Wow, this thread has taken an interesting turn. Just to add my two cents...
I really enjoyed reading wforwumbo's post. I agree with much of it, but not 100%. I appreciate the EQing aspect and the reasoning behind it, I'm just a bit of a purest when it comes to the sound.
My feelings behind my thought process is this: If the FOH soundman knows what he's doing, then the sound coming to us should be the best it can be. Moreover, it should be the way we are meant to hear it...in other words, the way the band intends it to sound. That said, my job, as a taper, is not to alter that sound, but rather to duplicate and preserve it as best I can. I am not suggesting that sometimes a recording may be able to be tweaked to sound more pleasing to the taper's ear.
Ultimately, we do what we do to please ourselves. What you may like most might not be my first concern and visa versa...which is more often than not, why some people like EQing their recordings.
When it comes to equipment, we buy what we like and what sounds pleasing to our ears. There are many different microphones that will give a higher, sharper, lower, deeper, bassier, warmer, more sterile, etc, etc, etc, sound. Those who are smart, auditioned different equipment before making purchases. That is to say, they didn't just say, "oh, Schoeps, or B&K's, or this or that are great mics, so I'll buy those". Personally, I started out patching and wrote down everything I was patched out of and learned about different equipment that way, in addition to getting tapes from others, along with the anal report, so I was able to check out other sounds. Different strokes for different folks and all that.
Another thing I'd like to address is what Charlie had said about tapers making bad recordings despite having good equipment (or something like that). Oh yeah, I totally agree! I have heard recordings in the past which floored me when I found out what they used and where they recorded from. How on earth could they have botched such a recording? Simple, little to no field experience = not knowing what to do. You and I take for granted how to set up our mics, what to set our inputs at, etc...without that knowledge, it's often a crap-shoot what a person will walk away with.
EQing a recording is a never ending debate that, despite my personal feelings, has no right or wrong answer. It is what it is, and our own expression of this art form is what we make of it and choose to create.
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