10-Dec-2017, 19:31
(This post was last modified: 10-Dec-2017, 19:36 by Music or sound.)
Neither analog nor digital sound is live sound, both distort the original acoustic event only in very different forms. I think present digital technology can come closer to record the original event but almost never does.
The main reason why digital and a lot analog recordings sound artificial because they are. We experience music with 2 ears in a room what means direct and indirect sound (and that is the reason why different rooms sound different). The recording techniques of the 50 to 60s tried reproduce this with 2 microphones but after the invention of the mixing console that approach was abandoned (except for a few small companies like MA). Now different instruments are close miced (now sometimes several microphones per instrument) and then assembled with a lot of processing into an artificial sound space. The natural time relationship of direct and indirect sound of the individual sound sources is not existing.
Most analog recording are produced in the same fashion as digital (even many from the major companies are derived from a digital recording) only that some of deficiencies are less obvious (and the compression issue is different between analog and digital).
I talked to some younger recording engineers and they only look at me as if I am from an other universe. My analogy is if you completely grown up with processed food you have a hard time to incorporate real food into your eating habit.
Basically it is not a technological problem but a conceptual one.
The main reason why digital and a lot analog recordings sound artificial because they are. We experience music with 2 ears in a room what means direct and indirect sound (and that is the reason why different rooms sound different). The recording techniques of the 50 to 60s tried reproduce this with 2 microphones but after the invention of the mixing console that approach was abandoned (except for a few small companies like MA). Now different instruments are close miced (now sometimes several microphones per instrument) and then assembled with a lot of processing into an artificial sound space. The natural time relationship of direct and indirect sound of the individual sound sources is not existing.
Most analog recording are produced in the same fashion as digital (even many from the major companies are derived from a digital recording) only that some of deficiencies are less obvious (and the compression issue is different between analog and digital).
I talked to some younger recording engineers and they only look at me as if I am from an other universe. My analogy is if you completely grown up with processed food you have a hard time to incorporate real food into your eating habit.
Basically it is not a technological problem but a conceptual one.
