Re: Re: Re: American brass playing and ethnocentrism


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Posted by Rick Denney on July 15, 2000 at 15:44:58:

In Reply to: Re: Re: American brass playing and ethnocentrism posted by Dan N on July 15, 2000 at 02:59:11:

I've come to trust little of the ensemble sound that I hear on Deutsche Grammaphon recordings, especially from the 60's and 70's. They seem to use about 40 microphones, placed in the orchestra, and then record all those sources on a multi-track master tape. Then they would mix it down to stereo according to what the recording engineer thought sounded good on the studio monitors.

With that recording technique, there's no way to assess the skills of the orchestra in ensemble sound. It's no wonder that a lot of those recordings sound like a bunch of soloists.

On the other hand, the RCA recordings of Chicago in the 50's were made with a small number of microphones, sometimes just three. And the more modern audiophile digital recordings, starting with the TelArc label, seem to have gone back to that technique. Those recordings had a sense of space lacking in many of the DG recordings, even though the latter may sound cleaner.

I'm always amazed when I get to hear a fine orchestra live to discover that the sense of ensemble is truly excellent compared to recordings. Those players who cannot blend are rapidly becoming the exception rather than the rule. The live performances I've heard that support my observation were performed by the symphonies from Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Houston, (not that other town I lived in in Texas), Chicago, Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Perhaps some of the real recording experts on the list will correct my perceptions, but there it is.

Rick "Hate over-engineered recordings" Denney


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