Some cd players or amplifiers come with lots of added colour in the sound. All improvements, all expensive, no doubt, but best is to find a machine with a button to by-pass all these added electronics. A 'direct' button. This way we hear the sound intended by the recording engineer. This should make the equipment cheaper, but apparently it doesn't ...
David ----- Original Message ----- From: "Manolo Laguillo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Anthony Hind" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "LUTELIST" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2007 12:28 PM Subject: [LUTE] Re: Slightly off the gut topic? > Hello, Anthony, and rest of lutefriends, > now I am not that much an audiophile ('audionut') anymore as I used to > be, but am nevertheless interested in your opinion regarding Anthony's > question: what CD player, but not at the price of what a good lute does > cost? It is a difficult question, I know, but perhaps there is an > answer... > Saludos from Barcelona, > Manolo Laguillo > > Anthony Hind wrote: > >>To all who do not find this too off topic >> >> Choice of strings and choice of recording equipment (microphones, >>etc) are clearly IN topics; but I am not sure that CD play-back is >>(even if the lute is central to my question); so if anyone answers >>this, they may prefer to reply directly to my mail. >> >>Over the last two years, one evening a month, I have had the good >>fortune of being able to hear Renaissance and Baroque instruments in >>the context of a Parisian "salon" (lutes, guitars, harpsichords, and >>even, ouds). Thus I am so aware of the discrepancy between the sound >>of an instrument, in such a context, and what people usually hear >>through their hifi systems in their own "salon". >> >>Recent communications mentioned listening to the quality of gut >>strings through the computer, using MP3 streaming. I feel that it is >>already very difficult to hear the sort of musical texture I expect >>from gut strings with a CD, on an average CD player, let alone on >>MP3. There just does not seem to be enough detail and micro-dynamics >>to be able to clearly hear the very special response of gut strings, >>or any other strings for that matter. Indeed, it is rare to be able >>to hear the micro-dynamics of the slightly rasping attack or the >>crucial timing of the slowly dying note on a CD (I suppose this is >>what hifi experts call "inner detail"). Macro-dynamics (overall >>range), which are not really relevant to the lute, may well be >>acceptably captured. >> >>My use of the word "gut-nut " (in a previous gut message), developed >>from my exasperation with this situation, which lead me to >>communicate with a number of hifi specialists, including an American >>hifi company called "Audionuts". I tried to convey to them what I was >>hoping to hear from a CD player, without paying the ridiculously >>exorbitant prices that so-called "audiophile" players cost. After a >>very helpful discussion with them, the "Audionut " person told me >>"You are most definitely a true audionut." >>And of course I took that as a very positive term, in the vocabulary >>of this audiophile. It follows that my use of "gut-nut " should be >>understood in the same positive sense. >> >>However, as a "gut-nut", when listening to lute music, I certainly >>give almost as much importance to the texture of the sounds as to the >>notes and rhythm (but the timing of the slowly dying note is, in any >>case, crucial to the rhythm in the wider sense). I am aware that many >>musicians feel no compulsion what ever even to listen to records, >>having no time for non-live music and sometimes preferring to shun >>listening to other people's performances; others feel they are so >>musically aware that they can reconstruct the performance from the >>most miserable of sound systems. While even others, use MP3 and >>computers through convenience, because it does allow you to analyze >>very closely some aspects of a person's performance. >> >>So my question is for the few, who like myself, really do like to >>listen to other performer's lute music and want to hear the lute as a >>lute, and not as some sort of amplified electric-lute with no >>delicacy. My own ancient CDP, a 16 x 2 Sony player, recently began to >>die, and an attempted replacement, a highly reputed player that will >>remain nameless, was quite unable to give me the sort of detail that >>I was hoping for, and then took a nose dive after barely a week. >> >>I would therefore be very grateful for a few personal messages, from >>lutists who could put me in the direction of a CD player that is not >>outlandishly expensive, but that does seem to retrieve some of the >>micro-details I have described here. >> >>Thinking a little more about this, as many lute players do take great >>care in how they have their lute music recorded, they may well care, >>that much of this precious information is just lost in the vagueness >>of playback systems; so perhaps this is not quite so OUT of topic. >>nevertheless, I fear that for many, the computer has become so >>central to their lives, as indeed it is to mine, that MP3 may well be >>changing our listening sensitivities. >>Regards >>Anthony >> >>P.S. I nevertheless thank those very generous players like Edward >>Martin & Paul Berget, Jacob Heringman, Paul Beier, and others, who >>give us access to their music through Magnatune. It would be churlish >>to criticize the MP3 quality of this very generous gift (which is >>much better than most other MP3 streaming); and I hope this does not >>prevent people from buying the corresponding CDs, as I have done >>myself (some of these are remarkably well recorded, see the >>interviews of the recording engineers on the Magnatune site). >> >> >> >> >> >> >>To get on or off this list see list information at >>http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> >> >> > > -- >
