URINETOWN cast recording sound quality

[morosco]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 11:19am

Has anyone read anything about the choices made in how the recording sounds? It sounds unlike any other cast recording. To my ears, it sounds like it wasn't recorded in a studio. It unfortunately has the aural quality of an audience bootleg. Updated On: 8/3/04 at 11:19 AM

[hawkeyemania]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 11:22am

hmm I have never listened to it, but maybe it is what ever you are trying to play the cd with???

[BWayBoy88]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 11:28am

I dont think its that bad. I've heard CDs with better quality, but I dont think it sounds like a bootleg

[timote316]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 11:59am

haha, i was thinking the same. it doesn't sound like a normal cd. but, then again, Urinetown isnt your normal show, so that may be why. i like it.

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 12:13pm

I don't think my ear is good enough to know, but I do know that in Follow Your Heart the quiet moments are almost too quiet to hear and I have to turn the volume up and down as I listen.

What a fun theatre experience this show is.

[saddle shoe side kick]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 12:40pm

I had noticed that but now I'm used to it and I think it fits the show. -Penny

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 12:44pm

The show is very different from other Broadway shows. I think one of the main reasons it sounds different is because there are very few instruments put into the cast recording.

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 1:37pm

its nowhere near as bad as beauty and the beast's- i've never heard one recorded so damn low

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 2:18pm

It sounds normal (or how its supposed to) to me! I have no problems.

[morosco]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 2:24pm

It just seems to me that whatever studio it was recorded in had lousy acoustics. Or perhaps it was recorded with only one microphone and was unable to be balanced properly (I doubt that's what happened, I'm just trying to explain how it sounds). I love the show. I love the performers. I just wish the recording was handled differently.

[bythesword84]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 2:43pm

I can see that thought but if you consider the show and how it is, I think it sounds just like they would want it to sound.

[magruder]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 5:08pm

Urinetown was recorded at the now defunct Edison Studios (which were located on a mezzanine level behind the telephone bank in the lobby of the Edison Hotel). A number of show recordings were made there, including several Encores albums, Victor/Victoria, The Producers, State Fair, the Paper Mill Follies recording, and others I'm sure I've forgotten.

In performance, Urinetown had a certain raucous sound, particularly at the American Theatre of Actors, that was glossed over in the recording studio, and the recording is a little high on the reverb. While the New York cast is irreplacable, I am truly hoping that the Berlin cast (where it is entitled Pinkelstadt, Das Musical) gets to make a recording. Something about hearing Urinetown translated into German feels right to me.

Updated On: 8/3/04 at 05:08 PM

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 6:51pm

Lauf, Freiheit, Lauf! - Run, Freedom, Run

Seien Sie das Häschen nicht. - Don't be the Bunny

Of course, to those who speak German this must sound weird...because I used a free translation site.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 8:00pm

its nowhere near as bad as beauty and the beast's- i've never heard one recorded so damn low

I think that's a problem with all Disney CDs - soundtracks OR cast recordings. Are they afraid the little kiddies will blast them at "full volume"?

[bythesword84]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 8:30pm

You're right about the Disney CDs...the recording for Beauty and the Beast is HORRIBLY low, not to mention the soundtrack to Newsies. You have to pump them up all the way just to be able to hear it.

[crazy smiles]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 8:49pm

glebb i understand completely about follow your heart. even though its a little low at times i still love this recording!

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 9:34pm

I was listening to a couple of Beauty and the Beast songs today in my car, and when I went to take the CD out, the radio kind of blasted for a second there until I turned it down. So, basically you have to crank the volume up if you want a decent hearing of the Beauty and the Beast CD.