Frogman, live music is a difficult standard and has gotten worse. As I said, most groups cannot perform without it and those choosing professional audio gear are indifferent to the quality of that gear. At last year's Newport Beach audio show I listened to both Nnenna Freelon and Tierney Sutton perform live. I arrived as they were setting up and sat in the center about twenty feet away from the singers. There were two very large speaker arrays on either side. Everyone had their own mic. Especially when Freelon was on it was too loud.
Both singers gave great performances but Freelon is a showwoman without competition. I have her recording live and in my room I can turn up the volume and it sound very similar. I think increasingly that is about as good as you can be of using live as a standard. I have heard grand pianos live and they are loud. I have a few recordings that get very close to this. Forget about drums unless you have horns with compression drivers.
Finally, there are the halls. My University has a terrible venue. It has fluted concrete walls on either side of the stage and absorbent material on all walls intended to absorb all music. In turn the music is captured electronically and delayed in an echo chamber to get the needed delay and then sent to speakers throughout the hall. Some live music. One can sit in the center in the first two rows and get live music. Few want to be that close, but I do.
You say that "..most are not very familiar with the sound of live (music). I doubt that many can be familiar with live or that It is even real when they hear it. It probably isn't.
The real point is that there are no other standards for reproduced music other than live sound. I hate when some say that we should give up on reproducing "live music" as it is impossible. That our goal should be less lofty, namely "musical" sound. I say to them, go ahead and abandon the quest, I want "live."
Both singers gave great performances but Freelon is a showwoman without competition. I have her recording live and in my room I can turn up the volume and it sound very similar. I think increasingly that is about as good as you can be of using live as a standard. I have heard grand pianos live and they are loud. I have a few recordings that get very close to this. Forget about drums unless you have horns with compression drivers.
Finally, there are the halls. My University has a terrible venue. It has fluted concrete walls on either side of the stage and absorbent material on all walls intended to absorb all music. In turn the music is captured electronically and delayed in an echo chamber to get the needed delay and then sent to speakers throughout the hall. Some live music. One can sit in the center in the first two rows and get live music. Few want to be that close, but I do.
You say that "..most are not very familiar with the sound of live (music). I doubt that many can be familiar with live or that It is even real when they hear it. It probably isn't.
The real point is that there are no other standards for reproduced music other than live sound. I hate when some say that we should give up on reproducing "live music" as it is impossible. That our goal should be less lofty, namely "musical" sound. I say to them, go ahead and abandon the quest, I want "live."