# I keep hearing traffic noise in classical recordings?



## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

Am I the only one? Am I imagining things? Sometimes I replay tracks just to be sure. Most of the time, it's low frequency rumbling from what I presume to be trucks—as in delivery trucks.


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## fbjim (Mar 8, 2021)

What's the orchestra, iirc one of the London Philharmonic concert halls was over a tube line, and you would occasionally be able to hear it if it wasn't removed in post.


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

In this case, I was listening to Staier's recording of the Goldbergs and WTC and some recordings by the Ghielmi brothers and I'm like: Wait. Wut?

https://www.amazon.com/Vittorio-Ghi...qid=1637708962&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-3

I was listening out in a cabin in the middle of a field and suddenly it sounded like a dumptruck was getting the green light right outside my door. I actually went to the window and looked.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Several years ago I considered creating a database of unintended noises on recordings. Back in the LP days it wasn't a problem: surface noise and the lower S/N ratios pretty much guaranteed you wouldn't hear it. But on CD it's a whole different audio experience. Some of the best are on the Munch RCA recordings in Boston. Traffic galore. But not uncommon in recordings made everywhere. The Philadelphia Orchestra recorded in pretty noisy city, and Cleveland with Szell wasn't immune. One of my favorites is the Maazel recording of the Mahler 2nd on Sony. At one point you hear a door opening and someone walking from the right to the left of the sound stage. Vienna could be quite noisy and the old buildings made long before sound proofing was needed, so many records in that city were made very late at night to eliminate as many problems as possible. PDQ Bach hilariously makes fun of these extraneous noises while trying to record a pianist at home with all the household noises.


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

The Ghielmi disc was recorded in the Basilica of San Simpliciano, a church in Milan. Churches and cathedrals are likely to have high levels of broadband ambient noise from rumble, traffic, and sounds from the central heating system. Recordings made in churches may include other common noise sources such as pigeons or bats which frequently nest in the roof areas, and the cooing of pigeons from high up will reverberate around the whole space. There is also the noise from lawn mowers and nearby school playing fields in churches located in leafy residential areas. There are certain songbirds which imitate tunes being recorded, which may be so endearing that they are occasionally left in recordings. However, some engineers carry a starter pistol to scare away the less tuneful birds and recording overnight, as mbhaub mentions, is a common solution to bird and traffic noise in particular.


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

Interesting. I like the recordings enough that I'm ordering the CDs, so I guess I'll just have to get used to it.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I've heard faint birdsong in one or two piano recordings - and no, it wasn't Messiaen.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

In the recording by Decca from La Traviata ( Sutherland / Pavarotti) you can hear the subway during the prelude, I am not kidding.


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## Shea82821 (Nov 19, 2021)

Honestly, I've never paid any attention. Unless it overbears the rest, my mind just filters it all out and concentrates on the melody. And even then, I very likely miss it still half-the-time.


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## Shea82821 (Nov 19, 2021)

Rogerx said:


> In the recording by Decca from La Traviata ( Sutherland / Pavarotti) you can hear the subway during the prelude, I am not kidding.


I guess the baritone was running late that day :lol:


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

*I keep hearing traffic noise in classical recordings?*



vtpoet said:


> ... -as in delivery trucks.


Count yourself lucky. It may mean your sound system is above par.*

A sensitive system will dredge up what happens to be on a recording. One can hear all sorts of extraneous noises, even with music other than that of John Cage. I have recordings where I hear traffic noises. These are not necessarily "live" recordings, on which, of course, audience sounds may abound.

I have one recording where, in an especially complex rhythmic passage, I can hear the conductor counting beats. There are other recordings, largely of chamber music, such as with string quartets, where one can hear the chair squeaks and pages turning.

I for one appreciate having a sound system fine enough to pick up these recorded anomalies.

______
* I'm not much for golf, but I find it odd that we use the expressions "below par" and "above par" in the ways we do. For instance, my example above refers to a stereo system that is pretty good, better than average, above par. Yet, isn't the better golf score one that is "below par"? Yet, would you want a stereo system that's "below par"?


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Somehow, I always hear it when listening to _An American in Paris_.


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

I have an LP of the Scarlatti recording by Wanda Landowska, made in Paris during WW2, in which artillery fire is clearly heard during one of the sonatas. Now the lady could make a harpsichord sound like that when she wanted to, but this wasn't her.

There's a jazz recording by Joe Venuti on which he breaks wind. I don't have the recording itself but I did hear it on the radio once.


