Mercury Living Presence

Mrmitch

not sure I know what series/line you are referring to exactly by "shaded and WHite Dogs".

Can you elaborate?

Thanks.

White and Shaded Dogs refer to the labels on the RCA Living Stereo recordings from back in the 50s and early 60s. Both of the dogs were white, actually, but a Shaded Dog was a dog on a shaded background, while the White Dog is a dog on the plain red background. These were the earliest of the RCA Living Stereo issues, and were much better pressings than the later Red Seal reissues of those recordings that came from RCA later in time. The early RCAs are equally prized by collectors as the Mercs; a slightly different recording technique, but equally talented recording engineers and producers. Another plus of the series was that they got to record the Chicago Symphony at the peak of its powers under Fritz Reiner.

Thanks Rcprince, couldnt have explained it better than that!-Mrmitch

I have a sampler of Living Presence...it is very dynamic ....to me that is what makes it so good.....sadly, most recorded music is compressed so that it can play better on mediocre home hi-fi....compression takes the life out of the music.

As a avid audio/music fan, perhaps even audiophile, I'm increasingly becoming aware that despite the inherent dynamic range advantages of digital recording, compression is becoming more and more the norm with modern recordings due to mass marketing effects. It is perhaps the most disturbing and ironic trend I can think of in regards to the music industry and how it serves what I would call the high end listening community, as represented largely on this site. Its ironic in the sense that even as the technology to enable great recordings improves, the results, by design, are increasingly mediocre.

Unfortunately, I guess it is what it is. Thankfully there are still some niche recording shops that focus on producing the best sonic product possible.