Best mastered recordings


I've noticed, here recently, that often times the difference in redbook, HDCD, etc, doesn't hinge as much on the final quality product/disc but more the way the recording was recorded and mastered. Specifally, I've found that I can take the same recording (Saint-Saens Symp No3) on three different labels (EMI, Telarc and Deutsche Grammophon), yet they all sound different, to some degree. I've noticed, for this particular recording, EMI and Telarc sound similar but distinctive. Yet, compared to DG, they don't match up. In fact, when compared to a borrowed SACD version of the same recording, the DG sounds more closely to its higher resolution counterpart.

To my point. Am I the only to conclude such a thing? If not, has anyone else found which recording labels produce the better recordings in comparison to others? What were your overall findings?

Regards,

Craig
cdwallace
I agree with Kal in that there is no way that you can say that the recordings involved are the same recording, but would like to point out at least one thing in general. Each of the recording companies mentioned has different recording philosophies and uses different techniques to record. Telarc has been more of a minimalist, "audiophile" label; depending on when the Telarc recording was made, they may have used as their principal miking array three spaced omni-directional mikes, which will result in a spacious but diffuse soundstage compared to a multi-miked product, such as EMI and DG use. EMI, while it does multi-mike, generally has in the past had a basic miking array that was the main source of their finished product--the spot mikes were used to fix things that didn't work as well as they had wanted in the limited time they had to make the recording in what may have been a new venue for them (this from a talk I had with one of their former recording engineers). DG's general recording philosophy, from what I have read in the past, has been to multi-mike everything, run it all through a very sophisticated mixer and let the producer (tonmeister), in conjunction with the artists, come up with a finished product. Their recording chain is highly processed, is often recorded using short takes of each part of a work rather than a complete movement, and is the antithesis of the audiophile purist recording philosophy--they will be the first to admit that their recordings are intended to appeal to the music lover rather than the audiophile, and I have found that they often tend to sound better on a mass-market system than they do on some high-quality audiophile systems. That their recordings sound like the real thing you'd hear in a concert hall is coincidental, in my view, but the fact that they sound as good as they do musically is a tribute to their artists and to the musical sensibilities of their "tonmeisters".

There, I got that off my chest. In answer to the question, ignoring the example, yes, different recording companies produce different results in their recordings, and there are some that are better than others, depending on what your priorities are in listening to music on your system. Check the archives, there are a lot of threads on this topic. I personally find that, as a general proposition, classical recordings these days of orchestral works have gotten to the point where most of them sound pretty decent to me, though my favorite labels seem to be Telarc, Reference Recordings, London/Decca, Harmonia Mundi, Bis, Ondine, Delos (now defunct, I fear) and the San Francisco Symphony's house label (and take note, there are a number of different recording philosophies represented in this group). None of these companies can match a live concert performance, but these are the labels that seem to produce a more realistic facsimile of a real performance to me. YMMV.
The guys that consistently seem to do the best jobs are Stan Ricker and Steve Hoffman. There are a few people who have made a name in the business that I think must either be deaf or just don't care, but I have yet to hear anything bad by the two afore mentioned gentlemen...

As far as the Saint-Saens Symp No3 recording, there must be dozens of them, if not considerably more, and they all sound different. There are too many places to lay the blame or responsibility for that.

O

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Lots of reasons why recordings sound different...to many people with input, different rooms, different mic's, different mic placement...ect...lots and lots of reasons.

Check out some of these recording sessions using Royer Labs ribbon Mic's....lots of pics, and even sound bites....you'll get the idea.

Also, some of the Stereophile recordings go into different Mic types, and setup...you can order these recordings from Stereophile.

http://www.royerlabs.com/

Dave
Gents, maybe there is a slight misconception that should be clarified. I understand the differences between one recording to another. Teams, musicians, etc...they all will play their own role in making the final product distinctive. Maybe I should have been a little more decisive in my word selection. (KR4 - sorry if I portrayed myself as an idiot, but looks are deceiving.)

Nevertheless, it seems others beside myself understand that even though recordings differ one to another, its hard to overlook the fact that some labels do a better job at recording the venue than others. Even to the degree that some labels do a better job at capturing a bad performance. I would hope thats why we purchase products from those labels; we feel they do a better job at capturing the moment better than others.

Its also more evident that I am not the only to think one company produces a better "final product" than another. In addition, some producers/recording teams/performers do a better job as well.

Rcprince - thanks for the insight on label philosophies. Thats one thing I hadn't considered. This "shows" in the examples of recording techniques you mentioned, and how they change from label to label.

Thanks for the constructive conversation, gents.