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Jazz vocalists which may not be as real as we think/imagine

Sure we could include all genres of vocalists,  but lets focus on jazz performers,,for instance , take Diana Krall. 
I have a  pile of cds that i do not listen to, old rock,,, 2 are my wife's she picked up as gifts, and never listened.
So I figured maybe I can use DK's as a  test reference recording.
Her 1999 and 2001, both seem to my ears her voice is somehow ~~tweeked~~ laid out with modern aids such as EQ's and such.
My Q is , can we really consider DK's voice to be The Real Deal,,, or a  perhaps a toch of  ~ The Fake if not perhaps, bordering on, fraud. 
I really can not use her cds in my testing of new tweeks, mods, , Her voice comes across wayyyy too warm = Colored = a nono for my ears. 
I am after pure cold frigid, icy clean mountain spring water. 
Anyway, justa  random thought,, what say ye? Have you noticed this quirk among other jazz performers such as Sophie Milman, which btw , i do use in  my YT vid uploads of testing reference on tweeks/mods/upgrades. 
Her voice is at least somewhat more~~ a  natural~, Just barely,,had her engineers gonea  tad too far in tweeking, I may have to  also disreagrd her cds. 
Sure you might object and claim all recordings post 1985, have these intrusions of tweeking /EQing the voice, as a  makeover. 
I don't know, maybe in the past 20 yrs things have gotten out of hand. 
So cast your vote, is DK's voice real deal,, or a  tad fake?
Can she perform unpluged as she does on high tech studio records?
mozartfan
aewarren
659 posts
 
I still have no idea what you're talking about. At least we have that one thing in common.
cd318
2,636 posts
 
I think it's generally agreed that pop music singers are not the be-all end-all in vocal performance. In fact some of them are hardly singers at all, nor would claim to be. Not everyone can be a Robert Plant, Josh Groban, Ella Fitzgerald, Doris Day, or a Karen Carpenter etc.

Opera singers on the other hand have to perform live on stage without amplification or vocal enhancements in front of demanding audiences whilst performing often difficult repertoire.

Folk/ country singers also may often sing 'naked' in front of live audiences (not so much currently) accompanied only by a guitar.

For marketing reasons record companies (and artists) seek to employ producers like Rick Rubin and Mark Ronson who have that golden touch which can turn albums into big sellers. 
 
They've both made some great records but I'd say that vocal fidelity was never the main concern of theirs. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if even artists like Andrea Bocelli didn't get the odd bit of help on his records.

It's just the way it is today, and probably always has been.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,241 posts
 
I believe some opera halls use microphones for some of the artists.  It's a contentious issue.
gosta's avatar
gosta
839 posts
 
If you listen to all DK’s cd’s you will find that her voice differs a lot from recording to recording and also track to track. Pick the one’s you like most. Surely none of them are pure natural. Personally I like the Girl next door but it is to bassy in some parts. I use it for reference just because of that. You should not only use perfect recordings for reference. Close-miked recordings are often unlistenable on good systems, they’re done for radio. Have a listen to Bo Kasper "10 songs live".
mozartfan OP
2,143 posts
 
pure natural. Personally I like the Girl next door but it is to bassy in some parts. I use it for reference just because of that. You should not only use perfect recordings for reference. Close-miked recordings are often unlistenable on good systems, they’re done for radio. Have a listen to Bo Kasper "10 songs live".


Yes some tracks on Sophie Milman have a  certain level of bass db, that seem to hard driving on the small 6 inch midwoofers in the Thors, , the Defy7 has too much slam watts even at low vol, Might be the new Mundorf Supreme Silvergold caps adding that bass slam. 
One of the best  reference cds for  velvety bass riffs is Burt Bacharach/Elvis Costello's cd

On picking through Diana Krall tracks, to have her best, , its not really something i like to do, Sophie Milman and Jacintha, both offer wonderful music , on all tracks. 
Same with Bacharach/Costello, 
That brings up our old rock days, we used to  listen to lp's, and skip a  bunch of songs as *duds*,,
I think Diana Krall was a *1 hit wonder*, although she has more than 1 hit, its the *duds* you have to get through with. 

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