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

SONNET CLV said:


> I have one recording where, in an especially complex rhythmic passage, I can hear the conductor counting beats. There are other recordings, largely of chamber music, such as with string quartets, where one can hear the chair squeaks and pages turning.


Yeah, I hear that in a lot of recordings-the squeaky chairs of the string quartet ensemble while Beethoven soars into the ether, but I don't mind those noises at all. But a delivery truck?!? I do have a very good stereo system, but human ears are also very good at picking up the lower range (like a diesel rumbling through the walls of the studio). I'd like to blame the high quality of my stereo system (and my hearing), but.... no...


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

Organ recordings are more often than not infested with the noise from the wind motor.



Animal the Drummer said:


> I have an LP of the Scarlatti recording by Wanda Landowska, made in Paris during WW2, in which artillery fire is clearly heard during one of the sonatas. Now the lady could make a harpsichord sound like that when she wanted to, but this wasn't her.


There's of course the famous 1944 (or early 1945?) stereo (!) Gieseking/Rother Emperor Concerto, where you can here the anti-aircraft artillery on the background in the quieter passages.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

vtpoet said:


> Am I the only one? Am I imagining things? Sometimes I replay tracks just to be sure. Most of the time, it's low frequency rumbling from what I presume to be trucks-as in delivery trucks.


First, check that other people can hear it. If not, see your doctor.


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## Guest (Nov 24, 2021)

Ah, the joys of hyper-sensitive sound technology; squeaking piano stools, traffic noise, humming pianists, clicking fingernails etc. Put that cocktail together with random venues for recording and lack of acoustic protection (external noise, of course) and you get extraneous noise. All compounded by increasingly sophisticated home hi-fi equipment. It sure beats clicking records which sound like bacon and eggs being fried!

And, on the subject of noise, what's with the modern tendency to have crashing drums and percussive noise in every single TV documentary....boom boom boom....crash...thump thump thump....(add lashings of it to increase the drama). We've stopped watching documentaries because of the gratuitous noise which often overwhelms the commentary.

I suspect others are infuriated by it too, as well as the cartoon-like booming which emanates from movie theatres in the most in-your-face way. What these movie-makers are really telling us is that the stuff they're pedalling just isn't up to snuff.


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## GucciManeIsTheNewWebern (Jul 29, 2020)

I'm surprised to not see a quip about John Cage yet, followed by some dead horse flagellation about the merits of modern music.


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

GucciManeIsTheNewWebern said:


> I'm surprised to not see a quip about John Cage yet, followed by some dead horse flagellation about the merits of modern music.


Well, now, when you go equating modern music to a dead horse, you've done all the work. What's the point?


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

11:47


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

hammeredklavier said:


> 11:47


This is fantastic. Is there an entire album of Mozart on this piano from this artist/recording? I found *Florian Birsak* on the _Mozart 225 Complete Edition_, the volume of "Complete Keyboard Music." But he's seems to playing a harpsichord.

*EDIT*: Among the Mozart 225 volumes is one "Mozart's Instruments" which includes performances by *Andras Schiff* on Mozart's fortepiano, as well a number of chamber works using period instruments. But no Florian Birsak.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

If it was an old Kingsway Hall recording you very likely did hear traffic noise. The place had an amazing acoustic for performers (who adored the sound) but apart from being a bit of a dump it sat above the main Piccadilly Line resulting in what became known as the 'Kingsway Rumble'. There was also constant building and traffic noise outside which made it a nightmare for engineers as they couldn't splice edits in because of the inconsistent nature of this traffic noise.


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

I'm the opposite: I keep hearing classical music in traffic.


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## AndorFoldes (Aug 25, 2012)

vtpoet said:


> Am I the only one? Am I imagining things? Sometimes I replay tracks just to be sure. Most of the time, it's low frequency rumbling from what I presume to be trucks-as in delivery trucks.


Yes, I have noticed it in recordings made in La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> I'm the opposite: I keep hearing classical music in traffic.


I never turn up the volumes that loud in the car .


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

I think there are birds chirping on R. Serkin's Diabelli recording (Marlboro?) and supposedly also on many recordings of the Collegium Aureum who recorded a lot in a hall in the Castle Schwetzingen.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

If you thought like John Cage that would be added value.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

I remember when I first heard the CD of Bruno Walter/NYP recording of Mahler 2. I had listened to the lp numerous times and was very familiar with it but on the CD there are many extraneous noises. One can clearly hear the HVAC system of the venue stopping and starting, and several times scores hitting the floor after apparently falling from stands, not to mention the vocal contributions from the Conductor.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

hammeredklavier said:


>


TrafficNoiseWasAGreatMelodist


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