Is Recording quality the real culprit?


We spend Thousands on trying to improve the sound of what we listen to. But isn’t it really more of a problem that we can’t really overcome, eg. Recording quality? It’s so frustrating to have a really nice system and then to be at the mercy of some guy who just didn’t spend the time to do things better when things were being recorded.

Fortunately many artists make sure things are done well, but so many just don’t make it happen.

It can sound really good but just doesn’t have that Great quality we desire.

So why are we wasting our time spending so much money on audio equipment?

emergingsoul

In my experience all recordings sound better on a good system than a poor system.

My system is pretty resolving and has cause me to understand there are a lot of crap recordings out there

Music is an art.  So is the mastering that goes into making recordings.  Everyone does it differently.  
 

Science and technology provides the tools used to both create and playback recordings.    That part is not an art.   There are right ways and wrong ways to do it.  
 

If it’s done right, you get to hear all the artistry that went into making a recording.   You can also then season to taste so that as a whole it sounds good to you.

 

I struggled with this for several years and finally came to the conclusion that it's more the recording rather than the equipment that gives you the separation and sound stage. I wondered why all sound engineers didn't record in audiophile quality to make it sound really good...... Then it hit me.... it isn't us the audiophiles who buy the most music.... it's the kids with not so good sounding equipment so they realize they don't need to record for quality. Another possible reason is to cover up the singing quality of quite a few famous singers who really don't sing that well so mediocre recording helps cover that up. When a famous singer has the backup singers singing along with them on most of their recordings, you know that is one.

@feldmen4 , I was totally  unaware of Sharon.  I guess I'll have to order a copy.  I discovered the Junkies rather late (right after Natural Born Killers came out on VHS) and then I bought everything I could find by the CJ.  Which at that time ended at Crescent Sun Pale Moon.  at that time there was one song on Caution Horses that really really got me--Sun Comes Up It's  Tuesday Morning, but the reast of the CD was never my favorite.  At that time Black Eyed Man was always on my playlist when ever I fired my system up.  Southern Rain was like my reference song when I was auditioning new equipment.

As far as WOEN and Trinity, the SACDs are sublime.  They are works of art.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up on Sharon.  It is now on my list, and it is a short list.