Home Recording's Dirty Little Secret

What were your home recording expectations vs commercial high end studio recordings?


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SonicA's replay is dead nuts on target (as always). Everyone is really bareing their soul here.

There are just so many claims out there. Separating the wheat from the chaff can be time consuming and expensive. This is where our community here helps out.

I would like to offer a nugget of gold. Getting to a more commercial sound involves getting your mix to sound wide without getting washed out. Check out UpStereo. This plug is worth many times its cost.....$0. Its a fabulous plug for helping you get your home recorded mixes closer to a commercial level. It is a gem and one of my favorites. Work with it, tweak it. A little means a lot.

http://www.quikquak.com/Prod_UpStereo.html

I highly recommend this one.

interesting sounding plugin. I could hear that being cool on some vocals. There are some weird smearing artifacts, but not nearly as much as there usually are with this type of thing. Sweet...and there's a mac AU version...downloading.
 
For those that haven’t heard of Walter Sear of Sear sound, I suppose people like Robert Moog, Sir George Martin, Steve Albini and Bruce Swedien probably don’t ring a bell either… very sad.

As far as succeeding by working the hardest... I agree with that as long as the hard working person has the knowledge to choose and use the proper tools.

The person digging a hole with a spoon is working harder than the one using a shovel.

Zeal must be based on knowledge and I see a poor grasp in many areas among many people on these web forums… a lack of historical context, a poor grasp of the fundamentals and misconceptions about current issues in technology.

So there is another "Secret" which is simply knowing what's really going on outside of amateur circles. Many people in this particular thread obviously have knowledge outside of these forums, but others have no idea and rely much too heavily on manufacturer sponsored, product-driven forums.

But this condition isn’t terminal, and I only bring it to your attention so those that are serious about music recording will consider branching out a bit when it comes to their sources.

:)
 
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For those that haven’t heard of Walter Sear of Sear sound, I suppose people like Robert Moog, Sir George Martin, Steve Albini and Bruce Swedien probably don’t ring a bell either… very sad.

:)


Read many many books with interviews and anecdotes with Robert Moog, Sir George Martin, Steve Albini and Bruce Swedien.

Those names ring a bell. Never ever heard of Walter Sear.

A wiki search on him produced a very small article, which doesn't actually list any credits.


But, here is his web site.

searsound.com

Client List :

