13-05-2020, 12:43 PM
Studio techniques - no matter how dramatic - are part of the original performance. If a band overdrive equipment to get a grungy sound, it's because that was their artistic intent. If that sound was put together with a certain demographic and context in mind, then that again is part of the artistic intent. OK, as Mike says, the record company will have an input to that. I wouldn't go so far as to say "overridden", but their input is significant nonetheless.
So what might end up on the disc might be grotty, or it might be amazing. But in my mind, the media delivered by the record company is the "demarcation point". Everything up to that point is "artistic intent", and everything the consumer does to alter that sound is "personal preference".
Like I mentioned earlier, it's a shame that tone controls are so rare today. Many recordings benefit from some gentle correction, and that's perfectly valid. But the great thing about tone controls is that you can bypass them.
Similarly, some recordings might benefit from some added distortion. Some recordings are very "dry" and clean, and some people might prefer these recordings to sound a bit warmer and possibly even grungier. And that's where a valve amp with high distortion is so great.
But the trouble with a distorting valve amp is that you can't bypass the distortion.
And that is where we came in. Wouldn't it be great if the "nice" distortion could be added to taste, and completely removed when not needed? Then, you have the ability to choose between "artistic intent" and "personal preference" - all on a simple control knob, just like you do with bass and treble.
To be clear, I have never wanted to diminish the notion of personal preference, but did want to raise awareness of the big picture in the recording and hi-fi industries, so we now know that by making the choice to add euphonic distortion, we are (a) deviating from the artistic intent, and (b) likely to need deep pockets and are at risk of being sucked into a big, scary machine (the esoteric hi-fi industry).
Of course, Andy - like many of us here - has the advantage that he can build these amplifiers without handing over a single penny to these companies. I also think he has learnt a really valuable lesson about audio here - and so have all of us following along. As I've said already, building low-distortion solid-state amplifiers is really simple. Building valve amplifiers with good distortion performance is harder in many ways, but he's mastered that. The next step is to build amplifiers with "high-but-nice" distortion. That's much harder, but he's done it!
I could probably come up with a solid-state amplifier with 8% distortion. But I guarantee it will sound horrible. So, Andy has done something that I can't do. And if Andy and I were running hi-fi amplifier companies, he'd be able to sell amps for huge sums, whereas I'd be selling at much more modest prices - his amplifiers will stand out as being different and interesting, but mine will be merely "ordinary". That will cause me great pain because I know my amplifiers are better by any technical description, but he'll have the luxury company car and I'll still be struggling to put food on the table. Joking aside, you might actually be onto something with this!
Andy, I've just remembered that some valve amps have a triode/pentode switch, where you can choose your prefered distortion level, and that is getting close to what I was discussing above. I reckon that should be your next thing to investigate
So what might end up on the disc might be grotty, or it might be amazing. But in my mind, the media delivered by the record company is the "demarcation point". Everything up to that point is "artistic intent", and everything the consumer does to alter that sound is "personal preference".
Like I mentioned earlier, it's a shame that tone controls are so rare today. Many recordings benefit from some gentle correction, and that's perfectly valid. But the great thing about tone controls is that you can bypass them.
Similarly, some recordings might benefit from some added distortion. Some recordings are very "dry" and clean, and some people might prefer these recordings to sound a bit warmer and possibly even grungier. And that's where a valve amp with high distortion is so great.
But the trouble with a distorting valve amp is that you can't bypass the distortion.
And that is where we came in. Wouldn't it be great if the "nice" distortion could be added to taste, and completely removed when not needed? Then, you have the ability to choose between "artistic intent" and "personal preference" - all on a simple control knob, just like you do with bass and treble.
To be clear, I have never wanted to diminish the notion of personal preference, but did want to raise awareness of the big picture in the recording and hi-fi industries, so we now know that by making the choice to add euphonic distortion, we are (a) deviating from the artistic intent, and (b) likely to need deep pockets and are at risk of being sucked into a big, scary machine (the esoteric hi-fi industry).
Of course, Andy - like many of us here - has the advantage that he can build these amplifiers without handing over a single penny to these companies. I also think he has learnt a really valuable lesson about audio here - and so have all of us following along. As I've said already, building low-distortion solid-state amplifiers is really simple. Building valve amplifiers with good distortion performance is harder in many ways, but he's mastered that. The next step is to build amplifiers with "high-but-nice" distortion. That's much harder, but he's done it!
I could probably come up with a solid-state amplifier with 8% distortion. But I guarantee it will sound horrible. So, Andy has done something that I can't do. And if Andy and I were running hi-fi amplifier companies, he'd be able to sell amps for huge sums, whereas I'd be selling at much more modest prices - his amplifiers will stand out as being different and interesting, but mine will be merely "ordinary". That will cause me great pain because I know my amplifiers are better by any technical description, but he'll have the luxury company car and I'll still be struggling to put food on the table. Joking aside, you might actually be onto something with this!
Andy, I've just remembered that some valve amps have a triode/pentode switch, where you can choose your prefered distortion level, and that is getting close to what I was discussing above. I reckon that should be your next thing to investigate
