Best audio format

[Joe Schmoe]

"The Closest Approach to the Original Sound." That's the goal, or should be.

99% of the music I listen to has no "original sound" to get close to. It was created in a studio for playback at home. In a very real sense, the CD is the original "event".

 

[Joe Schmoe]

click pop pop click pop

Absolutely!
Seriously, though, such alleged "nuances" are strictly imaginary. CDs have much higher resolution than LPs (hence the disclaimer about CDs revealing limitations of the master tape that LPs mask.)

 

[davidtwotrees]

Absolutely!
Seriously, though, such alleged "nuances" are strictly imaginary. CDs have much higher resolution than LPs (hence the disclaimer about CDs revealing limitations of the master tape that LPs mask.)

I have been going through my cd collection for some critical listening since the purchase/upgrade of my new Canton's......last night I listened to three cds that I know are from the 80's......Bad Co., Eurythmics Savage, and INXS. They sounded terrible. Foggy. I use drums to see if a recording is good, or to try to hear differences in equiptment changes......especially the high hat and cymbals.....all three cd's were totally lacking in this regard, as if the drums weren't mic'd right or something...conversly, I have a Phil Collins cd from around the same time that sounds like a sacd it is so clear and present.

Maybe the early digital recordings were on the learning curve......I can picture all the old analog guys going bonkers with the new technology, or pimple faced computer geeks not knowing what the heck was going on...

 

[TLS Guy]

Free CD Downlowd

After all these format wars, lets have a little fun.

One of my sons gave me a blog for Christmas. Last year he gave me a website. I have used the latter to experiment with downloading CDs from the Internet. I have also been experimenting with downloading and streaming different codecs at various bit rates.

I have been getting the hang of my new blog these last few days, and I now have a link to my website, and by visiting my blog, http://www.drmarksays.com/
you can download a CD of a concert I recorded in 1984 for radio broadcast.

On another thread there has been curiosity about the tape recorder era.
The material on this CD was recorded live by myself with superb microphones. The tape machines were a Brenell Mk 610 and a Revox A 700. I used dbx 1 code/encode. For those who are concerned about these matters no dynamic range compression was used. I just managed to master this CD within the bits available on the CD medium. I had to watch my bit meter like a hawk.

The performances by these non professional players is very spirited, and this is an enjoyable CD

The download will take about 30 minutes or so depending on your connection speed. There are full instructions as to how to make the CD in the downloaded zip file. The CD is a faithful copy of the edited master tapes. So you can see how a couple of vintage tape recorders are a match for the fully digital CD.

Here is the link again: -

http://www.drmarksays.com/

And yes it's me on my 1948 Model A John Deere moving snow with the Farm Hand loader and 8ft snow bucket.

 

[3db]

I'll take the occasional tick and pop of vinyl over the unfailing accuracy of CDs being produced today because of this loudness war that is going on with CD. More care goes into producing vinyl becuase of its limitations than does CD these days. So if the real event is just loud music all the time, I'll take the realism of better used dynamic range of vinyl over some of the careless production becomming more prevalent on CD.

 

[TLS Guy]

I'll take the occasional tick and pop of vinyl over the unfailing accuracy of CDs being produced today because of this loudness war that is going on with CD. More care goes into producing vinyl becuase of its limitations than does CD these days. So if the real event is just loud music all the time, I'll take the realism of better used dynamic range of vinyl over some of the careless production becomming more prevalent on CD.

Download the CD and see how much dynamic range you can get from CD. You will be very surprised.

http://www.drmarksays.com/

 

[3db]

Download the CD and see how much dynamic range you can get from CD. You will be very surprised.

http://www.drmarksays.com/

I'm not arguing that CD has better dynamic range. CD surpasses vinyl in that respect. What I'm saying is that vinyl uses its limited range better than a lot of the currently produced CDs

 

[TLS Guy]

I'm not arguing that CD has better dynamic range. CD surpasses vinyl in that respect. What I'm saying is that vinyl uses its limited range better than a lot of the currently produced CDs

Well that's the fault of the producers not the medium. We don't have to press vinyl to take care of that problem.

 

[3db]

Well that's the fault of the producers not the medium. We don't have to press vinyl to take care of that problem.

Agreed. I never said it was the fault of the medium. But the end result is what counts. I also don't hold the producers accoutable because I think they're hands are being tied by the corp management who found out that loudness sells more. Its unfortunate that its turned out this way.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Well that's the fault of the producers not the medium. We don't have to press vinyl to take care of that problem.