ABC “DAY ONE”
INDIA ARIE
JOE ARTHUR
BJÖRK
BLINK 182
BLUE NOTE ALL STARS
BOSS HOG
THE BREEDERS
EDIE BRICKELL
“A BRONX TALE” – ROBERT DeNIRO
DAVID BOWIE
PEABO BRYSON
KENNY BURRELL
DON BYRON
RON CARTER
DANIEL CARTIER
ROSANNE CASH
CBS “UP TO THE MINUTE”
CHARLES & EDDIE
CHAVEZ
ALEX CHILTON
CIBO MATTO
ERIC CLAPTON
SHAWN COLVIN
HOLLY COLE
LLOYD COLE
PAULA COLE
JUDY COLLINS
CHICK COREA
DANGERMAN
DINOSAUR, JR.
DAVE DOUGLAS
BOB DYLAN
JONATHAN EDWARDS
EXPOSE
HOLLY FAITH
DON FLEMING
FOOL'S PROGRESS
NNEENNA FREELON
FUEL
FUN LOVING CRIMINALS
STEVE GADD
JEFFREY GAINES
KENNY GARRETT
JEFF GOLUB
JULIANA HATFIELD
SOPHIE B. HAWKINS
HELMET
JOE HENDERSON
HOLE
BOB JAMES ("FOURPLAY")
ELVIN JONES
NORAH JONES
FREEDY JOHNSTON
JUSTICE SYSTEM
KEVIN KILLEN
EDDIE KRAMER
LENNY KRAVITZ
BEN KWELLER
CHUCK LAVELLE
LEMONHEADS
SEAN LENNON
JOHN LEVENTHAL
STEVE LILLYWHITE
LISA LOEB
LUNA
WYNTON MARSALIS
NATALIE MERCHANT
MONSTER MAGNET
MAXWELL
SIR PAUL McCARTNEY
LIZA MINELLI
JANE MONHEIT
THELONIUS MONK, Jr.
THE MURMURS
NBC SPORTS
ME'SHELL NDEGOCELLO
NICKELODEON
YOKO ONO
JOAN OSBORNE
HUGH PADGHAM
HOLLY PALMER
PHISH
THE POSIESRAKE'S PROGRESS
BERNARD PURDIE
PHIL RAMONE
RASPUTINA
LEON REDBONE
JOSH REDMAN
LOU REED
RUFUS REID
DARIUS RUCKER
PHAROAH SANDERS
GUNTHER SCHULLER
PATTI SCIALFA
JIMMY SCOTT
SCREAMING TREES
SEXTON BROTHERS
PAUL SHAFFER
ANUSHKA SHANKAR
DUNCAN SHEIK
BOBBY SHORT
WAYNE SHORTER
MARVIN "SMITTY" SMITH
PATTI SMITH
PHOEBE SNOW
SONIC YOUTH
SOUL ASYLUM
SOUL COUGHING
STEELY DAN
CRAIG STREET
THE STROKES
SYSTEMS OF A DOWN
TAJ MAHAL
THE THE
THE TINDERSTICKS
JEREMY TOBACK
TREY LORENZ
TRICKY
TRIPLE FAST ACTION
TUSCADERO
STEPHAN VAN ZANDT
VISION OF DISORDER
LOUDEN WAINRIGHT
JOHN WAITE
WANDERLUST
MAX WEINBERG 7
WILCO
MARION WILLIAMS
CASSANDRA WILSON
PETER WOLF
YOU AM I
SUZANNE VEGA
JOHN ZORN



Obviously he's very important....... that's quite a client list !

Is he.... deceased? Maybe since he's not in EQ magazine, or Behind the Glass, I've never heared of him.
 
great vs good vs okay

I was sort of a thrift-shop audiophile and LP collector before becoming a home recordist, so I already sort of had an ear for what "great" was and what "good" was. I'm working on producing something that is "okay..."

"Good" will come, but I never considered getting everything to really sound "great." I don't have the gear, or the musicians on hand-- although a few of my bandmates could definitely do, and have done, pro recording dates. (Not me!) And I definitely don't personally have the engineering chops or knowledge, just enough natural talent to BS my way to, like I said, "okay."
 
Yeah, there's a level playing field all right, but not in the way you probably mean. The bar was lowered to level the field. It’s pretty much the way Walter Sear says it...

"As the professional studios switched to digital recording, the sound got so bad that anyone could do it as badly at home using the same equipment or the newer, cheaper home digital multi-tracks. They got the same terrible,unmusical results. Why spend money on a professional studio if you could do the same thing at home."
- Walter E. Sear
What have They Done to My Art?

Mr. Sear may be the best thing since sliced bread, but the comment is equivalent to "this new piano is a pale imitation to the harpsichord".:D Sorry, but it doesnt mean squat to me what he thinks. Technology is technology, music is music. Its not that music suddenly ceased to exist, I know a gazillion kickass musicians in my town alone. Mr Sears has a certain sentimentality, but its unfounded. Ye olde "They dont make em like they used to" argument doesnt really stand up.

A good classic recording to listen to is "Tommy". Thats one of the worst sounding albums I have ever heard, and some of the worst performances ever captured on tape.:D Musicians have become considerably better, and so has the technology to record them. As to why one hears shit on top 40 radio, thats a completely different subject and a different thread.

Musicians, acousticians, technicians, etc didnt suddenly stop getting better, now or in any time in history. To suggest this would be insanity. In the past 20 years, some of the worlds great concert halls have been built. Others, like ours in Cleveland, have been refurbished and sound WAAAAY better. The Chicago symphony hall used to be so crappy that they would travel 150 miles to record at the Univ of Illinois. They finally re-did it and it sounds great.

