Always hopeful

[PS Audio]

<!-- #thumb --> <p>Whenever I get a new recording, chosen because the music’s something I am sure I’ll enjoy, I am always hopeful the recording will stand out as something special on its own. *That magical combination of great music you love to listen to + a really well recorded piece. *Why is this so rare?</p>
<p>We’re disappointed when one or the other doesn’t line up and thrilled to find a gem of both musical value and appreciation of the recorded arts.</p>
<p>I am always questioning how musicians, many of whom spend their lives refining and mastering their craft, seem to leave out how their music will sound when played back. *I suppose the same’s true for live performances: many get it right, but so many more don’t seem to understand the importance of how it sounds to their audiences. *Imagine a painter who spends her life mastering the skills necessary to paint and then displays that painting only to display it in dim light so the intended audience can never appreciate the work properly. *Makes no sense to me.</p>
<p>Do you think it’s incumbent on the artists to make this better? *Do you think perhaps most artists already think their work is reproduced the way they intended? *Or do you think they just don’t care?</p>
<p>I am curious.</p>
<center><a href="http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/hopeful/12565/emailpopup/" onclick="email_popup(this.href); return false;" title="Forward to a friend and help us engage more readers" rel="nofollow"><img class="WP-EmailIcon" src="http://www.pstracks.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-email/images/email.gif" alt="email Always hopeful" title="Always hopeful" /></a>*<a href="http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/hopeful/12565/emailpopup/" onclick="email_popup(this.href); return false;" title="Forward to a friend and help us engage more readers" rel="nofollow">Forward to a friend and help us engage more readers</a></center><br /><!-- // MAILCHIMP SUBSCRIBE CODE --><center><a href="http://eepurl.com/eSzBY">Get new and fresh stories like this each morning by joining the folks reading Paul's Posts. Click here </a></center>
<!-- MAILCHIMP SUBSCRIBE CODE // -->

[Source: http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/hopeful/12565/]

 

[GaryProtein]

I always hope a new recording of music by an artist I am looking forward to sounds as good as the music. I can hum the wonderful music of Mozart or listen to an elementary school chorus sing Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" but they never sound as good as a great performance and/or well done recording by master performers and recordists. Great music doesn't necessarily get the quality recording or performance that it deserves.

In popular music, the problem is much more pronounced. In the case of classical music, the resulting poor recording is usually the result of inexperience, an error someplace or undisclosed hearing deficits in engineers. Sometimes it is the result of too much "mastering." In popular music the problem is more often due to hearing loss (I'm convinced these pop artists and contemporary engineers really do not hear what they think they do), inexperience, not caring what the final product sounds like in the rush to get it on the radio and into the iTunes store or their desire to win "the volume wars."

You mentioned painters who spend their lives perfecting their skills, using natural light to see the colors and effects they are creating. Now here is the analogy of how THIS DOES GET RUINED BY MUSEUMS, which in the analogy is similar to the role of the recording studio which displays the final product. The museum ruins the exhibition because THEY DO display the art in a dimly, incandescent bulb lit rooms where the patrols of the art NEVER get to see the painting in the same quality of natural light [or color corrected light] in which the painter created it. Sometimes the museum curator thinks they are doing the art a favor, many times they are ignorant and other times, just like the musical artists and engineers, they just don't give a damn.

The cynic in me knows when it comes to creating a quality, artful execution, integrity is largely dead.