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Author Topic: IS RECORDED AUDIO BETTER OR WORSE TODAY...?  (Read 25697 times)

Radd 47

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Re: IS RECORDED AUDIO BETTER OR WORSE TODAY...?
« Reply #30 on: February 08, 2005, 10:46:10 PM »

Here's my relatively uninformed short answer to a long question:

http://vacuumbrain.com/The_Lab/TA/Pikatron/music.jpg
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Linear

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Re: IS RECORDED AUDIO BETTER OR WORSE TODAY...?
« Reply #31 on: February 08, 2005, 11:08:28 PM »

that about sums it up.

Chris


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Lee Flier

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Re: IS RECORDED AUDIO BETTER OR WORSE TODAY...?
« Reply #32 on: February 08, 2005, 11:17:31 PM »

ROFL!!!  Laughing  Oh man that is just too funny! Very Happy  Post of the year so far!  Cool

compasspnt

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Re: IS RECORDED AUDIO BETTER OR WORSE TODAY...?
« Reply #33 on: February 08, 2005, 11:19:58 PM »

Already downloaded, printed, and on my wall.
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jfrigo

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Re: IS RECORDED AUDIO BETTER OR WORSE TODAY...?
« Reply #34 on: February 09, 2005, 01:21:14 AM »

Lee Flier wrote on Tue, 08 February 2005 20:17

ROFL!!!  Laughing  Oh man that is just too funny! Very Happy  Post of the year so far!  Cool



I reckon it don't get no clearer than that!

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McAllister

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Re: IS RECORDED AUDIO BETTER OR WORSE TODAY...?
« Reply #35 on: February 11, 2005, 12:10:43 AM »

Seems to me that the quality of musicianship has decreased, as has the quality of arranging. So many things can be fixed post-tracking, there're fewer reasons to really be able to step up and nail it.

I love large-ensemble arrangements (some Miles stuff, Basie, Sinatra, etc.) and am always knocked out by the creativity that went into putting those songs together in a compelling way. Incredible. And the quality of players in those band (or on those sessions) was top shelf, all the way.

I might be wrong.

M
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compasspnt

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Re: IS RECORDED AUDIO BETTER OR WORSE TODAY...?
« Reply #36 on: February 11, 2005, 12:26:12 AM »

McAllister wrote on Fri, 11 February 2005 00:10


I might be wrong.

M

You are right.
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Bob Olhsson

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Re: IS RECORDED AUDIO BETTER OR WORSE TODAY...?
« Reply #37 on: February 11, 2005, 02:25:34 AM »

I had a heartbreaking talk about this with Phil Edwards. He was recording many of the musicians in the '80s who had made the awesome recordings of the '50s. He said that today it is all about a couple takes and punching all the mistakes in.

In the old days, it was about everybody playing it right with the pressure of having to play it again if you screwed up and of not getting called again if you screwed up too much or got caught not saying anything about having screwed up.

Since moving to Nashville I DID get to do a couple sessions with my personal "dream team" of Bob Babbitt, Ed Greene and Reggie Young. Tom Dowd put me up to adding Reggie shortly before he passed away and I'm so glad he did. I reverted to mono style drum miking. It was high-end digital but loads of fun. Just a 57 in the room would have made an awesome recording of those guys! I hope to expose younger people to them.

Level

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Re: IS RECORDED AUDIO BETTER OR WORSE TODAY...?
« Reply #38 on: February 11, 2005, 02:52:58 AM »

Yep, the graphic is truly accurate as it pertains to what gets big signing..however, each week I work with talent that is so awesome that it is painful to me if they don't get decent distribution.

After we finish, I like to start over. It is another level. On my dime if that is what it takes. Once you are "done", the pressure is off....lets do it one more time Smile

This is when the magic happens.
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Bill Mueller

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Re: IS RECORDED AUDIO BETTER OR WORSE TODAY...?
« Reply #39 on: February 11, 2005, 08:42:51 AM »

There is something else here and I think we can blame the record companies for it. If you want a record deal these days you have to be under twenty four years old and preferrably under 20 years old.

There can only be just so many beautiful, musically gifted people in the world. So when they run out, and I think they ran out a long time ago, the record companies take someone who might look the part and try to transform them into what they never were. There are lots of wonderful singers and musicians who can't get a break because they are too old or don't look the part. That's very sad.

Given the number of older boomers out there, I'm surprised that new music isn't be marketed to them. I would love to hear someone new that I could relate to.

Best Regards,

Bill
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Bob Olhsson

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Re: IS RECORDED AUDIO BETTER OR WORSE TODAY...?
« Reply #40 on: February 11, 2005, 10:33:30 AM »

Anybody over 24 has always been at a pretty big disadvantage because its been unusual for anybody much older to break out as a new artist. This is partly because younger fans are much more open to adopting an artist they can identify with. Older folks have already developed their passionate relationships as fans. Just look at the total obsession with the Beatles and Led Zeppelin around here!

