Why do most bluegrass recording's sound so good?

invalid
invalid Posts: 1,371
in Music & Movies
I've been recently listening to bluegrass music, and they seem to know how to record just like jazz. I wish rock was recorded half as good. What do you think?
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  • VR3
    VR3 Posts: 28,732
    compression, or more so, lack of compression
    - Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
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  • invalid
    invalid Posts: 1,371
    I don't understand why music that definitely generates more money can't be recorded better
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  • BlueFox
    BlueFox Posts: 15,251
    Maybe compressed music sounds better on portable players.
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  • Viking64
    Viking64 Posts: 7,107
    97.3% of the world's population can't tell the difference between a good recording and a bad recording.

    And why is there an apostrophe in "recordings"? Autocorrect doesn't do that. And even if it did...........
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  • rooftop59
    rooftop59 Posts: 8,121
    Why do the recordings of most bluegrass (bands) sound so good?
    Viking64 wrote: »
    97.3% of the world's population can't tell the difference between a good recording and a bad recording.

    And why is there an apostrophe in "recordings"? Autocorrect doesn't do that. And even if it did...........

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  • rooftop59
    rooftop59 Posts: 8,121
    People who record and listen to bluegrass care about how it sounds. People who listen to and record top 40 pop-rock don’t...I mean do the loudness wars even make sense with (real) country and bluegrass?!?
    Living Room 2.2: Usher BE-718 "tiny dancers"; Dual DIY Dayton audio RSS210HF-4 Subs with Dayton SPA-250 amps; Arcam SA30; Musical Fidelity A308; Sony UBP-x1000es
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  • invalid
    invalid Posts: 1,371
    You would think they could release the compressed version and a more expensive non-compressed version, I would pay more.
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  • invalid
    invalid Posts: 1,371
    9tbxbo1in8zs.png
    This isn't bluegrass, but if pop/ rock was recorded half as good it would be amazing.
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  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 25,553
    BlueFox wrote: »
    Maybe compressed music sounds better on portable players.

    I think there is a lot of truth in that. Portable players and ear buds played through a phone. That's 75% of the people I know. Streaming through the phone.
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  • invalid
    invalid Posts: 1,371
    pitdogg2 wrote: »
    BlueFox wrote: »
    Maybe compressed music sounds better on portable players.

    I think there is a lot of truth in that. Portable players and ear buds played through a phone. That's 75% of the people I know. Streaming through the phone.
    Most people's ears must not work like my ears.
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,894
    edited October 2020
    http://www.bomus.org/
    ;)

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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,894
    edited October 2020
    There's a lot to be said for plucked acoustic instruments. They hit a sweet spot for us aurally, methinks.

    There's plenty of not-so-good sounding bluegrass. I have the Bill Monroe box set. Great music, but some of it sounds pretty of its time.

    Sidebar. My introduction to the Polk Audio universe (which was a very small universe at the time -- 1976) was this album. It did - and does - sound superb on the "Monitor 7" family.

    02naii5ox9mj.png

    It's also a very good record - albeit not quite bluegrass. :)

    Sidebar2. Speaking of plucked acoustic instruments. Another good recording/album:

    2e0q3nysqbnx.png
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  • invalid
    invalid Posts: 1,371
    So far everything I've heard from Dave Grisman sounds great, music and recordings.
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,894
    good point.
    Here's a terrific example.

    rbwp8nhcbhec.png
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  • jdjohn
    jdjohn Posts: 3,156
    Bluegrass is acoustic, so no amps, pedal effects, synthesizers, etc. Very little post-production processing needed for acoustic. Most takes are done with everyone together in the same room, playing very tight. Little-to-no layering done after-the-fact.
    "This may not matter to you, but it does to me for various reasons, many of them illogical or irrational, but the vinyl hobby is not really logical or rational..." - member on Vinyl Engine
    "Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to." - Cicero, in Gladiator
    Regarding collectibles: "It's not who gets it. It's who gets stuck with it." - Jimmy Fallon
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  • txcoastal1
    txcoastal1 Posts: 13,300
    I'll agree with DocH, and JDJohn...simple in simple out....

    Even at NPR's Tiny Desk recordings published on YouTube can produce good sounds of folk and bluegrass

    Example Sarah Jarosz...also go to 7:15, Fuel The Fire ;)

    https://youtu.be/VxpuB10FaSE
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    erat interfectorem cesar et **** dictatorem dicere a
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  • txcoastal1
    txcoastal1 Posts: 13,300
    and you can look at the boys too...ok and old jammers

    https://youtu.be/Ub-naDJbKFY
    2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
    Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
    Gear on standby: Melody 101 tube pre, Unison Research Simply Italy Integrated
    Gone to new homes: (Matt Polk's)Threshold Stasis SA12e monoblocks, Pass XA30.5 amp, Usher MD2 speakers, Dynaudio C4 platinum speakers, Modwright LS100 (voltz), Simaudio 780D DAC

    erat interfectorem cesar et **** dictatorem dicere a
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  • invalid
    invalid Posts: 1,371
    The post production is what ruins music most of the time, that's why Nelson Pass said they have too many buttons and levers to push.
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,894
    edited October 2020
    invalid wrote: »
    The post production is what ruins music most of the time, that's why Nelson Pass said they have too many buttons and levers to push.

    And yet Dark Side of the Moon continues to sell after 47 years in release.
    Must be the dope.

