# Which instrument is done dirtiest by microphones?



## Sebbo (8 mo ago)

In real life, most instruments sound somewhat different than on recordings. For most instruments, from sound alone, it's just a slight preference and for piano I sometimes even like recordings more but for the violin, it was night and day. In real life, it becomes such a precise instrument, where you can make out and appreciate every little nuance which the violonist worked hundreds of hours for. (It was Vilde Frang playing Schumann's violin concerto)

Now, realising that I may miss out on music I really love because of the shortcomings of recordings, I wanna ask, which instrument becomes a completely new experience for you in real life?


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

For me it's the multi-division pipe organ.


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## Monsalvat (11 mo ago)

RICK RIEKERT said:


> For me it's the multi-division pipe organ.


I would have to agree that the pipe organ requires live performance to be fully experienced. It's an instrument the size of a full building, housed within a much larger building. These are not conditions which can be reproduced well with headphones or speakers.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Tuba


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Bearing in mind that most recordings are pretty poor at capturing the complexity and power of a live performance, and that even more stereos are incapable of reproducing it, I would say:

The human voice.

Hearing someone sing, right in front of you, you get clues and facial expressions and spit and body language and timbre that just don't make the hairs stand up on your neck like a good singer.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

I've heard some professional releases where there are instruments recorded or engineered poorly.

The trumpet, trombone, and sax on *Chicago's Live At Carnegie Hall* sound more like kazoos than brass.

The keyboards on *Yes' Tormato* sound tinny and boinky.

I'm sure there are plenty of Classical records where instruments sound like krap.


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

NoCoPilot said:


> Bearing in mind that most recordings are pretty poor at capturing the complexity and power of a live performance, and that even more stereos are incapable of reproducing it, I would say:
> 
> The human voice.
> 
> Hearing someone sing, right in front of you, you get clues and facial expressions and spit and body language and timbre that just don't make the hairs stand up on your neck like a good singer.


It's interesting to note that early acoustic recordings almost exclusively featured singers. since even the primitive recording techniques of those times could capture enough of the characteristics of a human voice to be convincing. We can still enjoy Caruso's voice, and understand what made him such a great artist, when for instance pianists or string players had to wait a couple of decades to get their playing conveyed convincingly through the gramophone.
Maybe the human brain has less trouble to "fill in the gaps" when listening to a less than perfect recording of a vocal piece than we have of instrumental music?


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## progmatist (Apr 3, 2021)

A harmonica. But in that case, it's completely intentional for just the right sound.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

To me, the choral section is the dirtiest in recordings. When I go to a good concert hall the choral parts are crystal clear, but in most recordings they are more like noise.


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

RICK RIEKERT said:


> For me it's the multi-division pipe organ.


Especially when the organ is mic'd through the church audio system! Or in the case of a digital/analog organ when the whole organ is piped through the PA system. 

I've had excellent recording success with ZoomCorp products, namely the H4 and the Q8, the latter of which also does video as well.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

pianozach said:


> I'm sure there are plenty of Classical records where instruments sound like krap.


Remember: "If it ain't 'Krusty Klown Brand, it's krap!"


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

Pipe organs and choral music, I'd say. Neither come close to capturing the grandeur and power of what they sound like live. I also think pianos have a tendency to be captured poorly, especially in overly-reverberant settings where there's too much audible noise/distortion.


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