Considering Most Jazz Reissues...

[MagicAlex]

Why do they sound better in general than most Pop, Rock, Soul, etc reissues? Even the early 80s issues before all the fancy filtering processes (K2, SBM, etc) sound excellent. Is there a technical reason for this? Could it have something to do with the instruments being mostly acoustical and requiring less effect in the recording studio? I have many jazz titles and I'd say that at least 85% (obviously a guess) sound better than average.

I have a few DCC jazz titles (espicially love the sound on the Peppers - thanks Steve) and they are all wonderful.

[KLM]

MagicAlex,
This is a good question. I too have noticed that the average jazz recording sounds better than the average pop/rock release. I believe it is because jazz is usually a live spontaneous event using a lot of acoustic instruments unlike todays rock music. Therefore, it usually doesn't require as much electronic fiddling about (EQ, compression, reverb or other nasties).

Remember, most rock/pop music is put together with a billion tracks overdubbed on top of another and little mistakes or off key notes can be fixed electronically. Usually, jazz musicians will play live to track and if a mistake is made either it is left in or the entire track is recorded over.

I am not an expert on this and this is only my opinion on the matter. My limited experience in the recording studio would back my belief up.

[Steve Hoffman]

Get four or five good quality mics, and a little Mackie mixer and DAT Recorder, get some good jazz musicians and go down to your local High School Gym (nice natural echo). Turn all the mics on, and have the musicians wail. Set the mic levels and leave them, leave the eq knobs alone. Just have the musicians take care of the dynamics.

There you have it. Great sound, just like the old days!

[Andy]

Sounds like a case of people getting caught-up in what they could do, and never taking the time to decide if it is something they should do.