Why do "old" jazz recordings sound so fresh?

[RJVB]

Just listened again to Anthony Wilson's "Seasons", the live concert recording on Montelleone guitars. The music does get a bit tiresome but it's hard to think of a better sounding recording of acoustic instruments.

I'd hope there are no added effects though. I can see why you might want to add them, but AFAIC there's no "magic of a live concert" effect you can apply post-prod...

That said, that may bring us back to the original question and the potential implication of capturing dynamic range.

EDIT: and the AV amp I have in my main stereo rig has a couple of (Dolby signed) processing modes to simulate different acoustic properties which can indeed improve the sound of certain very dry recordings (even though I only have a pair of speakers, no x:y set-up ... yet). I prefer that approach because I get to chose. Idem on my main (Mac) computer, I have a DSP plugin ("Hear") that works at the system level and allows me to tweak the sound; I use it to increase the stereo image just a little bit and boost certain frequencies to improve the sound at low listening volumes.

[Christian Miller]

It would freak me out playing to that guy, he does not look like a jazz fan to me.

Just add a big bushy beard and a washed out 1996 Brecon jazz Festival t shirt. You’ll be shredding in no time.

[Christian Miller]

It's a well accepted method of recording called binaural. The best playback quality is achieved thru headphones, for obvious reasons. Until I got my TASCAM DR40x, I did this with a pair of lavalier mics on a hat or headband, recording into my Raspberry Pi. When a hat was out of place, I clipped the mics as close to my collar as possible, to get the "head shadow" effect. There are many binaural heads available commercially, some with built in mics and some with holders. This one from Neumann costs $9k:

Attachment 90243

The advantage is you don’t need to buy more than one of them to simulate a real live jazz audience.

[grahambop]

Just add a big bushy beard and a washed out 1996 Brecon jazz Festival t shirt. You’ll be shredding in no time.

I went to Brecon once, it was very good (I saw Hiromi, Mose Allison, Mulgrew Miller, Joe Lovano). Sat in on Joe Lovano’s rehearsal with his pickup band, it was very interesting.

Funniest bit was overhearing an old lady in the town (with a Welsh accent) saying ‘I’m fed up with this bloody jazz festival, I wish they’d all bugger off!’

I guess she had a point, for a week the place was taken over by nerdy jazz fans wandering from gig to gig clutching their beer glasses.

[KirkP]

I wonder if part of the difference in sound is that in the 50s & 60s EQ, mixing and mastering was aimed at giving you a live concert experience when seated in a sofa in an ideal position in front of the hi-fi. These days. music production compromises between sounding good on a wide variety of sound systems from earbuds to cars, and not many people listen to true hi-fi speaker in the old fashioned sofa arrangement. Also, it seems like people want the musicians to sound like they are ten feet away instead of at a distance. I also think producers in more recent recordings tend to stress technical perfection over fluid playing.

[RJVB]

These days. music production compromises between sounding good on a wide variety of sound systems from earbuds to cars, and not many people listen to true hi-fi speaker in the old fashioned sofa arrangement.

The latter part is sadly true for me at the moment, but it so happens that I first heard the recording which inspired this thread in my car, which is where I was surprised by the date. I've also listened to it over headphones (the latest model Grado, SR80x IIRC) plus over an "old" Philips iPhone dock. It sounds great everywhere.

The aiming for technological perfection is probably a result of the move to digital mastering which makes it so much easier to cut and paste (without risk and without quality loss). Or even to record an entire album where no one ever shared the studio... which is just one of the reasons why I almost always prefer live concert recordings.