I spend some time zapping through my extensive collection of Piano Trio / Quartet recordings at high volume (wife was out) reproducing realistic (i.e. like live venue) sound levels. I did this with my multi channel recordings, but the conclusions hold for stereo as well. It occurred to me that of course all the usual suspects of good recording were important and differentiated between recordings, but the single most important variable differentiating realistic sound from non-realistic sound is pure and simple the dynamics and relative sound level of the percussion (i.e. drumkits). To sound like the real deal, you need very loud and highly dynamic drums - that is how a jazz ensemble sounds live, end of story. I found nine out of 10 recordings were falling short in this regards. Whenever I stumbled on a realistically recorded / mixed track, I was at the edge of my seat. This most notably happened with Hiromi Uehara's SACD "Another Mind". Other highly acclaimed SACD recordings simply did not make the cut - very nice sound, piano to die for, but not realistic because of lacking percussion dynamics. Do others share this experience / opinion? Why is it that most mixes simply do not reproduce percussion realistically? It is so blatant, that if it was not for the occasional recording that gets it right, I would think it a limitation of dynamics and low frequency response of my system. It is not. If one recording can sound right, they all can. It appears to be a deliberate mixing decision by the engineer.
Come to think of it - the same is true in concert (rock) blu ray's - most simply not have the drums recorded at realistic levels. No array of subwoofers can compensate for this mixing decision.
Come to think of it - the same is true in concert (rock) blu ray's - most simply not have the drums recorded at realistic levels. No array of subwoofers can compensate for this mixing decision.
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