Date:         Tue, 29 Aug 2006 17:48:42 -0400
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: Not using headphones
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Back when musicians were, well, musicians instead of posers and "idols", good playing was all that 
was necessary to "punch through." And just to make clear -- I do not think good musicianship died 
with the dawn of rock, not at all. But I think much modern music relies on musically-retarded 
devices like click tracks (no need to have any inherent rhythm), loops (no need to be able to play 
anything right more than once), pitch correction (no need to have any idea of key or tone) and walls 
of noise (best to hide a terrible tone, uninspired riffs or horrid "singing"). Then apply modern 
awful recording techniques and "super-loud" distorted/clipped mastering and the result is basically 
ear-sewage. See the interview with Oscar Peterson in today's Wall Street Journal for more. Oscar 
makes a bunch of good points about why jazz is dead among young players.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "George Brock-Nannestad" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006 10:13 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Not using headphones


From: Patent Tactics, George Brock-Nannestad

----- just to put modern recording in perspective, let me quote bits from a
fresh review of some fine Danish microphones:

 by Rich Tozzolo, Pro Sound News, August 2006

DPA 4090/91 instrument microphones

'Some brands carry with them a certain essence of quality. DPA is one of
those, with a loyal legion of worldwide users who rely on their mics to
deliver detailed reproductions of acoustic events. When the company recently
announced the release of a new line of omnis for under $1,000 ($599 each), I
just had to check them out.'

'The day they arrived I recorded guitarist/songwriter, Scott Moore, who
played Lowden 010C, Lowden L27FC and Collings OM1SS acoustics. These are fine
instruments, and I placed one 4090 on the soundhole/fretboard and another out
by the body. The cable was all Monster, and the preamp was a PreSonus ADL-600
straight to Pro Tools at 24-bit/48 kHz. Upon playback of the first pass, I
found the mics delivered the open, clear tones of the guitar-exactly what I
expected from a DPA. The term "very natural" comes to mind here, with a bit
of the expected room sound omnis provide.'

Further on, describing a slightly different setup, the following shows more
modern practices:

'Although I normally would not place a high-quality omni on a wickedly loud
guitar cabinet, it worked out great because the added top end meant less
overall EQ was needed to punch the sound through'

----- so as not to be accused of quoting out of context, you may read the
whole review (but nothing else) by going to:

http://www.dpamicrophones.com/Images/DM03266.pdf     (appr. 240kB)

----- for some reason the above makes me weep - thank God Django Reinhardt
died before they had to punch his sound through!

Kind regards,


George