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Does it bother you?

I'm a recording engineer who has worked in some of the world's top facilities. Let me walk you though an example signal path that you might find in a place like, say, Henson Studio A:

1. Microphone: Old. Probably a PCB inside. Copper wiring.
2. Mic cable: Constructed in house with $1/ft Canare Star Quad, solder, and a connector that might have been in the bottom of a box in the back.
3. Wall jack: Just a regular old Neutrik XLR connector on the wall.
4. Cable snake: Bundles of mic cables going to the control room.
5. Another XLR jack.
6. Another cheap mic cable.
7. Mic preamp: Old and lovely sounding. Audio going through 50 year old pots.
8. Patchbay: Another cheap copper cable is soldered into a patchbay where hundreds of connectors practically touch.
9. TT Cable: Goes from one patch to the next in the patch bay. Copper. No brand preference.
10. DB25 connector: Yes, the same connector you used to connect a modem to your computer in 1986. This is the heart and soul of studio audio transfer.
11. DB25 cable to the console: 25 strands of razor-thin copper wire, 8 channels of audio, sharing a ride.
12. The mixing console: PCB after PCB of tiny copper paths carry the audio through countless op amp chips.
13. DB25 cable to the recording device: time to travel through two more DB25 connectors as we make our way to the AD converters or tape machine.
14. AD conversion: More op amp chips.
15. Digital cable: nothing fancy, just whatever works. USB and Firewire cables are just stock.

...and this is just getting the audio into the recorder.

Also:

None of this equipment has vibration reducing rubber feet, it's just stacked haphazardly in racks. Touching.

No fancy power cables are used, just regular ol' IEC cables.

Acoustic treatment is done using scientific measurements.

Words like "soundstage" and "pace" are never uttered.

Does it bother you? Do you find it strange that the people who record the music that you listen to aren't interested in "tweaks," and expensive cables, and alarm clocks with a sticker on them? If we're not using any of this stuff to record the albums, then what are you hearing when you do use it?
trentpancakes
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,308 posts
 
":Audiophile is owner of a “good taste” and “knowledge”.

Well said! You hit the nail on the head! Those are the two main ingredients. Also, maybe just a bit of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, at least on occasion :^)

Lots of hobbies thrive on good taste and knowledge. Technology has always fascinated me. Reproduction of music with the quality possible today is a technology enabled miracle as I see it. It has always fascinated me as a curious mix of science and technology with art. Figuring out how it all works and where the boundaries may lie in of itself is a fascinating thing. Then there is all good music and its effects. It has its quircks like most things, but I would love to see more young people get into this stuff. Gotta keep it real though. That can be a challenge sometimes.
raks
468 posts
 
A friend of mine records and mixes live jazz in the USA an Europe. He told me that he's oftentimes afraid to plug in his equipment because the clubs are in such poor repair. I said "junk in... junk out". Long story short, he purchased a BPC conditioner and was happier than a pig in mud with the results.
pops
2,275 posts
 
Great thread - my take is even if the recording is poor you still have to go through another stage to hear it and that is the home audio system....why not have it spec'ed the best you can?

I listen to mostly rock anyway so I am doomed! LOL! But I will say the best sounding rock albums (Vinyl that is, hate it when people call CD's albums...Yuk!) in my collection are from the 60's and particularly the 70's.
pops
2,275 posts
 
Oh...and the musicians were better! IMHO
csontos
1,311 posts
 
You're right, they were.

Ricardo, Of course you are correct. But even a cheap violin can drive you to tears when played by a master. A violin is after all, a violin. The basic electronic amplifier circuit is unchanged since it's inception. For all intents and purposes, it is what it is. Same goes for the rest of the gear. The weaker the link, the greater the strides that have been made. But in the end, the actual measureable differences/improvements are relatively small.
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