Re: [ARSCLIST] Slides and inconvenient media (was spin it again)

[Karl Miller <karl.miller@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

RA Friedman <rafriedman@xxxxxxx> wrote:    ***The painter, Max Beckmann, once stated that movies had destroyed peoples' vision. But I think the real issue is that vision is conditioned by the prevalent media, which is rather McLuhanesque, but true. How artists and media craftspeople are going to deal with that issue as we move into the "flat screen era" is a thorny subject. 

***A generation that has grown up on mp3's played on an iPod is likely to have little appreciation for the velvety acoustic presence of a live orchestra space even if it's Prince singing a capella rather than the Philadelphia Orchestra.
   
  By comparison, I don't believe that recordings have destroyed people's listening, but, indeed, they have changed the way we listen and what we hear.
   
  I am reminded of the "Is it live or is it Memorex," or their equivalent, that date back to the early days of the phonograph. I used to show my students the ads from the early days of recording, and tell the story of the time when a movie of a train coming at the audience could have people rushing to the doors to escape! Why would they be so moved by a black and white image! They weren't stupid, they were just overwhelmed by it. Similarly, while the "special effects" in movies from 30 years ago impressed us back then, they can seem as contrived, by comparison, as the "special effects" from the films of the 1950s...maybe with the exception of George Pal...
   
  However, I believe that our perceptions of what is right are indeed subject to the media. When I decide upon an equalization curve for an older recording, my choice is predicated on what I hear in modern recordings. It seems to me that what is "right" is both subjective and media dependant.
   
  The other day, I was listening to some Eastman recordings, transferred, as I recall by our own dl...for Biddulph as I recall...brilliant work as always! I had just finished making some transfers of the rest of the Victor 78s of the Eastman orchestra and wanted to compare. Same orchestra, probably the same recording venue, and probably the same EQ used for the original recording, yet, the results differed dramatically. Who is right? Probably we both are, in our own ways.
   
  Karl