subhobh
Active Member
Kind of interesting:
Why do musicians have lousy hi-fis? | The Audiophiliac - CNET News
Why do musicians have lousy hi-fis? | The Audiophiliac - CNET News
Why do musicians have lousy hi-fis?
- Thread starter subhobh
- Start date
Reason #1 for most musicians ...
I was talking to Siva of Acoustic Portrait about this as well. Apparently Siva has primarily two types of customers - the first are the guys who hear about AP from others and become loyal customers. The other lot are usually musicians who apparently listen very differently to music. Apparently most genuine musicians are turned off by "hifi sound" that is not true to the instruments they play. Musicians have a ear for sound that cannot be fooled by the fake sound of pretend hifi. They usually prefer a sound that is true in timbre and tonality specially with regard to the instruments they themselves play.
iaudio
Well-Known Member
Umm..Coz they dont need it?
They would rather create wonderful live music, than spend copious amount of time trying to tweak hi fi to re-create it like us, I guess!
panditji
Well-Known Member
A good tune whether recorded well or not will always remain a good tune....bad music even if recorded well will still be bad music....
Also the musicians job is to create music and it is the sound engineer's job to record...so therefore musicians concentrate on the quality of music and not the recording ...
Another reason could be that if musicians want to hear good music, they play it themselves whereas we ordinary folks have to play music on stereos...
Also the musicians job is to create music and it is the sound engineer's job to record...so therefore musicians concentrate on the quality of music and not the recording ...
Another reason could be that if musicians want to hear good music, they play it themselves whereas we ordinary folks have to play music on stereos...
alcy
New Member
+1
Apart from this though, there are musicians who do care a lot about audio reproduction as well - most prominent I know are Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree, Nince Inch Nails, Radiohead & Tool.
Plus 1 to musicians listening very differently to music. I have hosted a few musicians for international competitions - piano and violin - and it was always interesting how they listened to music. It was almost always about interpretation (especially when it came to how different teachers taught certain passages) and sometimes about the instrument. It never was about sound-staging, or imaging etc.
Many did not even like listening to other recording of a piece as they would then feel influenced. All however loved listening to my historic recordings. Recording quality was hardly the issue.
Many did not even like listening to other recording of a piece as they would then feel influenced. All however loved listening to my historic recordings. Recording quality was hardly the issue.
Ohh I did want to add - completely off topic though - that many musician are really hard work...autistic, in their own world, lacking some of the most basic social skills, often brought up so cloistered in conservatories from a young age that they cannot even wash their own clothes (in a machine of course) nor cook an egg. They can be very demanding and moody. I only WISH I could have plonked them in front of my really high-end music system (at that time) and kept them in some control 
Thad E Ginathom
Well-Known Member
I've seen musicians enraptured by recordings so bad I could hardly detect any melody. Their brains are processing different information --- or processing it in a different way, perhaps. They are not the same as us mere mortals :lol:
soulforged
Well-Known Member
It's like what my wife always says...some like to listen to music...others listen to sound...
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I would put it this way:
Those who can listen to music, do not get diverted by the sound ...
panditji
Well-Known Member
cha_indian
Active Member
The people who enjoy music enjoy it evem on a Ahuja PA system or on 'Ponga' (funnel shaped speakers)... for them music matters most and though quality matters but not its not essential.
(funnel shaped speakers)... for them music matters most and though quality matters but not its not essential.
Gerry_the_Merry
Well-Known Member
listing to sounds must be so very Boring...not to talk of Waste of money !
Almost like buying books just to see the alphabets/ words in them
I think unfortunately, I am now totally house trained. Last evening, I went to the open air concert at gateway of India, featuring Vikku Vinayak Ram, Shiv Mani, Selva Ganesh, Mandolin Srinivas and Shankar Mahadevan.
The sound was somewhere between unbearable and execrable. I can't believe anyone would stay on as a musician after listening to this sound.
Firstly, there is incredible bass. It is massive and dominates everything else. The rest of the sound is quite harsh. When Shiv Mani plays drums, even teh mildest tap produces a cannon like sound. If that is what people enjoy, then no wonder they turbo charge the bass. Such a concert has to be open air as the auditorium will break up if held indoors.
I also wondered where Shiv Mani has his mikes. Whatever he taps, be it a 20litre Bisleri bottle, or a suitcase, or an empty vessel, the sound is picked up cleanly, but when he taps his two sticks against each other, there is no sound.
Selva Ganesh plays Kanjira, but that too produced cannon like sound with the merest of taps. Only Mandolin Srinivas played with some style, and of course, there was No excess of bass there...
No way I can have sound like this at my home. Better be an audiophile.
Thad E Ginathom
Well-Known Member
What a sad story.
I'm sure it should have been a good concert --- ruined by the sound "engineers" and sound system. It's common enough, even in classical music
Ironic, isn't it? We are supposed to aim for a setup that makes our systems sound like live music --- but if my hifi sounded like some of the live concerts I attend I'd throw it away!
I'm sure it should have been a good concert --- ruined by the sound "engineers" and sound system. It's common enough, even in classical music
Ironic, isn't it? We are supposed to aim for a setup that makes our systems sound like live music --- but if my hifi sounded like some of the live concerts I attend I'd throw it away!
Even the most musically inclined person cannot tolerate cacophony due to bad sound set up whether indoors or outdoors. There is a limit beyond which those who value music over sound say this is the limit:sad: as we do enjoy music only when sound brings our the best nuances that the musicians creates.
Well for audiophiles music begins where the sound ends and knowing them one can say they are always trying to reach out to music provided sound lets them do so
hyeah:Thad E Ginathom
Well-Known Member
Really, this all-too-common tale of music being turned into a horrible noise belongs in a different thread, because it is nothing at all to do with what musicians themselves like to hear.
On stage, the musicians often struggle to hear themselves and each other. They are supposed to be helped to do so by a monitor (feedback) system: they speakers one sees on stage pointing at the musicians. Particularly in larger venues, especially huge open-air ones, they will have no idea whatsoever what the audience is hearing. (actually, even in smaller venues they don't: the stage is like a separate acoustic space.)
Whilst it is a sad part of the many mistakes that happen that some musicians think they do hear what we hear, and make requests accordingly, the main thing is that it is always the sound engineer who is responsible for what we hear. Always. Even if he is doing something a musician asked for --- because he simply should not do it if it is wrong.
Where the monitor system is missing or deficient, musicians ask for more volume so that they can hear what they are playing, floating back to them from the front-of-house speakers. None of us here need to be told how in-so-many-ways wrong this is. None of us would point our hifi speakers away from us. But still: it is the sound engineer's fault. He should have provided monitors; he should have adjusted them, rather than FOH speakers, in accordance with musicians demands.
The sound engineer is supposed to give us the music, and give the musicians the music. They are separate tasks, and if he fails, blame him!
It's all a minefield. If we're lucky, we get to hear the music.
And my comments are based on the amplification of acoustic classical music. Even that can be raised to levels approaching rock. The added dB levels involved in actual rock, or even fusion, performances have a vastly greater capability to injure rather than entertain us.
I keep a packet of cotton wool in my bag --- and make a study of "tuning" my ears individually to balance the sound and to try to soften the roughness of the reflections caused by bad venue acoustics. Which is another story.
(Regular rant. You can probably tell :lol:. I do make a point of going to venues where the music can, usually, be heard without hurting!)
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reubensm
Well-Known Member
From my experience with knowing some musicians, they tend to prefer the actual sound of their instruments playing. Recorded music always sounds inferior to them, hence they don't care too much about recorded music or the equipment that it is played on.
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