Why do the recording engineers record the bass drum so out of proportion
to the rest of the orchestra? When I set up my subs to get proper
balance with the low strings (I'm talking classical music) then along
comes the bass drum to overpower everything. Not all recordings do this
but many of them do.


---MIKE---

---MIKE--- wrote:
Why do the recording engineers record the bass drum so out of
proportion to the rest of the orchestra? When I set up my subs to
get proper balance with the low strings (I'm talking classical music)
then along comes the bass drum to overpower everything. Not all
recordings do this but many of them do.


---MIKE---

I think most recordings are quite well balanced in the bass, exept those
"boom your woofer" ones for testing car audio.
It's probably because you have set up your gear in a wrong way, or the
placement is wrong or the room is not enough dampened or you have bought a
cheap boombox, probably all together.
--
ciao Ban
Bordighera, Italy

---MIKE--- wrote:
Why do the recording engineers record the bass drum so out of proportion
to the rest of the orchestra? When I set up my subs to get proper
balance with the low strings (I'm talking classical music) then along
comes the bass drum to overpower everything. Not all recordings do this
but many of them do.

I share your objection to this practice. Sometimes it may be due to a
desire to make the drum more audible on systems with limited LF extension.
It's also impressive to some who don't have much exposure to actual live
orchestras.

IOW, it sells.

Ban, I have four subs spaced throughout the room. I have a Rane 1/3
octave equalizer and a Rane 1/3 octave spectrum analyzer. I try to
balance the system so I can hear the lowest notes of the string bass.
So far so good UNTIL the stupid bass drum comes in. I have recordings
that DON'T do this (Teldec seems to be one of the best) but some of them
are terrible. I'm sure this is purposely done to sound impressive on
average systems.


---MIKE---

In article , "Ban"
wrote:

---MIKE--- wrote:
Why do the recording engineers record the bass drum so out of
proportion to the rest of the orchestra? When I set up my subs to
get proper balance with the low strings (I'm talking classical music)
then along comes the bass drum to overpower everything. Not all
recordings do this but many of them do.

I think most recordings are quite well balanced in the bass, exept those
"boom your woofer" ones for testing car audio.
It's probably because you have set up your gear in a wrong way, or the
placement is wrong or the room is not enough dampened or you have bought a
cheap boombox, probably all together.

Mike, how about a specific example?

Stephen

PS I haven't noticed this effect on my Quads!

In article ,
(---MIKE---) wrote:

I'm sure this is purposely done to sound impressive on
average systems.

Well then you have answered your own question.

Stephen, An example of a bad recording is EMI D 106294 - R. Strauss.
This was recorded in Japan with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The bass
drum suddenly intrudes and spoils the music. A good example is Teldec
0630-13698-2. Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 4 and Romeo and Juliet. The
bass drum is there (and fairly loud) but it doesn't intrude like in the
former example. There are many other "bad" recordings. I'm sure they
sound great if you don't have sub woofers.


---MIKE---