Why would recording go the opposite?? It doesnt make sense, it just seems to be misguided nostalgia. I can only speak for myself, but I'm not an idiot.:D If I thought ANYTHING sounded better, I would use it. My violin is 18 years old, the one I had before that was 311 years old.:eek: Its just a tool. I would use one made outta polyester if it sounded better.
 
I just wanted to record some stuff, and had very little understanding of what a "pro sound" would even entail when I first started. Then, after a while, I wanted to record some stuff better. Then better. Then better. Etc.

Now I'm a lot more demanding in terms of the quality of tools because I've learned to use the ones I had a lot more effectively.

Althouth this differs from many in that I didn't get into recording to "make a pro sounding demo for my band" or anything like that. I'd never even had a band at that time - I just wanted to make more than one track worth of music by myself, and I haven't stopped pressing record since then.
 
Mr. Sear may be the best thing since sliced bread, but the comment is equivalent to "this new piano is a pale imitation to the harpsichord".:D Sorry, but it doesnt mean squat to me what he thinks. Technology is technology, music is music. Its not that music suddenly ceased to exist, I know a gazillion kickass musicians in my town alone. Mr Sears has a certain sentimentality, but its unfounded. Ye olde "They dont make em like they used to" argument doesnt really stand up.

A good classic recording to listen to is "Tommy". Thats one of the worst sounding albums I have ever heard, and some of the worst performances ever captured on tape.:D Musicians have become considerably better, and so has the technology to record them. As to why one hears shit on top 40 radio, thats a completely different subject and a different thread.

Musicians, acousticians, technicians, etc didnt suddenly stop getting better, now or in any time in history. To suggest this would be insanity. In the past 20 years, some of the worlds great concert halls have been built. Others, like ours in Cleveland, have been refurbished and sound WAAAAY better. The Chicago symphony hall used to be so crappy that they would travel 150 miles to record at the Univ of Illinois. They finally re-did it and it sounds great.

Why would recording go the opposite?? It doesnt make sense, it just seems to be misguided nostalgia. I can only speak for myself, but I'm not an idiot.:D If I thought ANYTHING sounded better, I would use it. My violin is 18 years old, the one I had before that was 311 years old.:eek: Its just a tool. I would use one made outta polyester if it sounded better.

I can understand one jumping to that conclusion, but with Sear and many others it’s simply not the case. The technical observations concerning a general sonic decline since analog tape dominated the recording industry have nothing to do with nostalgia. This is the “He’s an old guy” argument… an argument (non-argument really) that dismisses nearly everyone that discovered, invented, created what music recording is built upon.

Sear’s sentiments are expressed in a particularly mournful, lamenting fashion. However, many share those sentiments.

I quoted Sears in response to a comment by COOLCAT that “the whole digital computer thing leveled the playing field....”
https://homerecording.com/bbs/showpost.php?p=2847648&postcount=67

I could have quoted 50 other people off the top of my head, perhaps better known than Sear, but Sear’s quote was a perfect fit in answering COOLCAT’s assertion.

And again, yes the PC (actually ADAT before that) did level the playing field, but not in the way COOLCAT and many of you think.

Although most super studios are extinct, the smaller commercial studios that did survive had to meet the amateur recordists halfway or go out of business. Striving for sonic excellence became a secondary consideration because of a less discriminating clientele and a change in the dominant music styles, such a rap/hip-hop, which place little demand on any recording format.

You asked, “Why would recording go the opposite?? It doesn’t make sense.”

Yes, it makes perfect sense… look around you. Nearly everything is cheaper, easier and more convenient. Those are the points of reference. No one is waving any banners for sonic excellence in recording, and until they do music will continue to decline. If CD wasn’t bad enough, the market has abandoned that in favor of MP3, which is sonically on par with the once ubiquitous Philips cassette.

I no longer make my living in the recording industry (though I am as heavily involved in it as ever), so I can speak freely. But I suppose I would regardless… speak freely, that is.

