There is no absolute sound. AKA the importance of microphone placement during recording.

[Frank Dernie]

It also relates to instrument selection. I have 1 flute that sounds best to me while practicing, but sounds a bit dead/veiled in recordings. I have another flute that sounds too bright & zingy when practicing, but sounds better in recordings. It's amazing how just 8' of distance affects the tone. Plus when you're playing an instrument physically connected to your head (woodwinds, violin), you hear all those resonances that nobody else can.


That's not just violin players, but most professional musicians. I only play non-professionally for fun, but decades of regular playing has given me slightly asymmetric hearing: my R ear is better than my L. That's despite wearing musician's earplugs when practicing & performing for the past 20 yeras. Sadly, back in the 1980s when I was learning, this topic was hardly known or mentioned. Most teachers assumed only electronic/amplified musicians were at risk, not acoustic instrument players. Consequently, a lot of people lost a bit of hearing acuity. Not nearly as bad as those who attend rock concerts, but still...

It surprised me.
My wife is a professional musician, singer and choral conductor, who also plays the piano a lot for fun, rehearsals and voice coaching and used to play the violin for fun too, before arthritis stopped her.
I OTOH am an engineer who worked in motor racing with un-silenced racing cars for 35 years.
Her hearing is more damaged than mine, in fact mine is better than average for my age and she needs hearing aids, which she hates.
I am sure some of this is genetic but also "dose" related. The noise levels were higher for me but not for long, or as often, and as a music lover who had done noise and vibration research in my first job, I was always sensitive to the possibility of damage so stuck my fingers in my ears a lot
She was exposed daily for hours even if at a lower level.

It really isn't fair.

 

[PaulD]

Thanks for these. Thought there might be some other comments. While different all were pretty good to me except the Studio Projects C4. It somehow just didn't seem as nice and satisfying as the others. Like the mike got in the way more.

My favorite of those was the Coles 4038 perhaps not surprisingly.

I don't have any excellent ribbons, but plan on getting some when I sell some other microphones I'm not using much.

Many thanks! I thought it might illustrate your point. I like the sound of the DPAs, but I like (have always liked) the stereo image of the Blumlein pair (Coles ribbons). So I find it a tradeoff almost always. For image I am drawn to coincident techniques (preferably Blumlein but MS can be ok), but the problems of velocity mic capsules are always involved. Sexy omni capsules sound SO good in terms of the accuracy of the signal, but one is restricted to spaced mic techniques with them... However I would happily eq the blumlein pair to sound as close to the DPAs as possible to try and get the best of both worlds. The "art" of recording!

 

[Blumlein 88]

Many thanks! I thought it might illustrate your point. I like the sound of the DPAs, but I like (have always liked) the stereo image of the Blumlein pair (Coles ribbons). So I find it a tradeoff almost always. For image I am drawn to coincident techniques (preferably Blumlein but MS can be ok), but the problems of velocity mic capsules are always involved. Sexy omni capsules sound SO good in terms of the accuracy of the signal, but one is restricted to spaced mic techniques with them... However I would happily eq the blumlein pair to sound as close to the DPAs as possible to try and get the best of both worlds. The "art" of recording!

The DPAs were my second choice. Omni mics can sound so pure. I've used them with a Jecklin disc at times to good effect.

 

[MRC01]

... My wife is a professional musician, singer and choral conductor, who also plays the piano a lot for fun, rehearsals and voice coaching and used to play the violin for fun too, before arthritis stopped her.
I OTOH am an engineer who worked in motor racing with un-silenced racing cars for 35 years.
Her hearing is more damaged than mine ...

I have a similar story. After years of using firearms, power tools, motorcycles, racing cars and flying small airplanes, it was music that got me, and I never even attended rock concerts! Much of the reason is that those other activities we know are harmful and wear hearing protection. Ironic, sad, yet true.

 

[tuga]

There's a CD in the Delos catalogue called The Symphonic Sound Stage : A Listener's Guide which consists of excerpts from some of their orchestral music recordings.
The interesting bit about it is the booklet which contains detailed notes about the decisions behind the making of these recordings:

https://dbooks.s3.amazonaws.com/DE3502Dbook.pdf