[TBman]

Originally Posted by jim1960

Try listening to just the first four measures of each piece one after the other rather than the full piece with the fade. Use your mouse to jump right to the start of the next example and avoid the silence in between. That silence can impede the ability to hear the differences.

In the first example (the laundry room), there's a harshness that you don't hear in the other two. It's especially evident in the upper frequencies.

In the middle example, there's a slight muddiness on the bottom end. The bass isn't as focused as it could be in a treated room where the bass is controlled.

In the last example, the bass is more focused than in the middle example and the higher frequencies still have a brilliance to them but that harshness or brittleness that is present in the first example is gone.

When listening to something like this, or when trying to decide what microphone to use for a particular voice or instrument, it's not unusual to find that superior talent can sound like superior talent no matter what piece of electronics you put in front of them. So it becomes not a question of what sound good, but what sounds best.. what is providing the best compliment to that which is being recorded.

Can it be subtle? Often times it's very subtle, although sometimes it's really quite obvious. Developing an ear that can hear the subtleties can take time though. Half the battle is knowing what to listen for.

One thing I have noticed is the harshness in the first clip is almost impossible to get rid of. I have that same thing in my recordings. It's as if the harshness represents a lack of presence. The bassiness of the living room recording is at least fixable.