I’m a computer consultant by vocation, so of course I would use digital exclusively If I thought it sounded better or even as good. Sure, I can incorporate Pro Tools or even an Alesis ADAT into my analog studio in a support role, but I would never do serious work solely with digital formats.

For some analog advocates, it might involve simply mastering to analog half-track... which by the way, and speaking of secrets, is still something that separates many commercial studios from home recordists.

:)
 
Read many many books with interviews and anecdotes with Robert Moog, Sir George Martin, Steve Albini and Bruce Swedien.

Those names ring a bell. Never ever heard of Walter Sear.

A wiki search on him produced a very small article, which doesn't actually list any credits.


But, here is his web site.

searsound.com

Client List :

ABC “DAY ONE”
INDIA ARIE
JOE ARTHUR
BJÖRK
BLINK 182
BLUE NOTE ALL STARS
BOSS HOG
THE BREEDERS
EDIE BRICKELL
“A BRONX TALE” – ROBERT DeNIRO
DAVID BOWIE
PEABO BRYSON
KENNY BURRELL
DON BYRON
RON CARTER
DANIEL CARTIER
ROSANNE CASH
CBS “UP TO THE MINUTE”
CHARLES & EDDIE
CHAVEZ
ALEX CHILTON
CIBO MATTO
ERIC CLAPTON
SHAWN COLVIN
HOLLY COLE
LLOYD COLE
PAULA COLE
JUDY COLLINS
CHICK COREA
DANGERMAN
DINOSAUR, JR.
DAVE DOUGLAS
BOB DYLAN
JONATHAN EDWARDS
EXPOSE
HOLLY FAITH
DON FLEMING
FOOL'S PROGRESS
NNEENNA FREELON
FUEL
FUN LOVING CRIMINALS
STEVE GADD
JEFFREY GAINES
KENNY GARRETT
JEFF GOLUB
JULIANA HATFIELD
SOPHIE B. HAWKINS
HELMET
JOE HENDERSON
HOLE
BOB JAMES ("FOURPLAY")
ELVIN JONES
NORAH JONES
FREEDY JOHNSTON
JUSTICE SYSTEM
KEVIN KILLEN
EDDIE KRAMER
LENNY KRAVITZ
BEN KWELLER
CHUCK LAVELLE
LEMONHEADS
SEAN LENNON
JOHN LEVENTHAL
STEVE LILLYWHITE
LISA LOEB
LUNA
WYNTON MARSALIS
NATALIE MERCHANT
MONSTER MAGNET
MAXWELL
SIR PAUL McCARTNEY
LIZA MINELLI
JANE MONHEIT
THELONIUS MONK, Jr.
THE MURMURS
NBC SPORTS
ME'SHELL NDEGOCELLO
NICKELODEON
YOKO ONO
JOAN OSBORNE
HUGH PADGHAM
HOLLY PALMER
PHISH
THE POSIESRAKE'S PROGRESS
BERNARD PURDIE
PHIL RAMONE
RASPUTINA
LEON REDBONE
JOSH REDMAN
LOU REED
RUFUS REID
DARIUS RUCKER
PHAROAH SANDERS
GUNTHER SCHULLER
PATTI SCIALFA
JIMMY SCOTT
SCREAMING TREES
SEXTON BROTHERS
PAUL SHAFFER
ANUSHKA SHANKAR
DUNCAN SHEIK
BOBBY SHORT
WAYNE SHORTER
MARVIN "SMITTY" SMITH
PATTI SMITH
PHOEBE SNOW
SONIC YOUTH
SOUL ASYLUM
SOUL COUGHING
STEELY DAN
CRAIG STREET
THE STROKES
SYSTEMS OF A DOWN
TAJ MAHAL
THE THE
THE TINDERSTICKS
JEREMY TOBACK
TREY LORENZ
TRICKY
TRIPLE FAST ACTION
TUSCADERO
STEPHAN VAN ZANDT
VISION OF DISORDER
LOUDEN WAINRIGHT
JOHN WAITE
WANDERLUST
MAX WEINBERG 7
WILCO
MARION WILLIAMS
CASSANDRA WILSON
PETER WOLF
YOU AM I
SUZANNE VEGA
JOHN ZORN



Obviously he's very important....... that's quite a client list !

