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In Reply to: Re: Miking techniques on classical DVD-A discs posted by unclestu52 on November 30, 2005 at 12:17:40:
"The Mercs SACD are being reissued in their original three channel feed, IIRC, but the RCA's are mixed down."AFAIK, the new RCA Living Stereos are based on 3 channel master tapes that WERE mixed down by the original recording team. The guys who prepare the SACD masters are working with only three channels/tracks.
Follow Ups:
I assumed that the "Golden age of stereo" was due to minimal miking. I seem to be wrong. Then what was unique in that period? Or is that just a marketing lie?
What made those recordings good was dependent on many factors.
One is that they all used tubed electronics: tape decks, mixing consoles, etc. While some will dispute this, and I do admit it is highly subjective, tubes give me a more vivid, up front sound and more dimensionality. That is a primary reason why a lot of vinyl audiophiles still prefer original issue LP's over their modern reissues.
The commonly used mikes were more sensitive than many used today, although it is very true that many of the older mikes are still in service. Neuman U-47's can pick up a whisper at 10 feet away. Still for some reason modern singers prefer to hold a mike up to their lips and then screech away.......PBS once had a showing of the old Nat King Cole programs and it was interesting to see that no microphones were ever in the camera's field of view. Also,it was interesting to see people like Ella singing. When she hit those high notes she would turn her head away from the presumed microphone location so as not to overload them. Nice example of man working with the technology, knowing their limitations....
The musician's union was weaker and the conductors had almost dictatorial power. Try reading the liner notes for the RCA Scheherazade. It states the recording session started in the morning and did not finish till the evening. Today, after two hours, the orchestra goes into double time pay. No recording company today wants to pay those rates! They would rather multimike and splice to make a perfect recording instead of rehearsing to perfection. Bear in mind that even in the old days splicing was done, but not to the extent that some modern recordings will go through. I've heard of one modern recording session where the orchestra had to stop every 10 measures because the soloist's emotional state wouldn't permit her to play any longer.....
Tube sound could be one factor, but once the tube sound is IN the recording, would it not remain there, even in today's SACDs?You have a good point in mike distances. It's so unnatural to hear a person sing with the mike next to their lips. Possibly that generation of engineers being more exposed to natural, un-miked sounds reproduced the same in their recordings. Now most people are more exposed to miked sounds than un-miked. Maybe thats why recordings are getting more and more unnatural and compressed. Electronic sound re-enforcement is so common in meetings even if the group size is small! Lot of modern music does not work without amplification. Our ears are forgetting what pure sound & voice sounds like :-( This will probably get worse as lo-rez MP3s & cell phones proliferate. Reporters of our local radio stations often call the stations with their cell phones with the latest live news or do interviews with a MP3 recorder using the inbuilt mike. This usually sounds so distorted and unnatural that often I HAVE TO turn off the radio, even if it is useful news.
Double pay after two hours of work! That sounds cool. My office would not pay me extra even when I worked extra hours because the project deadline was close and often they knowingly came up with infeasible commitments to the client.
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