatigue, not what this person or that cannot live with or without in general.
If you think music with no bass does not induce fatigue what can I say??
It will never sound right.
Rob🙂
Okay, we'll do another round then ... 🙂One needs not be close. A small speaker box can not do anywhere near the dynamic range of a simple snare. Not even close. I get that this is tough to grok.
A simple Google, from DRUMMERWORLD - The World of Drummers and Drums, a discussion on dB's of the loudest snare hit, a rimshot - fairly general agreement of people in the game that 120dB, at the ear of the drummer, is about the number.
Okay, this is all small driver stuff, no mighty 12" need apply - so, as mentioned before, a driver of decent capacity, and good amp will do it. Hells bells, I can walk into a good muso's store and pick up a nothing looking active monitor, at a reasonable cost, that proudly states: capable of better than 120dB sound level at the ears for a pair.
Of course that pro monitor will do a lousy job of the snare - I've heard how wimpy they actually sound - but that's the fault of the lousy electronics inside the units, the internal power supplies are completely gutless ...
More to it ..transients. And if all the speaker had reproduce was the sound from that distance we would be fine.We mic the damn things in pop from inches and we have come to rely on that smack. You would not believe times spent on snare drum dynamics. The inverse square law will get you here.In fact the sound of the snare drum in pop music is largely the sound of the compressors used to shape the transients. We are dealing with dynamics on a macro scale.
Okay, we'll do another round then ... Truth, the speakers will certainly be the weak link in dynamics here by magnitudes as mechanical devices have this annoying problem with inertia.🙂
A simple Google, from DRUMMERWORLD - The World of Drummers and Drums, a discussion on dB's of the loudest snare hit, a rimshot - fairly general agreement of people in the game that 120dB, at the ear of the drummer, is about the number.
Okay, this is all small driver stuff, no mighty 12" need apply - so, as mentioned before, a driver of decent capacity, and good amp will do it. Hells bells, I can walk into a good muso's store and pick up a nothing looking active monitor, at a reasonable cost, that proudly states: capable of better than 120dB sound level at the ears for a pair.
Of course that pro monitor will do a lousy job of the snare - I've heard how wimpy they actually sound - but that's the fault of the lousy electronics inside the units, the internal power supplies are completely gutless ...
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I appreciate the difficulty with miking drums, the SPLs the little things have to handle are amazing. However, there is a school of thought that all this over-miking of drums is not necessary, judicious pickup from a single decent unit at a reasonable distance can do an excellent job as well - but I don't want to get into a back and forth about that!!
The key thing, to me, is to get the drums sounding like drums: if the pickup is from a single mic from about a metre away then a playback system should be to recreate what that mic heard, at that position - a not unreasonable thing I would have thought ... 🙂
The key thing, to me, is to get the drums sounding like drums: if the pickup is from a single mic from about a metre away then a playback system should be to recreate what that mic heard, at that position - a not unreasonable thing I would have thought ... 🙂
Totally agree. But the sound required by convention completely at odds with natural drums.I've literally spent a lifetime getting that "perfect" compressed ultra transient enriched sound for drummers.
I appreciate the difficulty with miking drums, the SPLs the little things have to handle are amazing. However, there is a school of thought that all this over-miking of drums is not necessary, judicious pickup from a single decent unit at a reasonable distance can do an excellent job as well - but I don't want to get into a back and forth about that!!
The key thing, to me, is to get the drums sounding like drums: if the pickup is from a single mic from about a metre away then a playback system should be to recreate what that mic heard, at that position - a not unreasonable thing I would have thought ... 🙂
Hey fas42, I just-realized you cited Drummerworld as an authority. You probably made their day, much amused having written for that parent company (-:
I would say the same but I could only say this when the mid-bass is integrated with the midrange, and this puts this in doubt. I can feel the mid-bass like I'd feel a room but maybe I'm not focussing on what I'm also hearing.I hear most of the spacial cues in the mid-bass.
My experience with spatial cues where the mid-bass is good but not integrated, is they are not as correct and not always present. Maybe this only a 'fatigue' type issue?
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