Karl Miller writes:

>I have no idea what type of sound the average listener likes, and I
>have my doubts that record companies know either.  One thing seems clear
>to me - record companies like to offer a rich sound that can be rather
>homogenous with excessive reverberation.

As a listener I"m not always all that certain either, but I think (repeat
think) that I dislike the homogenous sound that Karl Miller identifies.
I think I prefer clarity of detail, which perhaps explains why I generally
prefer headphones and (heresy) often prefer broadcasts to CDs.  I know
that CDs are technically better, whatever that means, but I listen a lot
to BBC radio three, especially to live broadcasts of concerts or recordings
of liv= e concerts that have, I suspect, been recorded with a very simple
microphone arrangement.  I guess I want the sound that I would get from
the front row of the concert hall; though, that said, I don"t worry about
the often repeated fact that headphones don"t create a sound stage in
front of you but instead put it in head.  I want it in my head!  But
when the oboe plays a little phrase in the midst of a busy orchestra I
want to be able to hear it.  I assume the composer wanted me to as well.
What puzzles me is that one reads about dummy head recordings made with
two microphones only, but I have been able to get hold of one.

Greetings to you all in the States.

George Marshall
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