08/09/2026
ORIGINAL SOUND RECORDINGS ARE A MYTH
In day-to-day audio demo practice, the question of recordings that sound as ‘naturally’ as possible – capturing the music exactly as it ‘really sounds’ – comes up time and again. This desire is understandable – but it is impossible. Here’s why:
It is a widespread misconception to assume that any recording that sounds good would neutrally reproduce the actual conditions in the studio or concert hall – not even from an ideal listening position (such as the conductor’s podium). The microphone is no technical substitute for the human ear; the living room is no concert hall; and the loudspeaker, as a more or less point-like sound source, cannot in the slightest be compared to the complex resonance characteristics of a musical instrument or even an entire ensemble in a concert hall (not to mention the influence of the living room’s acoustics on the loudspeaker’s sound characteristic). Any attempt to reconstruct a sound impression deemed ideal in a concert hall within the context of a domestic environment inevitably entails extensive intervention by recording technology in the recorded sound. The assumption that the recording engineer’s task is limited to a faithful reproduction of what is 'actually' heard in the recording venue stems from a misunderstanding that record companies have done their best to foster as part of their marketing strategies.
To ensure that a recording sounds good at home through a pair of speakers, it must be precisely tailored to this purpose by the engineers during the recording process (sound design). This is an art form, and the recording engineer thus makes an often underestimated significant contribution to the impact of the recording and, consequently, to the musical interpretation itself. Record stars such as Leopold Stokowski and Herbert von Karajan recognised this early on. Their conflicts with sound engineers in their efforts to exert control over the recording technology and therby over how the recording would sound to listeners at home are legendary.
