THE ART OF RECORDING

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

Part 3. ANALOGUE TO DIGITAL CONVERTER COMPARISON

Procedure:

In all cases except for the KORG MR1000, SOUND DEVICES SD744T and METRIC HALO[used with an Apple Laptop], I fed the outputs of the Stellavox SM8 to the A-D converter inputs [using my ENOSIS cables in all cases], then the SPDIF output of the A-D's was fed into the BNC SPDIF input of the Sound Devices 744T.

Absolute Reference:

For those of you who aren't used to the sound of a "holographic" recording, I have included some short samples of the legendary work of Bob Fine [Mercury Recordings] who was using essentially an AB set up wiith a middle "mono" channel. He was using the Telefunken ELAM 251s [AKG C12's]. His contemporaries Lewis Leyton [RCA RED SEAL] and Ken Wilkinson [DECCA] achieved similar results using the legendary Neumann M50s.

http://www.reel2reel.tv/ADC/Mercury_Bob_Fine_Chabrier.wav [15Mb sample 16bit/44.1k]

http://www.reel2reel.tv/ADC/Mercury_Bob_Fine_Chabrier2.wav [20Mb sample 16bit/44.1k]

You can purchase the full recording here.

The Comparisons:

All these files are 180Mb 5min sample 24bit/96k

Sound Devices 744T, using it's internal preamps/ADCs

http://www.reel2reel.tv/ADC/SD744.wav

Metaxas - Wolfson ADC - SPDIF output to Sound Devices 744T SPDIF in

http://www.reel2reel.tv/ADC/Metaxas_WOLFSON.wav

METRIC HALO with latest Apple Laptop

http://www.reel2reel.tv/ADC/Metric_Halo.wav

PRISM DREAM ADC - SPDIF output to Sound Devices 744T SPDIF in

http://www.reel2reel.tv/ADC/Prism_ADC_Classical_noise_curve.wav

LAVRY GOLD ADC - SPDIF output to Sound Devices 744T SPDIF in

http://www.reel2reel.tv/ADC/LAVRY_GOLD.wav

KORG MR-1000 [DSD] with it's proprietory DSD-PCM conversion software.

http://www.reel2reel.tv/ADC/Korg_MR1000.wav

 

The Concert:

BENAUD TRIO [violin, cello & piano] perform LED ZEPPELIN'S "STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN".

You can view a track from this concert to see how the mics/musicians were lined up. I was using Neumann M150s in AB and TLM50s in XY: http://www.reel2reel.tv/SCREENERS_WMV/__benaud_stairway-1a.wmv

Listen to the huge "weight" in the sound and the "dimensionality" or 3D realism of the instruments. To me this is the key. And this is the problem with all the digital location recorders I've tried. In general, they knock out the bottom octave [or "bloom"] and flatten the soundstage. Music through them sounds artificial and dry.

Other "Reference" Samples [24b/96k]:

Samples of Stellavox dubs to 24b/96k

Latest version dub of Benaud Trios STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN [Dec 2007]

http://www.reel2reel.tv/ADC/_Benaud_Stairway_Dec_07.wav

St Patrick's ALW Concert 2004 [B&K 4135]:

http://www.reel2reel.tv/ADC/_St_Pats_Drum_Start.wav

http://www.reel2reel.tv/ADC/_St_Pats_ORGAN.wav

http://www.reel2reel.tv/ADC/ALW_St_Pats_Sample_Tenor.wav

http://www.reel2reel.tv/ADC/ALW_St_Pats_sample.wav

Messiah 2004 Concert [Deborah Humble - Mezzo, Helen Dix -Soprano] [B&K 4135]

http://www.reel2reel.tv/ADC/_2004_MESSIAH_REDEEMETH.wav