[Bill[_20_]]

In message , Mike Rivers
writes
On 7/4/2019 4:19 AM, John Williamson wrote:
I have listened in the past to the same choir performing the same
programme in a large, fairly empty church and a modern, dead space,
where sound reinforcement had to be used, and while the former sounded
"live", the latter sounded as though they were playing a CD through
the PA system.

And this "dead space" sound is what those who want to get rid of all
warts and blemishes want to hear. It's a matter of conditioning. When
mowing the lawn, they'd prefer hearing a CD played through earbuds than
enjoy a live band playing on the porch. Lawn mower engines are SOOOOO
annoying!

It is also a matter of where and how you are listening to a recording.
Finger squeaks on a CD played repeatedly in the lounge could be much
more noticeable than the same squeaks in a one-off live concert.

But then, I'm firmly in the leave the warts in camp (within reason), and
have a particular fetish about being able to hear perspective in a
recording. Particularly when mixing straight down to stereo (eg for live
broadcast) in pop, country or folk music, where I hate the way that many
engineers spend ages faffing about with multiple drum mics, leaving
little time for the rest of the sound check. My, no doubt out of date,
observation was that inevitably the mix ended with the kit too far
forward and too loud.

This is now well away from the original question. I would hate this
discussion to deter John from his hopes and ambitions for the church.
--
Bill