Is he.... deceased? Maybe since he's not in EQ magazine, or Behind the Glass, I've never heared of him.

bjork? ah yes, which is done 100% digitally on macs using Logic Pro... digital is so horrible, aint it? lol Tricky is done in Pro Tools... entirely.. it's the way the entire writing process is (he writes entirely non-linerally and compiles it in pro tools with whichever producer he's working with) soul coughing was digital, I think was also Pro Tools, system of a down is recorded digitally. Some of these are yes, done analog...but hmm...funny for a guy who's quoted as saying that digital is destroying the world as we know it, recording some entirely digital only recordings. Maybe it's just as I said...lots of freaking out when it first started appearing, the shitty early digital gear, and then...oh woah..looks like this stuff has gotten pretty good...
 
Mr. Sear may be the best thing since sliced bread, but the comment is equivalent to "this new piano is a pale imitation to the harpsichord".:D Sorry, but it doesnt mean squat to me what he thinks. Technology is technology, music is music. Its not that music suddenly ceased to exist, I know a gazillion kickass musicians in my town alone. Mr Sears has a certain sentimentality, but its unfounded. Ye olde "They dont make em like they used to" argument doesnt really stand up.

A good classic recording to listen to is "Tommy". Thats one of the worst sounding albums I have ever heard, and some of the worst performances ever captured on tape.:D Musicians have become considerably better, and so has the technology to record them. As to why one hears shit on top 40 radio, thats a completely different subject and a different thread.

Musicians, acousticians, technicians, etc didnt suddenly stop getting better, now or in any time in history. To suggest this would be insanity. In the past 20 years, some of the worlds great concert halls have been built. Others, like ours in Cleveland, have been refurbished and sound WAAAAY better. The Chicago symphony hall used to be so crappy that they would travel 150 miles to record at the Univ of Illinois. They finally re-did it and it sounds great.

Why would recording go the opposite?? It doesnt make sense, it just seems to be misguided nostalgia. I can only speak for myself, but I'm not an idiot.:D If I thought ANYTHING sounded better, I would use it. My violin is 18 years old, the one I had before that was 311 years old.:eek: Its just a tool. I would use one made outta polyester if it sounded better.

awesome post :)
 
\
For some analog advocates, it might involve simply mastering to analog half-track... which by the way, and speaking of secrets, is still something that separates many commercial studios from home recordists.

:)

sure..that's about one of the only things I can fully agree with you on... Mastering to analog tape is very nice indeed... trying to find a decent 2 track tape machine myself for that very purpose.
 
I can understand one jumping to that conclusion, but with Sear and many others it’s simply not the case. The technical observations concerning a general sonic decline since analog tape dominated the recording industry have nothing to do with nostalgia.

To buy that argument you would have to believe that there is no such thing as a great sounding digital recording and that is bullshit. The reason studios started using cheaper digital gear is because there was less money coming in the door and they had to cut costs. This also means less time is being spent on the final product.

Gone are the days when bands would spend a year or two doing blow and cutting tracks in the studio. The amount of time spent on the process enabled them to make better sounding records not just the gear.

What Sear is discounting is that budget studios that started in the 80's enabled entirely new genres of music to see the light of day. Of course the stuff sounded shitty but shitty sounding good music is better then great sounding shitty music. Would punk, rap or heavy metal have ever happened if recording was limited to the record labels and their huge budgets?

