In article , "Dave Plowman (News)"
writes:

In article ,
Jim Lesurf wrote:
However for some other types of recording, there will be no acoustic
'original' beyond what someone sitting at a mixing desk created as they
operated the controls to get a result they think will 'sell', or have
impact or please their target audience. Using a setup you would never get
to hear and which is unlike home hi-fi systems. In those cases you can't
access such a reference so just have to decide if you like the result or
not.

It's actually quite rare to have a totally electronic recording.
Most have vocals. Many real drums, guitars, and so on. All of which picked
up by microphones in exactly the same way as a classical piece.

And then it would be very rare to have an unprocessed acoustic
'original'. The recording session I did on Saturday involved my bass
going direct to the desk (no acoustic original) and, while the drums
were acoustic and recorded acoustically, I would suggest that it is
unlikley that any member of an audience would actually choose to
listen with their ear inside the bass drum, or next to either the top
or bottom skin of the snare, etc. You won't necessarily have electric
guitars miced up nowadays, and any instrument could be recorded dry
with the intention of putting effects on in the later production
stages. After all, if you have an effect in the instrument-amp or
instrument-desk chain, you're stuck with it, whereas if you record
dry, you can put on whatever you like (and that might well include amp
and cab sims). Hence, though I use chorus live on the bass (well, the
fretless and fretted 5s, if I ever use the 10-string live it won't be
with a chorus), I recorded it dry with the tone controls set flat.

--
Mike Fleming