Timba sounds better in a big club setting...

B

bailar y tocar

Son Montuno
I was listening to Mayimbe y Barbaro Fines "Mensajeros de Dios" at home and I thought some of the songs were ok but not stellar. Then I gave the album to a DJ friend who runs the most popular Thursday latin night in town. He plays music that he likes and that has a certain sound and feel, some of it is timba, some of it is salsa, some could be cumbia on occasion and there is also bachata and kizomba.

Several of the songs sounded way better on the big sound system than in my living room or from my iPod. The energy of the dancers was fantastic. There were only 2-3 cuban/casino dancers in the house vs. 120+ regular people who dance to whatever.
 
What was it Jagger said about hip hop....? Music for the clubs not for the home. I wouldn't listen to timba at home. There are some lighter varieties, of course!
 
I listen to lots of timba at home but personally for me Mayimbe is not great except at a club and I don't know why. I've never become the big Mayimbe fan that a lot of people have come because they don't excite me when I listen at home. At a club they are good for dancing. I don't have that problem with other bands. Listen to LVV, Pupy, Maykel Blanco, El NIño y La Verdad, Manolito, HdP, Calle Real, Soneros All Stars, Adalberto Álvarez, well I could go through the list of every band I like. there are groups that I don't listen to at all because they have never excited me but they are mainly groups not based in Cuba.

I need to check out Papucho y Manana Club because a lot of my friends love them but I've never really heard anything except Papá Formell and although it is good in the montuno the beginning isn't great IMO.

I guess what I'm saying is that a group that doesn't sound good at home but works in the clubs, probably isn't all that great - just average.
 
There is quite a lot of music that does not sound good without proper sound system. And sometimes proper means very large speakers for low frequencies. That's just physics.
But have you considered investing into quality headphones? They win because of great placement.
With regard to timba, Mayimbe sounds better to me at home, but it might be because a) sound is better there than in clubs where salsa is played, b) there are too many distractions in salsa parties.
 
A well mixed and mastered recording will sound good on $15 computer speakers and $2500 audiophile speakers, an old boombox and cheapo iPod ear buds, $400 Sennheiser pro headphones and a $100,000 club sound system. Mastering engineers take pride in that kind of thing.
 
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There is truth to some music sounding great on club speakers.

Good Bachata for example, sounds far superior to most Salsa in the low end (30 HZ to 60HZ). I mean, they really nail the bass in the area, but if the speakers don't have the frequency response to handle this bandwidth, you'd never know.

Curious fact: most mix engineers mix records at very low volumes on a modest near-field speakers -- low enough so that they can do their work at midnight and not disturb neighbors in an apartment building with thin walls.

The saying goes: mixes done at low volume sound great when played at high volume, but mixes done at high volume rarely sound good played low.
 
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