Now that musicians have the ability to record stuff on their own they can now spend a year or two doing blow and recording at their own studio. It probably won't sound as good as the Hit Factory but the music will start being as good again.
 
bjork? ah yes, which is done 100% digitally on macs using Logic Pro... digital is so horrible, aint it? lol Tricky is done in Pro Tools... entirely.. it's the way the entire writing process is (he writes entirely non-linerally and compiles it in pro tools with whichever producer he's working with) soul coughing was digital, I think was also Pro Tools, system of a down is recorded digitally. Some of these are yes, done analog...but hmm...funny for a guy who's quoted as saying that digital is destroying the world as we know it, recording some entirely digital only recordings. Maybe it's just as I said...lots of freaking out when it first started appearing, the shitty early digital gear, and then...oh woah..looks like this stuff has gotten pretty good...

Ah, I don’t expect many here to agree with me, but I can help those that are unaware of some very critical issues in music recording that may be stifling their potential. That might be you or it might not, or it might be you one or two years from now finally getting it after further research, but nothing will happen to change people’s minds all of a sudden on a public web forum. In fact it makes people mad initially, but this is natural and actually the first step in the learning process.

Sear does not use Pro Tools or any other hard disk based system in his studio, but because we have to port analog over to digital at some stage he has an Alesis MasterLink. When he has reluctantly used digital multitrack for a special project, it’s been open-reel digital, but he doesn’t own one. It appears you have some misconception about the artists in Walter’s client list. When artists seek out Sear they record at his studio using his preferred methods and equipment. That’s what makes him Sear and why people go there.

However, some analog proponents like myself do integrate digital into the studio at some level. The point to remember is that we won't “Go digital” because our analog multitracks can do things digital still can’t. As much power and control one has at the helm of a nice Pro Tools rig, it just doesn’t cut it sonically speaking compared to my analog system. Ubuntu Studio is a lot of fun as well, but since excellence is my point of reference, it only has so much utility.

From your last three posts I see you are at a very early stages in discussing these things on a technical level… like someone just told you your house is on fire. It’s a shock to the system; I know… it is for most. Maybe you better sit down because there is a mountain of information concerning the endless promises and continual failure of digital to deliver as a professional recording medium. And I’m not talking about some ancient early digital dinosaur; I’m talking about this years hottest new digital wonders.

But relax, take your time and don’t get in a huff because it will be a very long time in the research phase before you will begin to question this pretend recording world manufacturers have built for you… how nice of them… and on sale too. How can one resist?

:)
 
To buy that argument you would have to believe that there is no such thing as a great sounding digital recording and that is bullshit.

Great sounding to whom? And what kind of digital recording? I have several older CDs that sound fine, but the material was tracked and mastered with analog. I’ve explained this before in other threads.

It was not when CD was introduced that music took a nosedive… it was later when digital became the dominant format in the studio.

The result was a product that was tracked, mixed, mastered, and ultimately pressed to CD… a totally digital process. And from that point it declined even further and continues to decline to the worst music we’ve known, sonically speaking, in modern recording history.

Would punk, rap or heavy metal have ever happened if recording was limited to the record labels and their huge budgets?

Punk, rap and heavy metal were all backed by record labels and their huge budgets.
 
yeah Walter was a nut....apparently mental issues from reading his WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO MY ART? article.

the guy frkn climbs under the mixing console to escape life as it is, from his walk down 42nd?

Walter definitely sounds threatened and pompous imo, but read the article for yourself.

He also sounds old and romancing for his past...not just in audio but in life, in general.

What a successful career though....its really sad when people get defensive of change.
 
Great sounding to whom?
...
It was not when CD was introduced that music took a nosedive… it was later when digital became the dominant format in the studio.
Well, as to the first one, I think that is the pivot around which this whole stupid analog/digital argument spins and goes nowhere. There is no format that intrinsically "sounds better". Analog does not "sound better" than digital, or vice versa. It's 100%, entirely, completly, subjective - and ultimately indefensible to claim anything otherwise.

There is virtually nothing natural sounding about an audio recording, analog or digital. It is nurture far more than it is nature that tells us that one sounds "better" than another.

Analog sounds better to those who grew up listening to analog, and therefore expect that is how things "should" sound. Those young, future recording icons currently just getting into recording will grow up thinking digital is how pro recordings "should" sound and therefore will be nurtured into believing that it sounds better than whatever technology comes next.

