Recently I have become aware that, due to the pandemic, a number of music venues are offering paid, live streaming of performances. Here is one:
Village Vanguard - Live Streaming
Has anyone tried them?
How is the sound quality?
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That is actually really cool… I’ll have to look into it… but not sure on sound quality…might just have to be taken as is…?
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There is something about a live performance in real time that has a certain magic to it. One problem is that performers depend on feedback from the audience (applause, smiles, body language, etc.) to validate their musical connection with the audience.
That is probably questionable given the one-way nature of streaming and with the current streaming resolution. If it is just YouTube quality that is about 256 kbps AAC maximum.
For an audiophile that is pretty anemic. So the question posed: is the “live” real-time nature of the performance enough to offset the compressed sound quality. For someone like me who spent many happy hours in the jazz clubs of Manhattan this is an interesting question.
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I’ve held off on some of these online concerts due to unknown sound quality, especially if they wish to charge. Plus a lot of the ones I was looking in to were euro zone so not so NAm friendly to truly watch live.
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Thanks for the heads up on the live stream.
I agree with you about the magic, authenticity, naked rawness of a live performance.
True about the exchange of energy and vibes between performer and audience. One-way streaming without the performer receiving feedback from viewers, seems not up to par in that respect.
For Spanish flamenco, guitarists describing achieving the state of duende is a cool phenomenon.
By the way, your original post inspired me to search Village Vanguard and I came across your prior post on female jazz vocalists. You might want to give Macy Gray - Stripped a listen if you haven’t already (Chesky Binaural recorded at the Hirsch Centre).
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Thanks! I will check it out.
UPDATE:
Listened to the Macy Gray Stripped on Chesky Records. That is a terrific recording, a binaural one. I have been listening to a lot of binaural recordings on my headphones. I was ready to see binaural as a gimmick, but I am getting to feel that the directional, positioning and distance cues which it offers, particularly in high resolution audio, gives it a presence that traditionally recorded stereo lacks. It adds to the “live” aspects of the recording, particularly with acoustic instruments recorded close.
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You bet, enjoy!
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I once did a live performance online to present a cd a few weeks before it came out.
I must say that from an artist’s point of view, it was a very weird experience. At the time I had absolutely no idea how many people, if any, were actually watching the stream.
I also had no idea if my rambling between songs was going over well or pushing people away.
As I say, a very weird experience.
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Glad you enjoyed it. I was skeptical about binaural also, but have come to like what it offers compared to traditional stereo.
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Thanks for confirming as a performer, damn.
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Totally agreed…it took me about a month to get used to nobody being in front of me. We do it more often now, so it doesn’t bother me anymore. You can’t beat live audiences though…the raw energy just doesn’t flow.
On the concert streaming platforms, there are some dedicated platforms for the streaming of music out there now. SessionsLive and Volume.com are the best ones imo. Volume has the best features, I think, allowing up to 1080p video and higher resolution audio (based on artists’ internet capabilities). I think the audio resolution limit is 320 kbps, but I could be wrong. Not everyone can stream that though.
The major issue with sound quality from the artists’ end is the internet they have available. Some can get up to those qualities, some can’t. If they have a hardwire Ethernet connection, they’ll have everything they need. If going off Wifi…that’s a real kettle of fish for sure.
Anyway, just my two cents!
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