More than one recording engineer has said to me "most people don’t realize how much manipulation goes into making something sound natural." I could not stand to listen to consumer digital formats when introduced. Digital has gotten much better, not just because the playback gear has improved, but I think engineers (I’ll lump the recordists, mixers and mastering engineers under one roof) seem to better understand how to capitalize on its strengths.
I don’t have the energy or inclination to argue analog v digital at this point, though I was a dyed-in-the-wool analog guy for many years. Now, I’m agnostic.
A recording sounds "right" to me or it doesn’t.
One telltale for me is timing from the initial attack of a note to the harmonic overtones and decay, taken together with the ambience of the environment in which the recording was made.
I don’t get to hear that on many recordings because it isn’t there- lost, somehow, in how the thing was mic’d (or DI’d from an electronic instrument) or set in an isolation booth or somehow lost in the recording process somewhere.
Given how hard it is to create the illusion of real music in a room that is typically not designed for the purpose and reproduced over gear that is relatively affordable by consumers, I’m not surprised when the illusion falls down. To the contrary, I’m surprised that it works so well so often.
I don’t have the energy or inclination to argue analog v digital at this point, though I was a dyed-in-the-wool analog guy for many years. Now, I’m agnostic.
A recording sounds "right" to me or it doesn’t.
One telltale for me is timing from the initial attack of a note to the harmonic overtones and decay, taken together with the ambience of the environment in which the recording was made.
I don’t get to hear that on many recordings because it isn’t there- lost, somehow, in how the thing was mic’d (or DI’d from an electronic instrument) or set in an isolation booth or somehow lost in the recording process somewhere.
Given how hard it is to create the illusion of real music in a room that is typically not designed for the purpose and reproduced over gear that is relatively affordable by consumers, I’m not surprised when the illusion falls down. To the contrary, I’m surprised that it works so well so often.