[Angus Kerr]

On Tuesday, October 6, 2015 at 1:16:13 AM UTC+2, Scott Dorsey wrote:
-snip-

Popular conventions change, though... and if you make recordings based
on popular conventions, they are recordings that will sound dated in a
few years, the same way ping-pong stereo sounds dated today, the same way
aggressive plate reverb on vocals sounds dated.

R&B cliche - vocals dripping in reverb and the ubiquitous wind chimes.....
The horrible reverb - gated snare of the eighties (Phil Collins in the air tonight example) - combined with those horrible cheesy keyboard sounds that sounded like a swarm of angry insects..
The cardboard sounding overmuted toms and snare of the seventies...


Listen to some of the DG classical recordings of the eighties, with aggressive
sectional miking, everything moving around all the time... does not sound very
much like an orchestra and nobody would make a recording like that today.

I've got a couple of these, care to cite an example?

But the standard of hall realism stays pretty much the same.


What is the perfect location in front of an orchestra for listening? I've had the privilege of conducting one, and the sound is pretty awesome from the podium....

I've listened to a world class Orchestra in the 3rd row in a good hall, and I could hear everything, albeit in a more blended way.

I've got an 80's recording of LSO with Sir Colin Davis ... listening to it with my eyes closed, I could hear him breathing and snorting - I liked that..

With orchestras though, I find close miking doesn't allow the sound of the instrument to develop as it should - as a violin player, I know that a lapel mike close to the bridge does not give a good sound - some screechiness, OK a LOT of screechiness and other sounds that should not be heard, like low frequency bumps on bow changes, white noise generated by the bow hairs being drawn across the string, etc., they are just not heard a few feet away. Plus then you have the added problem of balance of different player's sound where a certain player becomes dominant and you don't get the 'section sound'.

As usual, we are miles of topic now..

-Angus.