23 Jun
2011
23 Jun
'11
2:08 a.m.
On Thu, Jun 23, 2011 at 01:19:01AM +0200, Julien Claassen wrote:
I suppose, that tuning hasn't much to do with
muddiness at all. I've
heard 440Hz - or there abouts - recordings, which sounded like one piece
of mud and Italian or French baroque tuning (392Hz), which sounded crips
and clear. I'm not even sure it has much to do with mixing. Recording
would be one thing, so you don't cancel frequencies by bad mic
placements. but most of it is in clarity of playing and for baroque music
especially in size of ensemble. I found, the small the better. then of
course you have the venue, which has an impact on the clarity of sound.
An overlarge reverberation can harm a nice orchestra, especially if it's
big.
If things sound muddy it's usually one of too much reverb,
sloppy playing, or the orchestra/ensemble being too big for
the type of music being performed. Tuning has little or
nothing to do with it.
Many recordings (and not only of renaissance and baroque
music) have way too much reverb on them. Just some days
ago I heard a recent recording of Beethoven string quartets
produced with something halfway between a church and a
longish vocal plate reverb - absolutely horrible. This
is chamber music...
... I think one should leave well alone. Mix the mics
in a
good way, but don't do much in the way of "producing". I
always thought the working with classical music is the art
of touching the recording in imperceptable ways, that help
what's there. So you don't have a real "production sound".
Quite right. But it doesn't have to be 'purist' either.
I won't hesitate to use a little EQ or even some gentle
compression if it helps, and sometimes it does. But not
the amounts that are common for other types of music.
You may be surprised that Von Karajan was known for his
interfering with the recording technique and forcing his
kind of 'production sound'... and not always for the better.
Ciao,
--
FA