Poor Recording or just my ears?
Posted by: Happy Chick on 28 November 2005
I was wondering if anyoe has
I am Kloot = Gods & Monsters.
At Home on Naim system 202/200/cd5i it sounds crap
At Fellas house 202/200/cdx2 also crap
At work on TEAC sound almost ok.
Does anyone else have this problem? I think it must be a bard recording?
Also I bought Roisin Murphy - Ruby Blue. Not really my music type but love it. Anyone know anything similar I can try.
Veronika
Posted on: 28 November 2005 by nicnaim
Does anyone else have this problem? I think it must be a bard recording?
What as in Shakespearian?
Nic
Posted on: 28 November 2005 by J.N.
The latest Rolling Stones CD sounds shite on a good system, but OK on a crap system or car radio.
Fleetwood Mac's 2003 'Say You Will' is the same (and I've tried EU and USA made copies) - The remastered 'Rumours' from 30 years ago, pisses on it for sound quality.
Sometimes I wonder why we bother?
John.
Posted on: 28 November 2005 by Bas V
quote:
Sometimes I wonder why we bother?
And, any answers?
Posted on: 28 November 2005 by Bob McC
I've got Gods and Monsters on vinyl - it sounds ok to me!
Posted on: 28 November 2005 by bhazen
It's that old syndrome of "mixing for the mass market", who have music players that smear the details. Thus the emphasis on Charlie's drums punching through on A Bigger Bang.
One recording studio I do sessions for would always play back a newly mastered CD in the coffee lounge, on a system comprising Sony CDP, JVC receiver and Bose 301s from a quarter-century ago, which they saw as a sort of random average of what the real public was using. They recently added one of those bloated shelf/boombox things - a Chav system? - with all the flashing lights from Circuit City or wherever as an updated version of the same thing
Posted on: 28 November 2005 by Steve2701
There was an excellent thread somewhere on here not so long ago about the death of Dynamic Range and the way recording / mastering techniques are pandering to MP3 & getting the best out of radio airtime. Think this sounds very familiar to what happened in that thread.
It can be found
here the web url 'sobering' is well woth looking at.
Posted on: 28 November 2005 by Martin D
I bought the latest U2 album, its bloody rubbish on my olive/SBL stuff - but its kind-of OK-ish in the car! Explain that one.
Martin
Posted on: 28 November 2005 by clifftaylor
OK. Your system reveals all of the compression etc the recording underwent to make it sound "better" on an average system, or indeed, in your car. Which is why it sounds better in your car!!
Cliff
Posted on: 28 November 2005 by Spock
It's only fair that poor recordings should carry a health warning on the packaging. "This is a shite recording and will sound crap on a decent system" would do nicely.
Spock
Posted on: 28 November 2005 by jayd
Santana - Supernatural
Compressed to a flat line. Painfully lifeless at home, good fun on road trips.
(Conversely, a lot of really dynamic stuff (especially some *good* classical and jazz recordings) are terrible in the car.)
Posted on: 29 November 2005 by Guido Fawkes
quote:
Originally posted by Martin D:
I bought the latest U2 album, its bloody rubbish. Explain that one.
Martin
You've answered your own question, it's a U2 album.
Sorry.
Posted on: 29 November 2005 by Guido Fawkes
quote:
Originally posted by Spock:
It's only fair that poor recordings should carry a health warning on the packaging. "This is a shite recording and will sound crap on a decent system" would do nicely.
Spock
Or just put Phil Collins on the sticker, surely it amounts to the same thing.
Posted on: 29 November 2005 by Nime
Hands up those who think the present recorded music industry deserves to crash and burn?
Posted on: 29 November 2005 by cider glider
Try "Statues" by Moloko.
Mark S
quote:
Originally posted by Happy Chick:
Also I bought Roisin Murphy - Ruby Blue. Not really my music type but love it. Anyone know anything similar I can try.
Veronika
Posted on: 29 November 2005 by J.N.
quote:
I bought the latest U2 album, its bloody rubbish on my olive/SBL stuff - but its kind-of OK-ish in the car! Explain that one.
Sounds like it's engineered for the ubiquitous i-pod market Martin.
The other worrying current trend is dual layer (CD/SACD) discs. I just got the latest John Hiatt album - 'Master Of Disaster' in this format, and it sounds poor. I have other USA copies of earlier JH albums on normal CD, which sound very good.
I e-mailed 'East West' records to ask if it's available in pure CD format. The answer was "No", and the nice lady in marketing explained to me that the recording quality of this dual layer disc is 'exemplary'.
This is what we're up against chaps.
John.
Posted on: 29 November 2005 by u5227470736789439
Dear friends,
Related but not quite the same. Is this why far too many modern classical recordings major on ambience, depth of perspective, and precise imaging at the expense of musical expressive precision?
I have been grumbling about the decline in recording quality for thirty years, but fortunatly most of my favourite musicians, who made reecords, died before the rot set in too badly! Sadly a case, I fear, of people prefering sound to music...
All the best from Fredrik
Posted on: 29 November 2005 by Stephen Tate
quote:
Originally posted by ROTF:
quote:
Originally posted by Spock:
It's only fair that poor recordings should carry a health warning on the packaging. "This is a shite recording and will sound crap on a decent system" would do nicely.
Spock
Or just put Phil Collins on the sticker, surely it amounts to the same thing.
or cliff richard.
Posted on: 29 November 2005 by Phil Cork
Coldplay X&Y sounds terrible at any real listening volume on my CDX/XPS/102/hi/180...
