Natural sounding albums in this digital era

[Deleted member 15865]

Friends,

In a conversation today with FM Prem he pointed out how newer recordings follow the digital trends and are recorded so as to sound better through streaming. That makes them more mechanical and less natural sounding. However sad, it’s true.

But then, each rule has exceptions and each trend a counter trend. There must be some newer recordings that buck the trend and aim for more organic, natural sound. And since there are many of us who dig such recordings, can we, in this thread, list such recordings for the benefit of each other?

(Since older recordings were as a norm natural sounding, let’s stick to recordings starting from the point where digital era took over i.e. 90’s onwards. But try and post more recordings from the 00s and 10s decades as they became a rarity then)

 

[Deleted member 15865]

I start with the Water Lily recordings. This label has remained largely true to natural sounding recordings. As they state in their manifesto: “Water Lily Acoustics has become synonymous with pristine sound quality and its recordings are viewed as bearing a unique faithfulness to the original music source. This goal has been achieved by utilizing proper microphone techniques, state-of-the-art recording equipment and scrupulously selecting the acoustically most suitable venues for recoding, those, which possess acoustics that enhance the music to be recorded.”

Here’s a list of Water Lily albums:

Released Titles

 

[Sushant Sharma]

They do sound good. I am familiar with Natalie Merchant and Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt"s albums on Waterlily..

 

[Ashenden]

Acoustic portrait “Violin solo and Sunaada Vol 1&2”. Both are natural sounding though slightly more louder than Water Lily.

Carnatic Archives | Acoustic Portrait

acousticportrait.com

 

[Ashenden]

Hindustani classical from the Darbar festival archives are also excellent recordings

Darbar Arts Culture Heritage Trust (Darbar) | Indian Classical Music

Indian classical music is built on improvisation, a holistic raga (a set of notes performed in a melodic way) system and intricate mathematical flow making it unique. At its very core are the cultural and spiritual traditions of India, giving it a depth and significance, which transcends many...

www.darbar.org

 

[Deleted member 15865]

Hindustani classical from the Darbar festival archives are also excellent recordings

Darbar Arts Culture Heritage Trust (Darbar) | Indian Classical Music

Indian classical music is built on improvisation, a holistic raga (a set of notes performed in a melodic way) system and intricate mathematical flow making it unique. At its very core are the cultural and spiritual traditions of India, giving it a depth and significance, which transcends many...

www.darbar.org

Sandeep, thanks. Do they have recordings (CD format) on sale anywhere? I could only find the app based video subscription option on the website.

Also, would it be true that most of these famed live Classical music festivals would not bother about streaming revenues (yet) and have natural recordings? Sawai Gandharva Pune (on Fountain Records) and Dover Lane Kolkata for example?

Here’s a long list of Classical music festivals in India:

List of Indian classical music festivals - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Ashenden]

Sandeep, thanks. Do they have recordings (CD format) on sale anywhere? I could only find the app based video subscription option on the website.

Also, would it be true that most of these famed live Classical music festivals would not bother about streaming revenues (yet) and have natural recordings? Sawai Gandharva Pune (on Fountain Records) and Dover Lane Kolkata for example?

Here’s a long list of Classical music festivals in India:

List of Indian classical music festivals - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I too have seen only the $4.95 darbar player. They upload most videos on their YouTube channel.
On the revenue part, I think you’re right. Hence the natural sound
Even mainstream scores with semi-classical compositions have this quality.
From Mainstream OST like
Raincoat (2004) - Rituparno Ghosh/Debjyoti Mishra
Leela (2006) - Jagjit Singh/Gulzar
Kadambari (2015) - Bickram Ghosh

 

[firearm12]

Many artists like Ryan adams record songs using analog equipment today also

 

[Deleted member 15865]

I too have seen only the $4.95 darbar player. They upload most videos on their YouTube channel.
On the revenue part, I think you’re right. Hence the natural sound
Even mainstream scores with semi-classical compositions have this quality.
From Mainstream OST like
Raincoat (2004) - Rituparno Ghosh
Leela (2006) - Jagjit Singh/Gulzar
Kadambari (2015) - Debjyoti Mishra

Incidentally, have liked all the three!

 

[Deleted member 15865]

Could find these four Darbar festival recordings on Tidal:

 

[Ashenden]

Could find these four Darbar festival recordings on Tidal:

View attachment 37465

Ok. These 4 are there on Gaana as well
Link to their YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/darbarfestival

 

[arj]

Chanda Dhaara recordings on CDs were every good. they were run by an Indian couple out of germany and had captured many indian classical artists in very good recordings. Shut down in the 2000's

If you like classical indian music, buy them on discogs.

 

[coaltrain]

The bass on this 2013 debut album will knock your fillings out. The band is heavily into ‘analog’ sound, and the liner notes go into great detail on the recording process.
Naturally, I bought it on CD.

 

[square_wave]

Acoustic portrait “Violin solo and Sunaada Vol 1&2”. Both are natural sounding though slightly more louder than Water Lily.

Carnatic Archives | Acoustic Portrait

acousticportrait.com

Nowadays if you need a presence on youtube and other streaming services, you need to adhere to the minimum volume levels stipulated by them so you will hard pressed to find recording levels like what waterlily adhered to. The best one can do is to make sure other parameters are taken care of.​

 

[arj]

i actually bought some of these albums..so natural . I dont understand classical but still can continue to listen jsut because the instruments sound so natural.

 

[Ashenden]

Nowadays if you need a presence on youtube and other streaming services, you need to adhere to the minimum volume levels stipulated by them so you will hard pressed to find recording levels like what waterlily adhered to. The best one can do is to make sure other parameters are taken care of.

I had noticed that AP CDs too are mastered to sound a li’l bit louder when compared with waterlily

 

[jls001]

They do sound good. I am familiar with Natalie Merchant and Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt"s albums on Waterlily..

Natalie Merchant on Water Lily?

She does have an album named Tiger Lily.

 

[jenson]

i found chesky records to have great recordings, along with the obvious sheffield labs, telarc, navras etc....but broadly, if its rock; it's also about who produced and engineered the albums...with that perspective you could access some cool albums...for eg. RATM's debut is just mindblowing, RHCP stadium arcadium is killer on vinyl, sucks a bit on CD, Radiohead Amnesiac et al..

i have no experience with streaming, dont intend to at this stage...i like to take the trouble of picking a CD/LP and enjoy the with all their imperfections

 

[Deleted member 15865]

Chanda Dhaara recordings on CDs were every good. they were run by an Indian couple out of germany and had captured many indian classical artists in very good recordings. Shut down in the 2000's

If you like classical indian music, buy them on discogs.

Check this out http://www.shrimatis.com/mall/Chhanda_Dhara_CD_Collection.asp

 

[Ashenden]

Music today’s Sound scapes featuring Zakir Hussain, Shiv Kumar Sharma & Hariprasad Chaurasia is another one. Available as 5 CD set on amazon