Paul McGowan writes: I’ve been thinking recently about our discussions on tone controls a few weeks ago. Initially I objected when a commenter suggested we could use tone controls selectively to improve recordings. That seemed to violate the purity of the recording. After all, isn’t the goal to get as close to what the recordist’s wanted you to hear in the first place?
Maybe not. Actually, when I think about it, I don’t really care what the original intent of the recording was.
I am always doing whatever I can to getting as close as possible to a “live recording”. Live (not in the sense of an audience) means to me the system has gone away and I can make believe what I am hearing is actually in the room with me. Yes, that’s the goal; always.
So anything that gets me closer to the goal of having live musicians playing in my room is good.
Even if I have to “improve” upon the original purity of the recording to achieve that.
…and yes (horrors) even if tone controls get me there.