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Author Topic: What were they doing with 50's music in the US?  (Read 34398 times)

Jay Kadis

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Re: What were they doing with 50's music in the US?
« Reply #30 on: December 23, 2010, 05:33:55 PM »

My bet is that tuners have saved more tracks than they've ruined.  At least that's been my experience.  I still remember fighting with other band members about their inability to tune by ear - all that went away the day we got a tuner.  Then we could just fight about the music...

Bubba#$%Kron

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Re: What were they doing with 50's music in the US?
« Reply #31 on: December 24, 2010, 06:36:46 AM »

String instruments are fret-less, so they play by ear and just need to be in the same ballpark.  Guitars and bass however have fixed fret points so they must be in tune and intonated correctly to get any emotion out of them.   Pianos usually hold tune for a while because they are only struck with soft hammers and the strings dont get squeezed and pulled like other instruments.   Perfect tuning is vital in todays environment, especially if you want to catch the ear of the ipod pogo punk generation thats coming up whose brains are conditioned to perfectly organized immediate gratification!!!!!!
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"When we make music we don't do it in order to reach a certain point, such as the end of the composition. If that were the purpose of music then obviously the fastest players would be the best. Also, when we are dancing we are not aiming to arrive at a particular place on the floor as in a journey. When we dance, the journey itself is the point, as when we play music the playing itself is the point."  -Alan Watts

Blackie Pawless

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Re: What were they doing with 50's music in the US?
« Reply #32 on: December 24, 2010, 08:17:35 AM »

compasspnt wrote on Thu, 23 December 2010 16:12

Nothing like a room full of string players chattering away, right up to letter A.



+1. The most accurate observation/lament I've heard all year. Man, it is so aggravating.
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Scott Baggett

Dominick

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Re: What were they doing with 50's music in the US?
« Reply #33 on: December 24, 2010, 08:53:45 AM »

Bubba Kron wrote on Fri, 24 December 2010 06:36

...Guitars and bass however have fixed fret points so they must be in tune and intonated correctly to get any emotion out of them...

Paging Chuck Berry
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Dominick Costanzo

Bubba#$%Kron

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Re: What were they doing with 50's music in the US?
« Reply #34 on: December 24, 2010, 09:08:15 AM »

and Robert Johnson also!!

Dominick wrote on Fri, 24 December 2010 05:53

Bubba Kron wrote on Fri, 24 December 2010 06:36

...Guitars and bass however have fixed fret points so they must be in tune and intonated correctly to get any emotion out of them...

Paging Chuck Berry

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"When we make music we don't do it in order to reach a certain point, such as the end of the composition. If that were the purpose of music then obviously the fastest players would be the best. Also, when we are dancing we are not aiming to arrive at a particular place on the floor as in a journey. When we dance, the journey itself is the point, as when we play music the playing itself is the point."  -Alan Watts

jrmintz

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Re: What were they doing with 50's music in the US?
« Reply #35 on: December 24, 2010, 12:02:31 PM »

Some people tune their guitars/basses/horns to a tuner and never think about pitch again. There are all kinds of things that affect tuning of a track once the guitars are "in tune". The most obvious is setup and intonation. Others are the age of strings - there's this crazy idea that new strings don't stay in tune. They do after the first five minutes if you break them in correctly. Also the gauge of the strings is important - any guitar designed in the fifties was designed for much heavier strings than are generally used today. Heavier strings have much better intonation than skinny ones all up and down the neck. Even though the frets stop the strings hand technique has a huge impact on pitch. If you've never experienced that, hold a note down on a bass and then squeeze softer and harder with your left hand - you can hear the pitch change. Same with the right hand - fret a note and hit it harder and softer with your right hand - the volume is not the only thing that changes. A properly intonated and tuned instrument played by someone with inconsistent hand technique, bass in particular, can leave a track with an ambiguous and moving tonal center that nothing else can be in tune with including drums. My personal feeling is that very often trying to EQ or compress bass to make it defined is an attempt to make up for the weak pitch center left by an inconsistent player.
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Wireline

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Re: What were they doing with 50's music in the US?
« Reply #36 on: December 24, 2010, 12:14:55 PM »

Don't forget that wound G string vs today's solid G string on electric guitars...try it once, and you'll hear (hopefully) what all that hoopla is about.

