[RainDawg]

Originally Posted by wazoo2u

In reality, the "FM" factor in a capture has far, far more bearing on the quality of a recording than you might think. FM Tuners have a really wide range of quality, and sonics are affected by a number of factors, including terrain, weather, and the overall quality of the tuner electronics. A true lineage of an FM recording would (at minimum) specify the equipment used for reception.

This is a fantastic point. I have downloaded some simply awful FM captures, where it sounds more like the person is recording it from a boombox FM radio rather than a high quality FM reciever. I've gotten some extremely ugly harmonics on some FM recordings, and when the hardware isn't specified, I can only assume that the equipment sucks or the taper is an idiot...probably both.

Point being, don't always assume that since you have an FM you have the best there is. There is probably someone else who taped the broadcast who did a better job, especially when you get rought sounding or noisy FM captures.

Luckily, I mostly trade in jazz these days, and people within that group generally capture FM stuff with decent equipment, so just seeing FM in the lineage is enough for me to know it's going to be good quality. Outside of jazz circles, these things have considerably lower reliability rates.