Sound of Massed Voices on CD

Posted by: Markus on 09 April 2002

Question--

Having recently upgraded from my cheap Denon to a cd3.5 I've been gratified at the almost universal improvement to music reproduction. Even my wife can easily appreciate the difference.

However, one CD I have in which a choir is singing truly sounds horrible, at least to me. I think my wife would probably say it sounds ok but to me the voices sound very ragged and somewhat distorted. I haven't had the time to do worthy comparisons to other cd's with choirs but I'm wondering if this is a function of the original recording, the mastering or simply a shortcoming of cd's. I think this cd was recorded in the early to mid 1990's.

Your experience is of interest here...

Markus

Posted on: 09 April 2002 by garyi

Indeed I had it down to CD for track 4 of Yes's fragile, but alas afterpicking a mint copy on vinyl I discovered the same mess at the end, therefore I have put it down to the recording, mabye true in your case.

Afterall if the recording is utter shite then the best kit in the world ain't gonna help it.

Posted on: 09 April 2002 by Former member

Markus,

IMO a choir is a tricky thing to record and play back. I usually take a choral piece with me to dem any equipment. What I'm looking for is that coherence that a good choir has, whilst being able to hear the range of textures that go make up the whole.

I guess you'll need to find a CD that you can compare with what your Linn makes of it...

What was the recording by the way?