At 4:02 PM -0700 8/26/10, Dan Dugan wrote:
>Some thoughts on your dark thoughts, Marcus,
>
>> My concern is that high-end audio (both
>>recording and reproduction) is beginning
>> to edge towards the relative unknown. We are
>>now almost two generations into
>> the digital age and the younger of us have never heard of cutting vinyl=
,
>> splicing reel tape, or
>
>I have no nostalgia for those sound-damaging
>processes, compared with the beauty of digital
>recordings.
>
>> understanding the vagaries of mic choice and placement.=A0
>> Everybody believes you can just fix it in ProTools.
>
>I'm with you there--good sound starts with a
>good performance and skillful mic positioning,
>(in nature, a quiet and interesting location and
>ditto), and nothing in post production changes
>that.
>
>> The lessening of the satisfaction threshold
>>over time may allow someone in power
>> to say, MP3=B9s are =8Cgood enough=B9. MP3=B9s are
>>the equivalent of FM radio. If this
>> =8Cgood enough=B9 satisfaction threshold gathers enough steam, not only=
is every
>> recording studio going away, but then 16/44.1 will be the standard by w=
hich
>> everything aural is judged and I personally do not find this acceptable=
.
>
>While sound distribution has moved to
>ever-cheaper "good enough" media, at the same
>time the technical ability to make much, much
>better pristine recordings has become less and
>less costly. Don't lose sight of that!
>
>-Dan
>
I was driven to record locational ambience from
the time I first got my hands on good recorders
and mics in the 70's but it wasn't until people
pointed me to condenser mics with very low
self-noise and low noise external pres many years
later that the results became irresistible. The
created impressions have to be strong enough to
sustain interest and the desire to improve.
Pocket recorders with mic "arrays" that cannot
produce sexy stereo imaging for distant subjects
present some educational challenge. There was a
similar drop in appreciation of audio quality
when video cameras started to have built-in mics
and auto gain circuits. Convenience and
portability are not very good motivators. It
seems like certain elements of control are
necessary. "Micing" seems to be one of them. Rob
D.
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