Live sound - the differences

Everyone has their own way of evaluating sound quality. This month we felt it would be helpful to outline some of the criteria that we at Origin Live consider crucial when evaluating sound. At Origin Live we design products to deliver a great sound. We use the phrase "closest to the original sound" in our web site because this is what our products are designed to acheive. In fact the name origin Live is a shortening of the phrase "reproducing the original sound as played live". Some people have have thought the name something to do with preserving the environment - in a sense this is true of course if one thinks of the musical environment.

It is said that some magazines are advising their writers not to refer to live music when reviewing. At first this seems reprehensible but there are probably reasons that are well intentioned. Firstly much of what is called live music is actually reproduced via electronics e.g. a rock concert. This is completely different to a live orchestral brass band or an un amplified piano and singer. This is the first area of ambiguity. The second area is the number of different qualities in genuine live music, which make it confusing to lump them all together in one term.

But how can you tell how close what you are listening to is to the original sound? Most people agree that there is a difference between live sound and reproduced sound. Let us use an example; If you are walking down a street blind folded and a brass band were playing, the characteristics of the live sound would make it obvious that you were listening to a "live performance". The weighty powerfull sound would have a unique attack and reverberance. It is these immediate characteristics that many top systems seek to emulate.

With careful analysis of 'live' sound behaviour, the determination of a system's performance may be rated based on its ability to match the original qualities. Ultimately it is this that results in a great system and saves following false trails that seem good at the time but lead nowhere.

So what differences do we detect between live and reproduced music?

Transient speed

This is the speed that reproduced notes start and stop. In real-life, 'live' sound is instantly perceived as soon as the source has created the necessary pressure fluctuations within the air to excite hair cells in your cochlea.
However, electronic and mechanical devices (i.e turntables and loudspeakers) have acceleration limits,and so only the best systems nearly deliver sound as quickly as in real-life.
Resonances within the devices also cause sounds to become prolonged and again, this is not representative of the true sound.

Dynamics

Dynamics may mean slightly different things to different people but for the moment we will simply describe it as the quality of notes reaching the correct amplitude in the correct space of time. Reproducing mechanisms almost inevitably have some form of damping to control resonance and this usually has the effect of "slowing the transient speed down and reducing dynamics".

Bass that you can feel

Deep, fast, dynamic bass is usually present in live music - however this area is by far the most difficult area to control in music reproduction systems. Poorly controlled, resonant bass masks midrange and treble quality. In an effort to obtain clarity some systems deliberately reduce bass output slightly. CD manufacturers seem to start suppressing it under around 100 Hz in some cases. Vinyl is not handled in this way and this is one of the reasons vinyl records score so heavily. Good bass performance is fundamental to music reproduction as it adds a sense of power, weight and authority. Without great bass a system can seem to have clarity but ultimately sounds thin, wearing and lacking.

Harmonics that lack harshness or edginess

Natural harmonics are present in music - however systems add their own set of harmonics. A good system will produce natural sounding harmonics whereas the less natural systems (e.g. digital) introduce harmonics that are not pleasing to the ear.

Origin Live design their products to optimize these qualities.

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