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mikeweil

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Posts posted by mikeweil

  1. 1 hour ago, Brad said:

    You wouldn’t have to do all that if you had hearing aids. In addition, not having hearing aids increases your chances for dementia. 

    Do you have a reliable source for this? That said, the sound may subjectively be better with an equalizer in hifi quality, as hearing aids are not build for this standard.

  2. 1 hour ago, Teasing the Korean said:

    I don't know how old everyone is, but it is my understanding that age-related hearing loss has to do with the neural pathways between the ear and brain, and not with the ear itself.  Can hearing aids do anything for this?

    The result is always that your perception of specific frequency ranges is impaired. Hearind aids simply amplify these, just as an equalizer does. Well, they are adjusted like an equalizer!

    BTW I read a report by some HiFi enthusiast who was extremely dissatisfied with listening to music even with the highest quality hearing aids, but solved the problem with an braodband equalizer that he adjusted to his needs. Only that this kind of thing is despised by hard core audiophiles ... 

  3. 1 hour ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

    I'll be picking up the CDs. It turns out that they found the original 7.5 ips tapes and that's what they're going to be using for this reissue. Apparently, Rudy dubs these 7.5 ips reels over to 15 ips reels and those are what they've been calling the master tapes. These 7.5 ips tapes are straight off the soundboard, with no plate reverb added, so that alone has me thinking this is going to sound incredible.

    That sounds tempting!

  4. On 2/4/2024 at 12:52 AM, Д.Д. said:

    Yeah, van Asperen recorded four CDs of Louis Couperin music for Aeolus. I have Vol. 1, it's excellent (thank to mikeweil's recommendation). All four can be obtained as a bundle direct from the label: https://www.aeolus-music.com/Alle-Tontraeger/Bundles/AE80013-Louis-Couperin-Complete-works-for-harpsichord  

    Van Asperen's recordings of Louis Couperin and Johann Jakob Froberger on Aeolus are indeed the best one can buy right now of the music of these masters. Fantastic historic harpsichords, excellent playing and comments and perfect sound.

  5. Listening to the samples reminds me  of the reasons why I skipped this when it was released - I don't like her agogics. In Bach's music it is all there, you don't have to manipulate tone durations too much, which she does. Just let it flow. That's what his son Carl Philip Emanuel told us.

    For the Goldbergs I would recommend someone using a German type harpsichord, like Luca Guglielmi, Andreas Staier, Ottavio Dantone. 

  6. Knowledge about instruments and their construction has increased enormously over the last decades. The harpsichords Landowska used were made by piano builders trying to use methods of piano construction, which in the end did not yield satisfying results. (These instruments mockingly were described as "egg slicers" in Germany) It has a lot to do with string tension and tuning pitch, as well as soundboard construction, housings and pinboards.  Only in the 1960's did builders start to study and meticulously copy historic harpsichords, and they learned a lot in that process. They now are on the same level as the great instrument makers in the 17th and 18th centuries. And they now know the differences between different historic workshops and regional styles etc. The sound of Landowska's or Ruzickova's harpschords has a lot to do with this. (I just got a 10 CD box with remastered Landowska recordings but still have to listen to it.)

    Plus, most engineers and record producers stll have to learn how to record these instruments properly. They love the sound ambience of churches, but harpsichords are not suppoosed to sound good in there. Saloons, private apartments, much smaller rooms with little reverb, and intimate acoustics are appropriate. Many of Gustav Leonhardt's best recordings were made at his house in Amsterdam. 

    Overtones are very important, for the timbre. Church reverb absorbs these. 

    As I said, a very complex subject.

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