Now this could be interesting or educational or ... not sure ...
Let me start with telling about the subject, because all is prone to be misinterpreted :
Our latter posts are about good examples of drumming recordings which started by me telling about my own recording which by so infinitely far exceeds everything I ever heard on any album. The subject is not about my superb recording techniques (I know so few about it that I can't destroy recordings, haha) - the subject is also not about a best in the world drum kit - and the subject is also not about how poor recordings on the albums we know are.
So, it is only about finding a fine example of a good drumming recording, and while I say I don't know them, "you" may come up with examples, which next I compare with my own self recording.
So nobody should feel miserable about his "for life" example being debunked and we rather scratch our head and think about how things can end up so very poor. Of course it needs you to believe me with my close to 100% resemblance of the real kit.
Let me also tell you that this "review" I quoted from, was from within a subject about compressors and expanders and companders and such and again this album was handed as a best example.
Ehm of what ?
But now we see how difficult talking audio is because at playing the album yesterday I ran into a biggest surprise.
Also, please be with me at comparing with the real thing. So, this is not per se about a better or poor recording, but how it would compare to the real thing which coincidentally can be done these days. So look through these glasses, ok ?
I put up track 1. This did not last for 10 seconds because it was totally bass heavy and nothing to listen to for fun. Next track same thing, but let that play till things got unbearable. Then skipped to the Ron Tutt track, because that should be a better one for drumming ...
Now here's your hint : Ron Tutt is on track 5.
No no no. I just can not get how this can be regarded any good. It really really is nowhere and it is like my ears are stuffed. Way way too much bass heavy and in relation to that no highs. No dynamics.
So what is this ? pump up the basses and now people will perceive a nice kick drum ? Is it now me and the speaker over-expressing this ?
I don't get it.
So, referring to my previous statement "this is not about poor recordings as such", well, it IS. This-is-too-poor-to-listen-to.
Now please (please ?) bear with me, because we need to understand what is happening. It is crucial to get that ...
Remember how I started out yesterday about this ? I told that I recalled that Sheffield Lab was great on the kick drums (throughout their recordings), but otherwise ? maybe not.
This "judgement" was from when I listened through my also great horn speaker with "horned" 1x15" plus subwoofer(s). This thinking was not specifically about this Track/Drum record, but general for their recordings. This one in specific I quoted my own texts from elsewhere yesterday, but this is not very important. What is, is this :
The speakers I now listen to (actually still the subject of this topic) do not stop at 27Hz (or actually long before that) and they don't use blurpy subwoofers which actually don't do a think other than adding punch (when tuned right). So, and I don't want to repeat it all over, but ... these go the most straight to 19Hz. This means that when a mixing engineers feels so happy to give you some additional (illegal !) punch and which JUST a compressor does (with the proper timing), I perceive that as, well ...
That I really could not tell whether I was listening to 3 toms or a kick drum. Now, you may tend to think I am exaggerating things but I really do not. Anyway, might you believe me then now you might understand the "unlistenable" better.
This, while with my previous speaker this was quite all right.
And so I think it can also happen that punch is added in order to let us perceive something like a kick drum better, because it does not anticipate an Orelo MKII much. You will get what I mean here.
So clear : What I perceive can be dead-wrong while you perceive it as very ok.
So done ?
Haha, not quite and this is about Ron Tutt being on track 5;
Where I drew my quotes from (compression etc. subject elsewhere), it was about the XRCD whatever version which was advised to me. Well, that went unnoticed back at the time, but yesterday I found I had another version. A "normal" one. Here Ron Tutt is on track 3.
Can I tell you that this normal version is only
11dB less compressed ? Now THAT makes a difference, I can tell you.
Nothing is bass heavy on this version and now attacks on the cymbals are audible which were completely lacking on the XRCD. Now it suddenly is a quite better reference.
It remains a dead thing again, and it is my guess that people who record drums do that especially in a deadened room.
The representation of the cymbals is still nowhere, but at least now it is listenable. But now the stupid thing :
No way it represents the kick drum well. That needs added punch ...
So what also remains is the sound of the sticking sticks, and I think this is compressor behaviour. At least this is how it was explained to me by a recording engineer. What also remains is that all hits sound the same because of it. So, snare, tom of various size or kick drum, it's all hit by the very same (sized) sticky stick. This, while at least the kick drum is hit by a soft "ball" and its attack should sound way more full because of it. But not so on this now better recording.
Watch the very first hit (it's on a tom) of this Ron Tutt track. You can hear the drum kit sing along for a small second and it even needs close listening. I told you, when I do that the tom itself already sounds over 10 seconds. TEN. It does so in reality and it does on the self recording. In this Ron Tutt I only heard this kit playing along at this first hit and for maybe a second and nowhere else in the track.
Can we now to some extend understand the unbelievable difference ? This will be in everything you know. Not only in drums. But at least this is how I call such an explicitly taken drum track "dead".
An also funny thing is, and I already noticed day before yesterday, when you after such an explicit drum recording listen to normal music, they all do better on the drums. I am serious. So STILL some fools are around who think they can improve on recordings and they do well on drums.
Not.
Peter