Oh, yeah...play thru a Fender Champ - one knob (volume), 7 watts...or get real carried away and pluck thru a tweed Bassman (with caps and such at 10-15% variation from one to the next)

So many things - mostly the players, the arrangements, the professionalism, and the 'get it right, right now, or get gone' approach to the business...

Oh - yeah - one other thing...no internet to blur the lines between reality, fantasy, and utter bullshit
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Ken Morgan
Wireline Studio
Midland, Texas
www.wirelinestudio.com

Dayo

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Re: What were they doing with 50's music in the US?
« Reply #37 on: January 17, 2011, 12:14:20 PM »

They were called records because they were just that; a record of a performance.  That's the where the magic lies.  A bunch of talented people all playing together in the same room at the same time with the same goal.
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CWHumphrey

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Re: What were they doing with 50's music in the US?
« Reply #38 on: January 20, 2011, 04:00:41 PM »

Wireline wrote on Fri, 24 December 2010 09:14


Oh - yeah - one other thing...no internet to blur the lines between reality, fantasy, and utter bullshit



I just had to quote that for as much emphasis as I can muster.

Cheers,
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Carter William Humphrey

"Indeed...oh three named one!" -Terry Manning
"Or you can just have Carter do the recording, because he's Humphrey."-J.J. Blair

Hank Alrich

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Re: What were they doing with 50's music in the US?
« Reply #39 on: January 21, 2011, 12:51:06 AM »

PaulyD wrote on Mon, 20 December 2010 08:04

Imagine being a musician before there was tape.

No rewinding, no redoing your part, no punching in, no overdubbing and no editing. Forget about eq and compression, let alone beat correcting and pitch correcting. If you made a major mistake, the media was wasted. Imagine being in an orchestra with that pressure.

Imagine just being a person before there was TV, stereo, home video, and video games. There was a time when having musical and live entertaining ability was a highly valued social skill. It's why you used to see stores that did nothing but sell, transport and service pianos. Lots of homes had them. That was your entertainment center.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't mean to drift OT. But yeah, more people participating, fewer of them being chosen.

Paul


Around the turn of the previous century, there were an estimated 7000 shops in the US building pianos. I've often thought we could get this country back on track by going to every household, removing all but one television, and replacing those with a piano.

MagnetoSound

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Re: What were they doing with 50's music in the US?
« Reply #40 on: January 21, 2011, 03:06:57 AM »

Hank Alrich wrote on Fri, 21 January 2011 05:51

I've often thought we could get this country back on track by going to every household, removing all but one television, and replacing those with a piano.




I don't understand. What do you need even one TV for?


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Music can make me get right up out of my chair and start dancing or it can get me so pumped up I have to walk around the block.
It can also knock me back and make me sit there and cry like a little baby. This shit is as powerful as any drug!!!
- Larry DeVivo

johnR

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Re: What were they doing with 50's music in the US?
« Reply #41 on: January 21, 2011, 06:45:54 AM »

MagnetoSound wrote on Fri, 21 January 2011 08:06

Hank Alrich wrote on Fri, 21 January 2011 05:51

I've often thought we could get this country back on track by going to every household, removing all but one television, and replacing those with a piano.




I don't understand. What do you need even one TV for?




To keep the population under control with subliminal messages.

I haven't owned a TV for over 10 years, but judging by the harrassing letters I keep receiving from the TV licensing authorities, they consider me to be a dangerous subversive.
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gwailoh

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Re: What were they doing with 50's music in the US?
« Reply #42 on: February 14, 2011, 05:36:49 PM »

Dominick wrote on Fri, 24 December 2010 05:53

Bubba Kron wrote on Fri, 24 December 2010 06:36

...Guitars and bass however have fixed fret points so they must be in tune and intonated correctly to get any emotion out of them...

Paging Chuck Berry


Elmore James.
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