    7bxb9kwaefih.png


    Oh, and in re: Sarah Jarosz...

    https://youtu.be/OAcu5g8AMEs


    I listen ever more to what has become called "Americana" (even though some of the best of it comes from our Neighbor to the North... which I guess is technically American, too -- continentally-speaking).

    https://youtu.be/4_T5KlTpvoM
    definitely from "South of the border", though ;)


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  • jdjohn
    jdjohn Posts: 3,156
    Just a pic here, but you know...or should know. Certainly no fancy over-dubbing with this recording.
    e5x24apy57ah.jpg
    I enjoy these guys as well:
    boicee1lhl41.jpg

    And for reasons already mentioned, I find these types of recordings good for evaluating gear since you get to hear the instruments (and voices) in a pure form.
    "This may not matter to you, but it does to me for various reasons, many of them illogical or irrational, but the vinyl hobby is not really logical or rational..." - member on Vinyl Engine
    "Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to." - Cicero, in Gladiator
    Regarding collectibles: "It's not who gets it. It's who gets stuck with it." - Jimmy Fallon
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  • invalid
    invalid Posts: 1,371


    And yet Dark Side of the Moon continues to sell after 47 years in release.
    Must be the dope.

    Pink floyd knows how to use those buttons and levers, but it still isn't the best recording.
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  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 25,553
    invalid wrote: »

    And yet Dark Side of the Moon continues to sell after 47 years in release.
    Must be the dope.

    Pink floyd knows how to use those buttons and levers, but it still isn't the best recording.

    must be the hash...... B)
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  • Nightfall
    Nightfall Posts: 10,086
    The Dillard's were regulars on The Andy Griffith Show

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KgzP_hc-MKI
    afterburnt wrote: »
    They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.

    Village Idiot of Club Polk
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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    This is an excellent sounding bluegrass record from Sheffield Labs.

    ymjn8fsfgz8y.png
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  • delkal
    delkal Posts: 764
    Bluegrass sounds so good because it is usually a smaller group and they record it with 2-3 microphones set up in stereo. This eliminates most of the mixing and lets you hear the true imaging and the effects of the room they are in. With most modern music they record each instrument separately and in some cases electronic instruments individually and straight to tape. Then they need to be heavy handed in the mixing to get it to image. And even then it is fake. If you take a guitar solo recorded separately and put 50% of the signal in the right channel and the rest in the left you can fool most people and they think he is standing in the center. But this is artificial and you do not hear the natural room interactions that give it a natural sound.
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  • invalid
    invalid Posts: 1,371
    delkal wrote: »
    Bluegrass sounds so good because it is usually a smaller group and they record it with 2-3 microphones set up in stereo. This eliminates most of the mixing and lets you hear the true imaging and the effects of the room they are in. With most modern music they record each instrument separately and in some cases electronic instruments individually and straight to tape. Then they need to be heavy handed in the mixing to get it to image. And even then it is fake. If you take a guitar solo recorded separately and put 50% of the signal in the right channel and the rest in the left you can fool most people and they think he is standing in the center. But this is artificial and you do not hear the natural room interactions that give it a natural sound.

    I agree with most of this, but I've heard some electronic music that sounds great even if the image is fake
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  • jdjohn
    jdjohn Posts: 3,156
    Thanks all for the Sarah Jarosz referral! Good stuff :)
    mhardy6647 wrote: »
    I listen ever more to what has become called "Americana" (even though some of the best of it comes from our Neighbor to the North... which I guess is technically American, too -- continentally-speaking).
    I can't think of Americana without thinking of The Civil Wars duo. This video (and audio) was recorded live outdoors on-sight, exactly as shown in the video. I like the dialogue at the very beginning: 
    JPW:  [After playing a few practice bars] "Say when."
Director:  "When."
    https://youtu.be/QGwnFz_5xRE
    The studio version of that song has more layering of instruments, and frankly sounds wonderful, although perhaps not within the spirit of this thread.

    It's a shame these guys didn't stick together longer.
    "This may not matter to you, but it does to me for various reasons, many of them illogical or irrational, but the vinyl hobby is not really logical or rational..." - member on Vinyl Engine
    "Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to." - Cicero, in Gladiator
    Regarding collectibles: "It's not who gets it. It's who gets stuck with it." - Jimmy Fallon
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  • fish357
    fish357 Posts: 304
    txcoastal1 wrote: »
    I'll agree with DocH, and JDJohn...simple in simple out....

    Even at NPR's Tiny Desk recordings published on YouTube can produce good sounds of folk and bluegrass

    Example Sarah Jarosz...also go to 7:15, Fuel The Fire ;)

    https://youtu.be/VxpuB10FaSE

    That Tiny Desk Concert got me hooked on Sarah. Such energy! Build Me Up From Bones is fantastic. Now she plays as a regular on Chris Theely’s (spelling?) Saturday evening show.
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  • fish357
    fish357 Posts: 304
    @mhardy6647 If you’re going to mention Garcia and DaveThe Dog, don’t forget tony Rice. Fantastic picker.
    https://youtu.be/w6KzMbOJCkg
    YouTube butchers it, but it’s worth a listen.
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  • invalid
    invalid Posts: 1,371
    fish357 wrote: »
    @mhardy6647 If you’re going to mention Garcia and DaveThe Dog, don’t forget tony Rice. Fantastic picker.
    https://youtu.be/w6KzMbOJCkg
    YouTube butchers it, but it’s worth a listen.

    I listen to that one also very good.
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