On 27 Aug 2003 23:16:36 GMT, "Wylie Williams"
wrote:

John La Grou of Millennia Media, Inc. wrote
(p.s., I also found it amusing that an engineer looking for a
"natural" sound selected a "warm" micamp. Not that the end result
wasn't musically rich and beautiful, but "euphonic" and "accurate" are
usually mutually exclusive audio ideas.)

I have heard essentially that statement so many times from so many sources.
What is the conflict with euphonic (sounding good) and accurate, anyway?
What is our definition of "accurate" that makes it conflict with
"enjoyable"??

Wylie Williams


Wylie,

I don't see a conflict -- it's entirely dependent upon the producer's
artistic goals. For most classical music recording, the goal is to
"document" a performance, with minimal electrical artifacts. For this
goal, one usually selects a relatively flat, dynamically stable
recording path known to produce relatively neutral recordings.
Microphones that "lean towards accuracy" would include many models
from Schoeps, Sennheiser, DPA, Josephson, et al.

The pop recording world is a different animal. Often, a pop producer
seeks "bigger than life" sonic performance. A flat, accurate,
dynamically stable signal path may sound "anemic" when compared with
electronics that offer thick electrical artifacts (distortions /
non-linearities) which are sometimes characterized as "warm, rich,
silky, breathy, sparkling, punchy, cutting" and so forth. Some
examples of equipment which "leans towards euphony" would include old
Neve recording console modules, API recording modules, Helios
recording modules, Telefunken console modules, certain Neumann tube
mics, and so much more. Audio transformers, by the way, are often (not
always) a primary source of such coloration.

That said, there are a number of classical music recording engineers
who in fact prefer certain euphonic mics and signal path - you find
some in film scoring and record work. On a good system, you can
sometimes tell the engineer's work by the personality of their
recordings. Conversely, a number of pop engineers often reach for
"flat, accurate" electronics to achieve their goals.

Bottom Line: this is art. One person's "accurate" is another person's
"sterile." One person's "color" is another person's "grunge." As Bruce
Swedien told me once - "nobody ever left the record store humming the
recording path." If a piece of recorded music inspires you, it has
done its job - regardless of the technology used to achieve it.

Best wishes,
JL
http://www.mil-media.com