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

@mrdecibel It's a coincidence that tonight I heard a Edie Gorme/Los Panchos CD that was horrid sounding just 10 years ago but I liked the performance (huge reverb on singers/Gorme sounded distorted).  I have upgraded my equipment including a near SOTA DAC/Pre-amp, transport, speakers and SOTA amps with matching cabling.  Tonight, I heard a mediocre but acceptable sounding Gorme, somewhat better Los Panchos and great guitar sound.  Overall, a real keeper until I purchase the LP (which I hope was mastered better than this).  I have 61,100 LPs/CDs/78s/R2R recordings.  This was one of the worst sounding.  Another poorly mastered early digital recording sounds acceptable with very good instrumentals and acceptable vocals.  Most recordings sound great (including monos and well recorded 78s).  Unfortunately since about 1995, pop and rock recordings suffer from poor recording technique, computer manipulation of the recording, high compression levels, etc.  Basically, worse than ever sound.  Jazz LPs and CDs have the most consistently great sound from all eras.  Many rock recordings are superior in their initial LP format than poorly remastered CDs/streaming.  85% of streamed music sounds worse than a comparable CD version with the other 15% sounding as good or better.  

@2psyop Tell me, is there a bad Bones Howe recording?  Various genres and I haven't been disappointed.  Or Robert Fine, or many others from the 50s and 60s.  

@fleschler , I have followed your journey and congratulate you on your room design and construction. A dream come true for sure! Continued listening enjoyment to you. My best, MrD. 

@immatthewj

"Without going back and looking for others, the two I am thinking of are the Cowboy Junkies first and second releases, Whites Off Earth Now and Trinity Sessions"

If your gear is god enough you can hear (in Trinity Sessions) that Margo is singing into a mic and it’s being amplified to bring her up to the volume of the rest of the band, it’s really trippy.