As to commercial sound taking a nosedive when digital took over, it's a mistake to think that is the fault solely of the technoogy itself. The Great Irony of the last 20 years is that while we have greater dynamic range available to us tha ever before - through the entire analog and digital gain chain, BTW, not just on the digital media itelf - the same time that became available is the same time that the idiot humans that run this stuff decided that a dynamic range of 10dB was ideal because volume, not quality, of playback is what is important.

We all know now that's absolute baloney, and that trend will disappear soon enough. But that is not the fault of the technoloy. That's the fault of the biology.

The second factor was that the lower cost of digital allowed the studio to come into the hands of more people with less experience. All of a sudden, people who barely had the ink on their learner's permits dry had Formula 1 race cars in their driveways. As a result we have blown engines, broken gearboxes, spinouts and crashes littering the racetrack and those of us in forums like this waving the yellow flags telling everyone to try and slow down.

Again, that's not the fault of the technology itself. The car is not to blame for having a chimp in the driver's seat.

And it's not like ananlog has just been sitting off to the side laughing at this situation, either. The last thing this industry needs is another $99 condensor, $79 mic pre, etc. - all analog and all crapola. If one really wants to ignore my above arguments and blame the quality of the technology itself, let's not selectively forget that the quality of your average analog gear these days has substantially gone down since the days when it was For Big Men Only. This is doing nothing to help the overall quality of the independent recording industry. You going to blame "analog" for that?

Analog vs. digital is a minor issue, at best, when it comes to the questions posed by this thread. A quality engineer can make a great sounding recording on quality digital gear the same way he/she can on quality analog gear. Will they sound identical? No. Which one will sound "better"? That depends upon who's listening.

G.
 
I'll admit it. I honestly to this day still do. Everytime i get a new pice of equipment I pray it's going to make it sound professional, it only brings it that one step closer though haha

I guess i just ahve to keep buying stuff :rolleyes:
 
I can understand one jumping to that conclusion, but with Sear and many others it’s simply not the case. The technical observations concerning a general sonic decline since analog tape dominated the recording industry have nothing to do with nostalgia.
You asked, “Why would recording go the opposite?? It doesn’t make sense.”

Yes, it makes perfect sense… look around you. Nearly everything is cheaper, easier and more convenient. Those are the points of reference. No one is waving any banners for sonic excellence in recording, and until they do music will continue to decline. If CD wasn’t bad enough, the market has abandoned that in favor of MP3, which is sonically on par with the once ubiquitous Philips cassette.

MP3 isnt what this discussion is about. I think we all know about mp3. Again, thats not a fidelity issue, its about a different generation, sales, lifestyles, blah blah.

Everything may be cheaper, but: It was a major deal 40 years ago if your car made it to 100K miles. I remember my dad celebrating when this happened.:D I just bought a used car with 90K on it. It's gonna last me many years (assuming it doesnt get STOLEN like my last one).:mad:

I'm a symphony musician. You can imagine the standards we have, we buy instruments worth more than airplanes. Trust me, we wouldnt dream of recording with anything other than the very best, and we do. We dont use m-audio mics, we use Schoepps and other big ticket stuff. We would use any tool available, expensive or not.


In the synth world, the classic moogs, arps, Prophets etc are cherished for their "warm, fat" sounds. Software versions of these are described is "thin etc". People have done many double-blind tests comparing the two, and people cant tell the difference or they pick the software one as the better one.:D

We all know now that's absolute baloney, and that trend will disappear soon enough. But that is not the fault of the technoloy. That's the fault of the biology.
+1.:cool:

Music sucking is not the fault of musicians sucking. Its the suits and the Clear Channels. Its the schools for cutting Music Ed classes. Its a youth-obsessed media who judge "artistes" on big tits and rehab scandals. Its a morality issue, where anyone can download any song illegally and thus make music "free", In other words: It's Bush's fault.:D:D
 
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