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Post by julesd68 on Jan 21, 2019 11:50:27 GMT
Now that I'm collecting 'virtual albums' on spotify I have noticed my preferences starting to change.
I'm certainly less interested in what you might call 'historic' or 'golden age' recordings from the 50's / 60's & 70's.
Having been starved of recent recordings for so long, I'm really enjoying exploring these now and catching up.
And from my limited experience with streaming, I'm suspecting that a lot of the older performances fare better on vinyl.
But vinyl or streaming, I'm still after the same magic combination - the best performances with the best sound quality.
What I'm wondering is how much pleasure you can derive from a recording that has what you consider a great performance, but is marred by either dated or just plan poor sound quality? I must admit I don't tolerate these very well at all. If you have what could be called a 'high resolution' system, you will be showing up all the faults of the source even more and that can be irritating. If it doesn't sound great, I won't keep it, and that applied to vinyl as well - there is no pleasure to be found in dodgy CBS pressings from the 60's and 70's!!
How about you?
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Post by John on Jan 21, 2019 13:01:47 GMT
I understand your frustration I do like some music that is poorly recorded I get over this by listening on low fi devices instead as my system will just draw attention to the poor quality
In my case this is mostly 1930s music like Django
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Post by MikeMusic on Jan 21, 2019 14:24:50 GMT
In the near future, probably this year I will be weeding out music that doesn't make the grade for any reason. Frustrating to hear great music produced badly. The first Kokomo album used to reproduce badly, recently the system managed to drag more out of it which I found odd, good too. Live albums used to have this problem compared to the studio equivalent. Some now seem to be quite good. With my recent improvements I keep thinking of albums I must listen to, preferably at 'boss out' volumes  |
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Post by Slinger on Jan 21, 2019 14:39:56 GMT
I've got quite a few "historical recording" type CDs some of which are pretty good, some not so good. Great performances can definitely mitigate poor SQ in my opinion. Nothing mitigates totally crap SQ.
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Post by Clive on Jan 21, 2019 15:22:54 GMT
It depends. I enjoy this CD set of 78 recordings: www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Warner-Recordings-Adolf-Quartet/dp/B014YN0ME2Hardly hifi but well played. Uninspiring playing with lofi quality would be horrible. What works with 78s and transcribed 78s is when the dynamics are good..and they can be fabulous given the directness of recording method. It's the limited frequency response which is the compromise, I find this easy to adjust to. I suppose it depends what we mean by a poor recording. |
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Post by jandl100 on Jan 21, 2019 15:52:44 GMT
I find that I prefer an "OK" recording with a great performance to a great recording with a merely OK performance. But yes, genuinely old screechy thin mono from the 40s I can't usually bother with. .... there is no pleasure to be found in dodgy CBS pressings from the 60's and 70's!! On vinyl I found those CBS recordings pretty much unlistenable. But for some reason they usually sound OK streamed. I have no idea why. Go try some on Spotify. |
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Post by MikeMusic on Jan 21, 2019 16:58:36 GMT
Must add I have some albums of music made so well genres of music I don't like become little gems
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Post by speedysteve on Jan 21, 2019 20:00:47 GMT
Yes, it's the way of the world. Age old hi-fi dilemma..
I like to listen to well recorded, interesting sounding pieces and albums on my main system.
It must coincide with liking the music though..
I'll happily listen to anything on the radio when I'm busy doing other things, on my laptop, in the workshop or driving, (be it car, phone with earbuds or Sonos system).
Some of what is played I will like, and some I like less, regardless of the SQ.
Spotify etc gives you the power to try out so much more and skip on, without buying blind or semi blind.
How many albums have I bought in the past based on one track I've heard and like and the rest is relative dross..
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Post by MartinT on Jan 22, 2019 8:44:41 GMT
My example in rock music is Hawkwind's Space Ritual. I don't care how bad the recording is, that music hits my pleasure centre.
In classical, I go back as far as the superb Solti Deccas and early Karajan, for instance. I have a couple of early Adrian Boults and Thomas Beechams and a Bruno Walter. Not that old, but still aged recordings saved by great performances. There is also an educational aspect to listening to old recordings, for instance the transcripts of 1920s Elgar recordings. Not for daily consumption, mind, but wonderful to hear how they interpreted their own music.
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