magiccarpetride
24-03-2011, 17:17
It seems very easy to evaluate a camera or a monitor screen with regards to how realistic it is in capturing the likeness of the visible world. Take a snapshot, or record a short video clip using a camera of your choice, play it back on your TV or on your monitor, and it will be plainly obvious whether the reproduced image is faithful to the real object (in terms of proportions, visible details, texture, colors, etc.)
Things are for some reason not that easy with audio. Take a recording device, point it to the live performers, record the performance, and then play it back on your stereo. You'll realize that it's a challenge when it comes to assessing how faithful to the real sound the playback gets.
Maybe this is so because of the fact that music is fleeting? While a physical object that we just took a snapshot of still remains present, and we can compare its representation on the screen with its actual presence, we can't do that with music. Once performed, the performance is forever gone.
Things are for some reason not that easy with audio. Take a recording device, point it to the live performers, record the performance, and then play it back on your stereo. You'll realize that it's a challenge when it comes to assessing how faithful to the real sound the playback gets.
Maybe this is so because of the fact that music is fleeting? While a physical object that we just took a snapshot of still remains present, and we can compare its representation on the screen with its actual presence, we can't do that with music. Once performed, the performance is forever gone.