Ryan A. Mills

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Re: IS RECORDED AUDIO BETTER OR WORSE TODAY...?
« Reply #41 on: February 11, 2005, 11:33:23 AM »

I see the major label music industry game as more of a fashion show than something that has much to do with music. Find one ugly person in the Top 20. You can't tell me that ugly people aren't making great music somewhere.

The internet gave everyone a voice. 5-6 years after the boom, we're realizing that most of the world doesn't really have much to say. I see the same trends in music production. I've got more than enough equipment here to record a clean album... but when I sit down with a guitar, nothing record-worthy comes out. Thankfully, I'm smart enough to realize that I'm not a songwriter.

Unfortunately for the world of music, that's a rare inner voice.

When a friend of mine first told me that his rock band was going to spend big money at a fancy studio to record their album, I offered to produce it. His response was: "What does a producer do anyway, besides hang out with the band and get their name put on the album?" -- Most songwriters in rock bands think they're great producers.

Anyone CAN do just about anything now. Money isn't the limiting factor. For $3000, you can get a laptop with pirated software and some sort of m-audio interface and music CAN be recorded.

Talent and commitment to professionalism are still just as rare as they were in the 50s and 60s. These days however, there's so much noise clouding the view of the talent, sometimes it's really hard to see.
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Phil

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Re: IS RECORDED AUDIO BETTER OR WORSE TODAY...?
« Reply #42 on: February 11, 2005, 12:24:26 PM »

Bob Olhsson wrote on Thu, 10 February 2005 23:25


In the old days, it was about everybody playing it right with the pressure of having to play it again if you screwed up and of not getting called again if you screwed up too much or got caught not saying anything about having screwed up.

When I wrote some big band arrangements a few(?) years back, the caliber of the studio musicians just knocked me out. The first take was always perfect, with subsequent takes necessary only if there was a slightly different interpretation wanted. There is no thrill for a composer/arranger like hearing the count, and then the first bar coming to life.

I remember writing a French horn part that had a note one step higher than the horn range. At the session, I asked the horn player if that would be a problem, because I could rewrite the part if he wanted. He said, "Let's see how it sounds", and ran through the part, nailing it perfectly. Then he asked me if I wanted to hear it an octave higher, and proceeded to lip the whole chart up one octave. Amazing players.

Phil
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Bob Olhsson

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Re: IS RECORDED AUDIO BETTER OR WORSE TODAY...?
« Reply #43 on: February 11, 2005, 02:25:57 PM »

Ryan A. Mills wrote on Fri, 11 February 2005 10:33

I see the major label music industry game as more of a fashion show than something that has much to do with music. Find one ugly person in the Top 20. You can't tell me that ugly people aren't making great music somewhere...

What you are seeing is what Madison Avenue wants you to see. A music-only performer has to be lots more important to get on TV than a model or an actor who happens to sing.

The record labels are obviously responding with what they think they can get on TV. If nothing else, American Idol made it clear you can be ugly and still be loved as a singer. The problem is that in many cases sales don't generate exposure as much as they used to. On the other hand live performance has moved mountains in the past and it could easily do so again. If people were half as excited about music as they are about Harry Potter, there'd be no problem with selling great recordings.

Samc

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Re: IS RECORDED AUDIO BETTER OR WORSE TODAY...?
« Reply #44 on: February 11, 2005, 03:36:09 PM »

With all due respect, this is beginning to feel pathetic.  A bunch of old folks sitting around eulogizing music,  music aint dead!  AND IT WILL NEVER DIE!  Music is not even sick, there is nothing wrong with music, but just like everything else in life, the business of music is changing for various reasons, and that has affected the way popular music is created, produced, distributed and consummated, that's it.  Don't forget also that the taste of the younger generation (which is a big driving force for the business of music) has changed.  In the same way that your musical taste changed from that of your parents.

And since most if not all who post here are a part of that creation, production, distribution and consummation process, guess what...............we all play a part in the continuing evolution.  I find it really lame that some of the biggest CURRENT players in this game are constantly discussing how great everything was 50 years ago and how bad things are today, and how worst it will get.  To top it off there is also now a mad, (almost obscene) rush to see who can post up the latest industry bad news first, leaving the rest something to "wax rhetoric" about who is to be blamed.

It doesn't do any justice if we make comparisons between the best of yesteryear and worst of today, If we choose to look beyond the Billboard charts, and the radio station playlist, if we choose to look beyond pop an rock, we will see that great music is still being made, good music played by good musicians and recorded and mixed by good engineers with good results.  And if we want to be honest we will also admit that a lot of lousy shit was made in the past era too, and a lot of it sounded bad, even some of the stuff that have become poster examples of greatness don't exactly have stellar sound.  While we're at it lets clear up another myth, not all the equipment that was being used back then always had this aura of romance that surrounds them now.  A lot of the old equipment was temperamental, and their technical limitations restricted or hampered the artistic process in some cases.  some of the modern pro-sumer gear run technical rings around the older stuff, and had Mackie been around back then......................No, I wont say it.

And yes, today we have the ability to create records with better sound quality than anything that was done before,  and sometimes it does happen.  
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