Editorial for February 2014

by | Feb 1, 2014 | Editorial

Motema has donated six copies of their GRAMMY-nominated 2010 album Water, by Gregory Porter to go to six lucky AUDIOPHILE AUDITION readers who register on our simple form this February. Jazz Wise said Porter had “outstanding original songs, erudite lyrics and social comment, top drawer musicianship and improvisation, and a voice to die for.”  Porter just won a Grammy, he’s a nominee for FM Jazz in the UK, got SoulTracks’ album of the year, iTunes’ Jazz Vocal Album of the Year, one of NPR’s Top 10 Albums of the 2012, NPR Music’s 100 Favorite Songs of the 2012, and the Edison Music Award for Jazz Vocal Album of the Year. The NY Times said, “outstanding original songs, erudite lyrics and social comment, top drawer musicianship and improvisation, and a voice to die for.” “Gregory Porter has most of what you want in a male jazz singer, and maybe a thing or two you didn’t know you wanted.” He is undoubtedly the next big male vocal jazz star. To be eligible, just register this month via our simple non-intrusive form, and we won’t share your email address. The six winners will be listed in this space next month.


GUEST EDITORAL by Dr. Mark Waldrep of AIX Recordings

You can’t do anything to the sound of the recordings that you purchase. The balance of the instruments, the amount of compression, the equalization and everything of aspect of the fidelity is established at the time of the recording and the subsequent postproduction stages. The potential fidelity of any album release is limited to format that is used during the original sessions…NOT the delivery format…but we already know that. So what can you do to modify the sonics of your music at home, one the road or while jogging at the beach?

Since the earliest days of HiFi playback equipment, equipment manufacturers have included tone controls. We’ve always been able to adjust the bass and treble of our music. Newer preamps and receivers include a midrange equalization control. But these tone controls are superficial timbral modifiers and not really affected the fidelity and accuracy of the original tracks.

Somewhere along the way, I can remember getting my first graphic equalizer. You know the ones. They are stereo units with an individual boast and cut controls at every octave…the fancier ones (that we use at the studio) have 3 controls for every octave and are known as 1/3 octave graphic equalizers. The word graphic comes from the fact that you can easily see the tonal modifications that are being applied by looking at the position of the sliders on the front of the channels.

The use of graphic equalizers is typically used to modify the response characteristics of a physical space and not so much for creative reasons. I have one on each of the outputs of my console before my amplifiers.

So when considering how much tonal modification (analog or digital) to do on music that has already been properly balanced in the studio and during the mastering phase, you should keep in mind that any changes you make are being added (or subtracted) to the intentions of the producer…if and only if your playback system and room have a flat playback response. And the chances for that are slim.

Having a professional come to your place and do a careful alignment is strongly encouraged. The home-automated room correction tools are not quite ready for prime time, in my opinion. There are so many things that affect the sound of your playback system: the speakers, the cables (yes, cables can “change” the sound), the arrangement of the furniture, the amount of glass or brick in the room, whether you have carpets or rugs on the floor and the geometry of the room itself.

This might be the reason why a good set of headphones can usually out perform a very good playback setup…there is no need to address the acoustics of the space you listen in.

If you’re a critical listener, the sound of your playback system will be improved when the speakers are closer to your listening position. This is referred to as “near field monitoring”. Using this method means the interaction of the speakers output with the rest of the room is minimized.

More information:  RealHD-Audio.com


EDITORIAL

AUDIOPHILE AUDITION began as a local program and then in 1985 as a weekly national radio series hosted by John Sunier, and aired for 13½ years on up to 200 public radio and commercial stations coast to coast. In September 1998 its web site for program information was expanded to the present free Internet publication.

February 2014 is our 179th issue. All disc reviews are added thru the month as they are written and received, usually daily. The most recent reviews appear at the top of each Section Index. The Home Page lists the five latest published reviews, the Section Index lists the past two months of reviews, and the Archive goes back to January 2001. The Disc Index lists all past reviews. Audiophile vinyls and Pure Audio Blu-rays are included in the SACD/Hi-Res Section, as well as exceptional xrcds.

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STAFF WRITERS: Dalia Geffen, Laurence Vittes, Tom Gibbs, Gary Lemco, Brian Bloom, Clay Swartz, John Henry, Peter Bates, Ronald Legum, Paul Pelon IV, Calvin Harding Jr., Birney Brown, Jeff Krow, Daniel Krow, Ethan Krow, Hermon Joyner, Bob Moon, Steven Ritter, Randy Haldeman, Max Dudious, John Nemaric, Doug Simpson, Peter Joelson, Patrick P.L. Lam, Brian Whistler, Lee Passarella,, Robbie Gerson, Daniel Coombs, Tim Taylor, Darren Robinson, Pierre Giroux, Mel Martin, Zan Furtwangler, John Sunier.

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