Does recorded applause grate on your ears?

[Mallette]

> It should be recorded well below the material but it's probably an ego thing.

And so the entire shape and sound of the space suddenly shrinks? That violates one of my primary principles in location recording, namely that the space is part of the experience. When recording, I usually ask the audience to savor every moment and hold their applause until all the music has left the room. Of course, they are paying customers and I am just an intrusion, so when they get over enthused and jump the gun, I am stuck with leaving a few seconds then fading. I have always made it a point to leave applause at the end of the last piece of a last recording...just because it's a live recording. However, the idea of ducking during a recording or after in post does not appeal to me at all. Just because the musicians aren't playing doesn't mean one has left the hall.

Dave

[Coytee]

In most cases, it sounds like bacon frying or rain.

I think the frying bacon would be where I'd vote. I'd love to download some more stuff but here at home I'm on a very slow connection (under 56K) and these things take me forever... the fact that my modem dies from line noise a couple times an hour (usually during downloads) doesn't help my frustratioin.

[mikebse2a3]

Just a guess here, but maybe it has to do with that 500W amplifier on the tweeter?

I'll admit that this has crossed my mind and is exactly why I decided to bring this up. HOWEVER, I've experienced it with most of the amps I've had... I've never paid conscious thought to it other than not liking it....Now I'm going to start paying attention.

What I mean by that is... "if memory serves me", it was something that bugged me back when I had my Khorns if not prior to that (LaScalas)

I've had McIntosh Mc-30's, MC-2102, Wright 2A3's, Transcendent OTL's ALL on my Khorns and the 2102 on the Jubilees, ALL of them used the Peach as preamp.

Point being, it's not JUST this Crown that is experiencing this aggrivation with me. I'd like to think that the MC-2102 would be considered a "fine" if not "audiophile" amp by more than a few people?

Some might even consider the 2A3 and SE-OTL amp "fine" amps?? I KNOW the Peach is fine!

Years ago, I had a Simon/Garfunkle greatest hits album (this is WAY before Khorns) and they dubbed in applause between the STUDIO tracks (sigh). That applause is when I first noticed how it grated on me. That was on VINYL through LaScalas with a Yamaha amp. (interestingly, I've heard people claim Yamaha's are great & others claim they're trash, so I'm not making a comment either way on that, but it WAS on vinyl)

Hey Richard

Many live recordings leave alot to be desired in my experience but if you've got problems reproducing applause on known good recordings like "Eric Claypton Unplugged" or some of the live Eagles recordings then I can pretty much assure you that if everything is setup properly in your system that your room is the Weak Link in your system. You own and have used some very good/excellent equipment!

mike tn[]

[JJkizak]

When "humans" like something they vigorously slam there hands together letting the performer know if he performed adequately. When they don't like something they throw tomatoes and pieces of the auditorium at the performer and shout very nasty expletives with vigourous finger movements. As Mr Spock says, "interesting".

JJK

[jtnfoley]

That's funny OB

Thats before they start throwing things at me !!!!!!!!!!!!! You wouldn't believe what they throw ...............

I would bet it's not like what they throw at Tom Jones.

I told my doctor... every time I enter a room a bunch of women throw their underthingies at me.

The doctor said "Oh... that's Tom Jones Syndrome."

"Tom Jones Syndrome?!?!?! That must be rare!"

"Actually," said the doctor "It's not unusual."

ba dum bum... Tank you veddy much... I be here all ze veek.

As for grating on the ears... I listen to talk FM locally (SE Massachusetts) and the station of choice has adopted a digital track queuing system... Listen even to spoken work (politicos and talking heads for the most part) at 8 kbits mono gets under my skin dam'n quick, but worse is the laugh tracks when a pol du' jour tells a joke and laughter is encoded and compressd that much...

I tell you, the amplitude of laughter (and applause) compressed that much starts oscillating at two to four hertz. It's unbearable.

[thebes]

I'm like OB, I think they are applauding me. I've been known to get up and take a bow in the direction of my speakers.

Some of it's overblown and some of it really does help give you the feeling of being there. If it sounds like frying bacon it's either the recoding, your system, or your room. It should sound real if it's real recorded applause at a live concert. I tend to like it and I also feel that accurately rendered hand claps are a real good test of how well your system is, or should be.

[dtel]

" Applause is extremely difficult to record realistically. That's what makes it a good meter.

Dave "

Well if that's the case the EC unplugged cd must be recorded very well or the mic was in someones lap, no bacon on that cd !

[Cody_Mack]

I hate it worse when they applaud during the song; kind of a kumbaya thing where they insist on merrily clapping or singing along, or worse screaming. Of course you won't get away from this at a pop or a hard-rock, etc. concert, but then it is usually too damn loud you may not notice anyway. But when a nice artist is in an intimate setting, shut up and let them perform! I will turn off most music that has this. The wife bought for me a John Mayer Live CD and I have listened to very little of it, because of the over-driven teenie-bop screaming, all the way through it.

I have been wanting to start a thread on this. I believe someone brought it up a while back; someone performing in Vegas, I believe.

I guess I am just getting old!

Rick

[jheis]

I agree with dtel on this one.

Eric Clapton "Unplugged" is an absolutely horrible recording. The audience is mic'd WAY louder than the stage. Extremely annoying!

I've had this one for, probably, 15 years & don't think I've listened to it more than twice, but this stinker remains fresh in my mind. I really hate the recording on this piece of crap.

Now lemme tell you what I really think....

James

[wallflower]

Regarding Dave's recordings...One of the things I've paid particular attention to is the applause. Every time I play those tracks, I'm taken back at how much it sounds like real people in my listening room applauding rather than people that were recorded applauding. I concur with Dave; it all starts with the recording. Dave sure has things figured out when it comes to recording. I wish all recordings could sound that good!

To that point, I've heard people describe the sound of the K-400 horn as being megaphone like or something similar. On certain suboptimal recordings of vocals I can hear that effect. However, with good recordings I here none of it. It makes me realize that so much of the sound we attribute to our speakers or other system components is really just a result of the quality of the original source.

[fini]

Well if that's the case the EC unplugged cd must be recorded very well or the mic was in someones lap, no bacon on that cd ! 

Maybe it was sausage.

[Mallette]

>I've got no idea though what an engineer is thinking to be turning UP the applause mics like that.

No thinking involved.

Dave

PS - After further perusing this thread, I suspect no engineer involved either. It sounds as if this were caught by someone in the audience with a Sony Pro Walkman, mini disc, or similar. What year was it? Some of these can do a really good job, though if you are in the audience the audience is what you are going to get.

[ZAKO]

I use the applause as a indicater of a clean recording.... If the applause has a annoying growl to it most likely alot of intermodulation is in the recording.... It should be clean with transient bite in the clapping.

[Coytee]

I'm a bit relieved to see that I'm not the only one that finds this grating (or notices it)

[seti]

If the applause is juiced up by an engineer it is very annoying. I have a few recordings were the audience is a major plus in the recording. It is even better when you can tell how far back they are in the auditorium. Nothing better than great live recordings especially on horns.

[fini]

You know, I've really never been bothered by recorded applause. Of course, I don't own Jubilees.

[fini]

Oh, that was for you, Richard.

[]

[oldtimer]

I would bet you don't even own a dog that wears glasses fini...

[fini]

That may be true, but I do have a shih tzu that wears seasonal outfits. And I ain't shih t'n' you...

(It's a hazard of having a small dog and teenage girls...)

[oldtimer]

For that i don't envy you or the dog fini!