I wlll never understand the anti-amplification fundamentalists. Like
any other aesthetic endeavor, there is good amplification and bad
amplification. Good amplification is rare, but good anything is rare.
Good amplification can actually allow for a more intimate sound,
bringing the instruments closer to the listener than would otherwise
be possible. What amplification did for singers (the artistry of
Billie Holliday or Frank Sinatra would be impossible without
amplification), it can also do for instruments -- think of Miles
Davis's harmon mute sound, which is vastly more expressive than a
harmon mute played without amplification. It makes it possible to
bring together fresh and distinctive instrumental combinations that
would not be possible to balance acoustically. Amplification is what
makes it possible to have a rewarding listening experience in spaces
that were not designed with acoustics in mind -- for example, every
jazz club ever.
And I don't have the even slightest trouble telling the difference
between even a poorly mic'd acoustic piano and a digital piano. The
differences are vast -- for starters, digital pianos can't (yet) come
close to reproducing the effect of all those sympathetic strings for
big chords, or passages with the sustain pedal is down -- let alone
the nuances of half-pedaling, etc.
Cheers,
- Darcy
-----
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Brooklyn, NY
On 07 May 2007, at 6:59 PM, dhbailey wrote:
John Howell wrote:
[snip]> through speakers. My conclusion, after listening VERY
critically, was
that our Roland sounded just as good as the Steinway, when the
Steinway was miked, even though it would never come close to the
actual acoustic sound of the Steinway.
the problem in such situations is that the best amplification/
microphone combinations aren't always used.
A properly mic'd and amplified Steinway should sound like a
Steinway, and be very different sounding from a Roland.
But that runs into microphones which cost over $1000 each, and most
live amplification setups which groups like regional orchestras can
afford don't use that sort of equipment, choosing to use a couple
or three Shure SM57 mics.
--
David H. Bailey
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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