How it Sounds
October 29, 2007
Coltrane: The Story of a Sound by Ben Ratliff
I find this on page 63
“The playbacks haven’t sounded right.
they get too close to the horn with mikes and don’t give the sound time to travel as they should.
consequently, they don’t get enough of the real timbre and they miss the whole body of the sound.
They get the inside of it but not the outside as well.”
John Coltrane, November 1961
I was thrilled to find such a statement. It fits into my belief on how musical instruments sound different on a record then in a live performance. It also reinforces my perception that many people try to emulate their “record players” sound on how the instrument actually does sound. This is very true for recording engineers who work with musicians.
the I want it to sound like those tones from a “78.”
tones of old recordings, where they would excited to be just getting “playback” capabilities.
