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Through the open window

Paul's Posts — 22 October 2011

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Through the open window

We are taking a few days off and enjoying the quiet of Carmel California.

Last night we’re walking by a hotel and through an open window I hear the sound of a live piano. The folks I am with hear the same thing and comment on the fact it’s live.

How is it we can tell something is live vs. recorded and reproduced from a distance and through a window? What is so different between the sound of live music vs. the sound of live music recorded and reproduced?

I find it fascinating and have some thoughts about the answers to this question – thoughts that may surprise you.

I’ll write about them in future posts but in the meantime, here’s a question to ponder.

If the music you hear through the open window is not from an acoustic instrument – like a piano – but instead is amplified through a small PA system, are there any differences to be heard between live and recorded? Both are reproduced through an amplified chain.

Give it some thought. I believe the answer is yes and that any one of us could tell f it were live or recorded.

Even through an open window.

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About Author

Paul McGowan

Paul McGowan is the CEO and co-founder of PS Audio Inc. a Boulder Colorado design and manufacturing company of high-end audio products and services. McGowan has been designing and building high-end products for nearly 40 years. Hobbies include skiing, music, hiking, artisan bread baking, kick boxing and cooking. He lives in Boulder Colorado with his wife Terri and his 4 sons.

(5) Readers Comments

  1. October 22, 2011 at 3:04 am

    Very good thought, Paul. You made me smile as… that is exactly what happens to me everytime I’m walking on the streets and have the chance to listen to a street-musician. In fact, sometimes, I come closer to him/her and walk away (thank God they use to be concentrated in their playing :-) . But even if they are around the corner you know that it is living-music. Further, although he can be playing through a amp and a mike I can still make a difference (there is still a natural sound now mixed with that, more powerful, amplifed signal).
    On one hand, I have thought about what is lost in the recording process: …wrong selected micros?, …or not well-positioned micros?. What other differences we have (apart from the electronics, I mean): …the way the music is ‘expanded’ in the air? …or… an error in the time-phase response with an original complete signal but separated into 2 or 3 different vias when reproduced through a Hi-Fi loudspeaker ?

    Have you ever tried to close your eyes during a concert while analyzing how it sounds to you ? Everything sounds… ‘natural’ (what I call ‘the turntable effect’ but I know it is not just a matter of being analog all-the-way, or digital at the beginning), so natural compared to a Hi-Fi system. May it be the effect of adding 2 different acoustics (the one at the recording + our own home-acoustics) ?

    Maybe a combination (with a more or less % of influence) of each of ALL those factors ‘modifying’ at the same time when reproducing recorded natural waves…

    Interested in reading your opinion(s)…

    • October 22, 2011 at 3:25 pm

      Great comment. Give me a couple of days and you’ll read my comment. Might surprise you.

  2. quadtodd

    October 22, 2011 at 3:15 pm

    It was Christmas season and I was about in the middle of a Musicland store (yeah, old story – 10-15 years ago) talking with a friend of mine who was the assistant manager. Through the conversation and their music playing in the store, I heard…something and cocked my head to catch what it was or where it was coming from. She, of course, laughed at me because I am a bit of a goof and asked what I was doing. And I said “I think I hear live music.”

    I left the store, from maybe 50 feet inside, and up one floor of the mall with their backs at a 90 degree angle to Musicland’s store entrance was a high school orchestra, playing Christmas songs. I was impressed and dismayed at the same time – that it took so little, a few notes, to distinguish live music over everything else going on and, in view of that, how far home systems have to go.

  3. MountainSufi

    October 23, 2011 at 2:41 pm

    I can’t answer this. Nor can audio guru Gordon Rankin of Wavelength Audio, who defers the question saying the goal of high end audio not to mimic the live performance, but to create an enjoyable listening experience.

    How could 2 (or 28) speakers ever have the spit and spark of individual un-amplified instruments. It’s only possible with the actual instruments.

    Having said this, I’ve often heard wonderful live music in rooms (ie bars) that aren’t designed for sound maximization. As a result, I’m apt to say greatly recorded music on a great sound system sounds better. You wouldn’t want to try cramming the London Symphony Orchestra into your living room on a bet. This hearkens back to Gordon. It’s not recreating the original source, it’s how satisfying it is leaning back on your sofa with a good cab in hand.

    Happy Trails!

  4. Pingback: I can always tell | PSTracks

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