Exactly.
(I really don't understand why mastering would be done differently for different media anyhow, beyond those differences required for purely technical reasons.)

 

[3db]

Refers you back to the "musical goodness forum", CD compression thread.

 

[3db]

Refers you back to the "musical goodness forum", CD compression thread.

Like I've stated, all the accuracy of CD means didly squat when poor production technics are employed.

 

[adam71]

Absolutely!
Seriously, though, such alleged "nuances" are strictly imaginary. CDs have much higher resolution than LPs (hence the disclaimer about CDs revealing limitations of the master tape that LPs mask.)

How would you know? You ditched your vinyl 20 years ago. Therefore your credibility on this issue has shrunk down pretty far. I think you're afraid to find out how vinyl can sound compared to your Cds. To each his own though.

99% of the music I listen to has no "original sound" to get close to. It was created in a studio for playback at home. In a very real sense, the CD is the original "event".

What are you talking about exactly in this post?? So you're saying a recording whether live or in a studio is NOT supposed to come as close as it can to a live performance?? If so, then you're really missing the point of music reproduction.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

So you're saying a recording whether live or in a studio is NOT supposed to come as close as it can to a live performance?? If so, then you're really missing the point of music reproduction.

I am saying that in many cases the material has never been performed live (in the case of mostly electronic music, it cannot be, except by a program that amounts to a recording in its own right) and thus that there is nothing with which the recording can be compared.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

How would you know?

The much higher resolution of CDs is a simple fact. What I own or don't own is irrelevant.

 

[adam71]

The much higher POTENTIAL of CDs is a simple fact. What I own or don't own is irrelevant.

Nice. You should be a matador. You side stepped that one really well.


BTW, fixed your quote for you.

 

[adam71]

After all these format wars, lets have a little fun.

One of my sons gave me a blog for Christmas. Last year he gave me a website. I have used the latter to experiment with downloading CDs from the Internet. I have also been experimenting with downloading and streaming different codecs at various bit rates.

I have been getting the hang of my new blog these last few days, and I now have a link to my website, and by visiting my blog, http://www.drmarksays.com/
you can download a CD of a concert I recorded in 1984 for radio broadcast.

On another thread there has been curiosity about the tape recorder era.
The material on this CD was recorded live by myself with superb microphones. The tape machines were a Brenell Mk 610 and a Revox A 700. I used dbx 1 code/encode. For those who are concerned about these matters no dynamic range compression was used. I just managed to master this CD within the bits available on the CD medium. I had to watch my bit meter like a hawk.

The performances by these non professional players is very spirited, and this is an enjoyable CD

The download will take about 30 minutes or so depending on your connection speed. There are full instructions as to how to make the CD in the downloaded zip file. The CD is a faithful copy of the edited master tapes. So you can see how a couple of vintage tape recorders are a match for the fully digital CD.

Here is the link again: -

http://www.drmarksays.com/

And yes it's me on my 1948 Model A John Deere moving snow with the Farm Hand loader and 8ft snow bucket.

Nice recording. I can even hear the occasional throat clearing by audience members.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

BTW, fixed your quote for you.

You can't fix what isn't broken.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Absolutely!
Seriously, though, such alleged "nuances" are strictly imaginary. CDs have much higher resolution than LPs (hence the disclaimer about CDs revealing limitations of the master tape that LPs mask.)

Come on. You and allsop are confusing poor adam with facts. Be nice facts getting in the way of fantasy? I might as well stop going to the moves then. LOL

 

[mtrycrafts]

I have been going through my cd collection for some critical listening since the purchase/upgrade of my new Canton's......last night I listened to three cds that I know are from the 80's......Bad Co., Eurythmics Savage, and INXS. They sounded terrible. Foggy. I use drums to see if a recording is good, or to try to hear differences in equiptment changes......especially the high hat and cymbals.....all three cd's were totally lacking in this regard, as if the drums weren't mic'd right or something...conversly, I have a Phil Collins cd from around the same time that sounds like a sacd it is so clear and present.

Maybe the early digital recordings were on the learning curve......I can picture all the old analog guys going bonkers with the new technology, or pimple faced computer geeks not knowing what the heck was going on...

So, you demonstrated to yourself that the CD medium is not at fault having shortcomings. And, you pointed out that the learning curve was in place. Vinyl had to be recorded with a RIAA curve, etc. The CD had its new issues as it has a flat frequency response etc, that had to be considered differently.