Re: [LAU] "Remastered" an accordion recording, want an opinion

Francesco Ariis <fa-ml@ariis.it> writes:

> Hello David,
>
> On Sun, Aug 12, 2018 at 09:49:38PM +0200, David Kastrup wrote:
>> Would you think that I am better off using the latter version? Does it
>> differ on playback device (headphone/speakers)? Seems a bit like
>> cheating...
>
> First of all, congrats on exquisite playing and control of dynamics.
> Both version are good: in my opinion the latter sounds slightly clearer
> at the expense of feeling a slightly more artificial.

That's what was worrying me. "Slightly" clearer does not seem like a
particularly good deal, considering that it loses part of the sound
signature that actually allows telling the various parts of the
accordion apart. The original version is played by a combo and
obviously has no problems keeping the solo and accompaniment parts
simultaneously separated and blended.

I don't actually get much of an average loudness change with the kind of
compression settings I use (either version is ultimately normalized).
In contrast, the videocam's own audio track is much much louder. It's
also a whole lot trashier but it does demonstrate that I don't really
have a handle on using compression for boosting average volume.

The reverb gives it a "richer" sound quality particularly when listening
on headphones: the recording is pretty dry. Maybe I should do that and
just EQ up the bass (which is compromised in volume in a full accordion
due to size constraints) and forget about compression which I don't
manage to turn into more than a rather mixed blessing.

> I would pick 1, because I prefer video creators spend their time
> shooting and uploading rather than post-producing (given that time is
> a constraint for all of us).

Shooting and uploading? You wish. The lion's share is spent on
practising a whole lot, and reshooting and cussing a lot. With my
current tool set (Ardour and Shotcut) I found editing/splicing out
mistakes to be so much trouble that reshooting tends to be the easier
recourse. Surviving post-production tends to take comparatively little
time (a lot of post-production tends to take the form of writing down
time codes and measure numbers and ratings of good and not so good
passages from various takes and putting things together and then
deciding I'd better spend another afternoon on new takes).

So basically the amount of time I spend on post-production is negligible
compared to the work leading up to recording, and uploading has become
sort-of a non-issue too since they put out fiber to probably half a mile
away last year or so.

-- 
David Kastrup
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