[Elecraft] Cargo Cult Audio [was:Ideas - new Elecraft Products]

[Dave Sublette]

Esteemed group,

I have really enjoyed lurking and reading this thread, which until now, 
has emphasized the technical aspects of music recordings. I can't help 
but add the following comments about the human aspects.

Studio recordings are wonderful in that they allow control of many 
things, a quiet room being the chief one, I believe.  In this day of 
digital technology, even a flat note from the third violin on the last 
half of the third beat of the 178th measure can be digitally corrected, 
and is done so regularly by compulsive producers. Full movie scores are 
regularly produced on synthesizers, thus putting many fine musicians out 
of work. Some movie composers and directors still insist on live 
musicians, recording the score in front of a large screen which is 
showing the scene for which the music is being written and performed.  
This results in a superior movie score, in my opinion.  Many 
commercially available CDs, recorded in a studio, are missing the vital 
humanness of a live performance.

I will take a jazz tune recorded in a smoky lounge after 2 AM or on 
stage live at a jazz festival over one recorded in a studio any time 
because  the performances in front of a live, appreciative audience 
evokes an extra measure of excellence from the musicians performing the 
piece. All audiences are not equal. Sometimes the synergy between 
performers and audience is so intense, you can feel it, taste it, and 
cut it with a knife. Other times the audiences are so dead, it actually 
puts a damper on the musicians performance.. Also. you can listen to the 
same group or artist perform the same tune a hundred times before a live 
audience and you will get a hundred variations, some better than the 
best-selling recording of the same song. Listen to five different 
symphony orchestras play the same classical piece and you will get five 
variations. At least it gives the music critics, who evidently cannot do 
anything else  productive in society, something to write about.

Some musicians/composers/directors believe that music doesn't exist 
until it is performed in front of a live audience. I don't have a 
problem with that. Also, I personally believe that the reason we have 
these endless discussions is that music falls into a special category of 
its own. It opens a window into the soul of the listener and moves us in 
ways we otherwise cannot be moved. For the performer, life is not real, 
in some sense, unless he (or she) can perform.

I speak from the heart, although I am not a professional musician. I am 
educated and earned my living as an electrical engineer but  have 
performed as an amateur musician for 53 years. I presently play trumpet 
in several groups an am on stage at least 60 times a year. I still take 
lessons. I have played for as few as a dozen in the audience and for as 
many as 8000. I love it. I have come to recognize music as part of my 
life's fabric.


As in everything else in life, your opinion may differ, and I respect 
that. I do believe in balance in all things in life, but fail to achieve 
it most of the time ;-).  My wife says she never has to worry about me 
being in a bar or chasing other women. I'm either behind the horn or 
under the headphones. She may not be able to talk to me easily, but she 
knows where I am.

Whatever type of music you like and whatever type of equipment you 
prefer listening to it on, good for you (except for rap--rap is 
entertainment, but not music IMHO).

73,

Dave, K4TO


Vic K2VCO wrote:
> Ron wrote:
>
>> You really should know. I repeat....know... hands down....tube 
>> amplifiers are the big winner in seeking esoteric audio reproduction. 
>> McIntosh brings big bucks for a reason. Solid state just can't do 
>> what tubes can. Solid state feels harsh, sounds harsh. Tubes bring 
>> reality to audio reproduction. Warmth...
>
> Any form of reproduction of sound is imperfect to some degree.  Sound 
> is recorded by imperfect microphones, recorded by imperfect devices 
> onto imperfect media, amplified by amplifiers with some degree of 
> distortion,  played through speakers with bumpy frequency response, 
> and reproduced in a room which is different from the original studio 
> or live venue.  If you are listening at a lower level than the 
> original (pretty much a necessity in our crowded world), then even 
> characteristics of the human ear need to be taken into account.
>
> Some people would like to be able to listen to a recording of a 
> performance and have it entirely indistinguishable from the experience 
> of the original performance, although it's impossible to do an A/B 
> comparison, since by definition the listener isn't in the studio. But 
> if this is your goal, then various devices along the way must 
> introduce the least possible distortion of the signal -- that means 
> harmonic distortion, IMD, less-than-smooth frequency response, 
> transient effects, etc. This is a matter of engineering and cost, and 
> results can be measured.  Tubes are not in general better in this 
> regard than modern solid-state designs.
>
> Others like music to sound a certain way that's more pleasing to them. 
> They prefer to tailor the response of their systems so that the 
> distortion that they get is the right kind of distortion -- the kind 
> that makes the music feel 'warm' or 'smooth'.  They feel that tubes 
> tend to produce this kind of sound.  Actually, a solid state amplifier 
> can do exactly the same thing, if the correct kind of distortion is 
> introduced.
>
> There is a subculture of audio enthusiasts who believe that such 
> things as the oxygen molecules in their power cords and the dielectric 
> in bypass capacitors affects the quality of their sound.  To 
> understand this phenomenon see 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult>.  Or just Google 'cargo cult'.