Posted on: 30 November 2005 by Merto
quote:
I e-mailed 'East West' records to ask if it's available in pure CD format. The answer was "No", and the nice lady in marketing explained to me that the recording quality of this dual layer disc is 'exemplary'.
Might it have been that the recording quality actually was good but it was showing shortcomings in production quality? Production as in recording production and/or in manufacturing production.
Posted on: 30 November 2005 by j8hn
Hi Happy,
Pretty typical of this forum, you ask a question and do you get an answer? Do you get ppl just posting irrelevant pants?
Well here we go, yes I do have "G & M" on cd trouble is it's an Echo cdr promo. This cd sounds ok/good, it's not a great recording but it's very listenable [fortunately it's a damn good album]. It sounds like it was put together in a cheap studio but with a decent engineer who's managed to capture everything cleanly and with very little production [low-fi?!] but there are lots of clicks and pops and eg guitar amp noise and guitar-lead crackle.
Could be that my cdr copy was made straight off the master at the studio and that your commercial copy has been messed up in the mastering/manufacturing process.
Posted on: 01 December 2005 by Chumpy
There are many CDs which I perceive to sound good to me on cheaper system, and which appear to me to sound not good on more expensive things. I think this is possibly true for many other recordings, maybe including the specifics you mention.
Posted on: 01 December 2005 by Steve2701
As posted by j8hn :-
quote:
Hi Happy,
Pretty typical of this forum, you ask a question and do you get an answer? Do you get ppl just posting irrelevant pants?
I take it you didn't bother to read thread that I posted a link to then?
This has been covered in depth & detail there, not so long ago.....
quote:
Posted Mon 24 January 2005 04:59
Hi Paul,
Yeah. I thought this was an interesting thing to be aware of.
quote:
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he said that marketing considerations usually outweigh the judgement of the recording/mastering engineers - essentially, engineers are "required" to produce discs to meet the requirements of the mass market i.e. car stereos, ghetto blasters etc which have limited bandwidth.
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Having involved in broadcast/advertising field, I am familiar of this practice. When we do the final soundcheck, the ultimate test is to put it though 'SL' ( Shitty Little ) monitor.
This can be a dilemma for anyone who's interested or invest in a better hi-fi. Most hi-end stuff goes for the accuracy and this is exactly the reason most mainstream music does not sound great on a hi-end rig.
On a personal level, I always *tune* or select a system so that it can play the music I play most. ( which are not pristine audiophile recordings at all ).
I want to play 'More Human than Human' LOUD without wincing yet with plenty of life.
I know many audiophiles who only play well-recorded material regardless of programs. Or avoid listening to a particular music all together simply because their system is unlistenable.YOu know the ppl. who only play *choice* cuts totalling oh.. 15 CDs or records or so over and over.
This begs the question. A truely accurate and revealisng system might not be a good thing for some. What good is it to have a low distortion gear only to reproduce more distortion on a recording faithfully?
Interesting is that properly set up Naim system does not bucher bad recordings. They will let me know that the recording isn't up to snuf, but somehow it remains engaging. This is not exclusive to the Naim, there are others I have heard that can do this. It's almost like a transprent *filter* or EQ effect.
quote:
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1. This is not uniquely applicable to CD - it happened with vinyl too (Sex Pistols etc)
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Yes. I realise that also. Some of the records sound unbearably bad over others depending on pressing.
And it seems analogue playback has less mercy on bad ones.
quote:
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2. If you want to listen to music at home, you are basically stuck with whatever the recording engineers give you.
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Yep.
And I am trying to make the best out of 'em.
quote:
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3. Thankfully, this problem is mainly (though unfortunately not exclusively) applicable to "mainstream" music (AKA Pop) & "serious" artists often demand some input in the recording process & the results speak for themselves.
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Well, what consitutes *serious* artists?
I've read somewhere that dynamic compression in Joni Mitchell's 'Court & Spark' is intentional as Joni wanted it that way. In my book she's certainly a *serious* artist.
The problem, at least for me, is that so-called *serious* or audiophile label artist's music is seriously boring and lacklustre.( Pat Barber and Jazz at Pawn shop come to mind )
I sure hate to own a system who picks a recording for me.
Thanks for your insights.
So please dont tar everyone with the same 'pants' brush
Posted on: 01 December 2005 by j8hn
Hi Chick,
Yes the Roisin Murphy is surprisingly good, whereas she could've easily cashed in on the commercial success of Sing it Back, she has instead chosen to "experiment".
But I digress, HC asked a specific question about a specific cd and instead of a specific answer [as I gave] her post was waffled all over.
The squawk box thing is something of an urban myth. If an album is well recorded it will sound good on all systems eg the new Madonna cd has been made for the mass market, and I've so far only heard it on mp3, but the sound is terriffic.
Studio equipment is very analytical, the sound engineer must be able to hear every little cough, fret buzz, flat note etc etc. It's very difficult to step back after a mix and take an objective view of the sound "new ears" help to do this and listening back through domestic speakers can help provide these.
Posted on: 04 December 2005 by Guy D
This all reminds me of the Tubular Bells vinyl of many years ago, now in the loft and so not easily accessible. There was small print on the cover along the lines of:
This is a stereo recording and will sound shite on a tin box little player.
Nice to hear that current artists are as proud of their end product.
Guy
Posted on: 04 December 2005 by JonR
quote:
Pretty typical of this forum, you ask a question and do you get an answer? Do you get ppl just posting irrelevant pants?
I do hope no-one posts their pants on this forum.
If they do I shall leave immediately.
