Why does the violin sound better recorded than in real life?

[Jax Humanhater]

When I hear the violin in real life, most of the time, it is scratchy unless orchestrated.

On recorded audio, it doesn't sound scratchy at all and the notes sound more whole.

My tutor, who is a music guy, says, they do a lot of editing to make the violin sound better.

 

[Lee Knight]

There's editing & filtering for one, even a microphone 'hears' sound differently to the human ear....
Then there's the fact that you have your chin on the instrument which would add other details in sound by the way your jaw bone picks up the sound & transfers it to your cranium....
Basically your not just hearing what enters your ear but also the reverberations of your head.
As an experiment lift your head sometime & have a brief listen or even plece the same portion of your chin on a large speaker cabinet or a guitar- either electric or accoustic...
In fact just the 2 types of guitar alone are quite interesting to do this with!

 

[Mike Sterckx]

I think much has to do with the skills of the violinist and the quality of the violin. A good violin is very expensive.

Here is my favorite piece by Veronika Skuplik which isn't enhanced in any way.

 

[Tim Ling]

Mohammed Abidi Maybe that's why a Stradivarius cost £millions and great violin players are few and far between.
Mike Sterckx Thanks for that clip, that was sublime!

Nice to a dulcimer in there too