Jeff Matthews Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Can you think of some great tunes with notoriously awful studio recordings. Here's one to start: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babadono Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 There are so many...….. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Just my $0.02: it appears that the subject will tacitly be restricted to one genre (rock) and one time period (60s-70s). However if for a moment you entertain a bit more inclusive answer than just picking out YouTube videos at random, then the subject gets more interesting. For instance, those awful recordings were usually made because awful equipment and studio/venues were the norm. This is also stratified by genre, generally excluding classical, jazz and pop genres before about 1970 at which point the introduction of good quality recorders became feasible for even the smallest low-budget studios. The music was racially aligned and appealed mostly to teenagers, which was generally considered lower quality or "throwaway" music genres: So basically any recording from the 1960s and before that's not or jazz, pop or classical genres (and even some of those genres were well-represented by bad recordings) was originally recorded on pretty lousy equipment. Basically anything before 1959 will have severe sound quality issues relative to that which is easily produced today. If the music happened to be more enduring than the other 99% that was produce then, it's now considered to be classic. Pretty much anything by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, Cream, CCW, Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Allman Bros, etc. of this time period is really rough in terms of as-produced technical quality. What I've found however is that most of these recordings were made even worse via mastering: heavy creative EQ applied to the recordings to boost mid-high frequencies and severely attenuate lows still exists to this day (EQ that was made even worse on later reissue CDs--a medium which can be abused even more than phonograph records). Once you undo the bad EQ on the recordings, I think that even the most die-hard "period scholars" will be (reluctantly) amazed how improved they sound. YMMV. Chris 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigdnfay1 Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Stone temple pilots- No.4...Love the whole album. Production Sucks. Big D 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Virtually any "Greatest Hits of the 60's 70's 80s" compilation on CD type of thing. They typically have good songs but just terrible production. They are heavily compressed, no highs, no lows, narrow mid range, very thin sounding. Unlistenable IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Sounds great when blasting in your car through an a.m. radio... and you have the windows down... Or... like lying in my bunk at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, listening to WLS while tripping... 🤒 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Matthews Posted August 10, 2018 Author Share Posted August 10, 2018 I didn't mean "terrible" as in "not as good as today." I mean uniquely terrible. Listen to other songs on the Cream album. For whatever reason, Tales of Brave Ulysses is peculiarly terrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Whitlow Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Can you think of some great tunes with notoriously awful studio recordings. Here's one to start: Great recording made by Cream and Tommy Dowd. They showed up at the studio with their concert gear. Tommy was a studio wizard having been a nuclear physicist who worked on The Manhattan Project.He also invented the gain slider for mixing desks. Tales ... is Summer In The City by The Loving Spoonful slowed down.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 ...then the discussion on the track "Heather" by Billy Cobham is apropos: the paragraph with the hyperlink. I recommend the CD highly. Michael and Randy Brecker on sax and trumpet, George Duke on keyboards, and John Abercrombie on guitar. After demastering, this is by far my favorite Cobham album. He's the best drummer that I've heard...and this album will show you why. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wstrickland1 Posted August 11, 2018 Share Posted August 11, 2018 22 hours ago, Jeff Matthews said: I didn't mean "terrible" as in "not as good as today." I mean uniquely terrible. Listen to other songs on the Cream album. For whatever reason, Tales of Brave Ulysses is peculiarly terrible. I don't know why but there's something about that album. I consider it "good quality" to my ears for some reason., even that song. I know what you're saying though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebuy Posted August 11, 2018 Share Posted August 11, 2018 Clapton has good and bad recordings. Let it Rain and After Midnight--Bad. The Album, There's One in Every Crowd, Good. Someone has a Tin Ear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Matthews Posted August 11, 2018 Author Share Posted August 11, 2018 Here's another that's such a cool tune, but the recording.... arghhh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YK Thom Posted August 11, 2018 Share Posted August 11, 2018 Iggy and the Stooges, Raw Power. Great tracks but the entire album sounds so thin and screechy it is almost impossible to enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted August 11, 2018 Share Posted August 11, 2018 On 8/10/2018 at 8:55 AM, Chris A said: ...then the discussion on the track "Heather" by Billy Cobham is apropos: the paragraph with the hyperlink. I recommend the CD highly. Michael and Randy Brecker on sax and trumpet, George Duke on keyboards, and John Abercrombie on guitar. After demastering, this is by far my favorite Cobham album. He's the best drummer that I've heard...and this album will show you why. Chris It's one of the first lp's I ever owned, and very influential for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Richard Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 On the Cream song the drums were recorded in mono and panned hard right.👎 This album was recorded in the mid to late 60s, probably on a 4 channel recorder. Actually sounds better than many other albums from that era. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Whitlow Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 On the Cream song the drums were recorded in mono and panned hard right.[emoji107] This album was recorded in the mid to late 60s, probably on a 4 channel recorder. Actually sounds better than many other albums from that era. 8 track. Tom Dowd was one of the few to have 8 track technology. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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