What exactly is colored sound?

Daleaherman…was that supposed to be funny? 

I am still trying to figure out exactly what coloration means.  I guess that the only thing I could think of is that I want a trombone to sound like a trombone, a piano to sound like a piano and so on.  I cannot say I have heard systems that a trombone sounds like a trumpet lets say.  Whether in a hall that sounds warm or neutral, well I guess if we want to hear it in a warm hall, we may decide to tweek our systems to that way of listening and so on.

If you actually had a copy of an original master tape, for example, and you played it on two different systems, lets say they are extreme high end, I bet that master tape would sound different on each to some degree even if you used the same reel to reel device.  So, unless you were present at the actual recording and heard it with your own ears, would you really know how it sounded?

 I guess that the only thing I could think of is that I want a trombone to sound like a trombone, a piano to sound like a piano and so on.  I cannot say I have heard systems that a trombone sounds like a trumpet lets say.  Whether in a hall that sounds warm or neutral, well I guess if we want to hear it in a warm hall, we may decide to tweek our systems to that way of listening and so on.

I have master tapes, and have encountered colorations due to playback. I actually made two master tapes of one project, as we wanted a backup. The backup machine was solid state. Starting right there, we noticed colorations simply on account of the machines used- the tube master sounded best on the tube machine in playback, sounded better than the solid state master while played back on the solid state machine, and the solid state master sounded best played back on the tube machine. So there is the initial colorations that the recording gear imposes...

Then there are the room, speakers and amplification, all which impose some sort of tonal coloration (more or less bass, more or less highs and so on).

Its impossible to know what is right unless you were there to hear how the actual performance sounded.

More than accurate, I simply want recordings to sound good to ME. I have actual instruments around for reference, but to say I use those for that purpose isn’t particularly accurate (no pun intended) since I don’t. How an "actual performance sounded" is also relative to where you sat for it, and what the sound tech (sometimes actually me) was thinking, except when there is no sound reinforcement (saw Brad Mehldau last year playing an unamplified Steinway in a hall near Harvard…lean in man…lean in…softer notes were eaten by the room, but I still enjoyed it). I mix live shows with the sound check as the point where my goal is to make the artist think (!) it sounds good so they can relax and play, and when the great unwashed show up to hear the show it all changes anyway…experience allows one to adjust for that, but the goal should be clarity and balance and audience happiness. It’s always a head scratcher when I work with somebody (jazzers mostly) who’s recordings have a great sounding and prominent kick drum, and they insist that no drum mics be used…uh…OK…or after the sound check the bass player completely changes their amp settings causing the whole mix to change…I get paid anyway, but I won’t run up to the stage to tell a bass player to turn down as I don’t want to Harsh Their Mellow so to speak...