D-MAN Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 I was listening to Brian Auger's Oblivion Express last night, and the recording quality (your basically horrible variety) takes a while to get used to, but eventually the grooves win out. I noticed that most of the bass recorded in the 70's was pretty horrible, or at the very least, has "that 70's bass sound". Does anyone know what that is and what caused it? Seems like its pretty pervasive in the period. I've heard it on 70's stuff like Chicago (TSA through 5), Cold Blood, Tower of Power, Jeff Beck, oh, yeah, remember these guys: Focus, Edison Lighthouse (eventually they dropped the Edison), Sopwith Camel? The 70's may have been great for music, but it sucked on the recordings, IMO. There was some sort of a creativity thing happening back then that seems lacking today, although if it happened now, they could at least get recorded BETTER. Why can't it all happen at the same time?! DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy James Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 ---------------- On 6/8/2005 8:00:01 PM D-MAN wrote: I was listening to Brian Auger's Oblivion Express last night, and the recording quality (your basically horrible variety) takes a while to get used to, but eventually the grooves win out. I noticed that most of the bass recorded in the 70's was pretty horrible, or at the very least, has "that 70's bass sound". Does anyone know what that is and what caused it? Seems like its pretty pervasive in the period. I've heard it on 70's stuff like Chicago (TSA through 5), Cold Blood, Tower of Power, Jeff Beck, oh, yeah, remember these guys: Focus, Edison Lighthouse (eventually they dropped the Edison), Sopwith Camel? The 70's may have been great for music, but it sucked on the recordings, IMO. There was some sort of a creativity thing happening back then that seems lacking today, although if it happened now, they could at least get recorded BETTER. Why can't it all happen at the same time?! DM ---------------- Yep, right you are! George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" leaps to mind, beautiful music, crap sound. Not even the re-issue remix could fix it. Phil Spector didn't help matters much either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrot Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 Of course Phil's thick productions are the least of his problems now that he is charged with murder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy James Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 Phil has been committing musical murder for years. "Imagine" surely suffered a grisley fate, but not nearly as heinous as the hachet job he did on "All Things Must Pass", makes his work on "Let It Be" sound like a purist recording. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 DM, Turn on, tune out and chill man. It sounded great back then. Hahaha! Some of the best master tapes and new remixes from the '60s and '70s were done by Motown. I don't know what was in the heads of the other studios although I have a good inkling. Rick PS: JJ don't blame old Phil. I went to see George Harrison's All Things concert in Providence. It is sad to say the highlights were Billy Preston and Ravi Shankar. George well.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boom3 Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 exiles on main street is my fave stones album, but the sonics, even on a remastered cd are pretty bad, with a vey jukeboxey sound Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 You are right about the 70's bass sound. It did sound better at the time. On a revealing system like Klipsch, sounds surprisingly bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hardy Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 Many of the 1970's CBS labels (Epic, Columbia) produced some nasty sounding pop recordings. One of the worst, IMNSHO, was the first Boston album. Back when it was new (1977, IIRC), I had a cat named The Bear who liked to listen to the stereo... except if I put "Boston" on. At that point, she high-tailed it from the room. Very harsh and bright sounding. That being said, Heart's second album ("Little Queen"), on Portrait (another CBS label) was (and is) a very good sounding record. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy James Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 Too many people went multi-track insane in the 1970s, it was all so new. Freddy Mercury got the hang of it pretty quick and produced some really impressive sounds using primitive technology by today's standards, but for the most part I guess there wasn't a lot of moderation in the '70s! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy James Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 ---------------- On 6/9/2005 1:53:36 PM Mark Hardy wrote: Many of the 1970's CBS labels (Epic, Columbia) produced some nasty sounding pop recordings. One of the worst, IMNSHO, was the first Boston album. Back when it was new (1977, IIRC), I had a cat named The Bear who liked to listen to the stereo... except if I put "Boston" on. At that point, she high-tailed it from the room. Very harsh and bright sounding. That being said, Heart's second album ("Little Queen"), on Portrait (another CBS label) was (and is) a very good sounding record. ---------------- Don't forget Aerosmith! I can't beleive just how bad some of those records sound now. Not the music, the sound of the records. Another great CBS record that really sucks soundwise "Born To Run". Even the Classic re-issue sucks, but not quit as bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 I really love the T-Rex recordings produced by Tony Viconti http://www.tonyvisconti.com/ Slider is one of my favorites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 ---------------- On 6/8/2005 8:00:01 PM D-MAN wrote: I was listening to Brian Auger's Oblivion Express last night, and the recording quality (your basically horrible variety) takes a while to get used to, but eventually the grooves win out. ---------------- I've been listening to that same album since it came out and no matter what system it's on it's still nearly impossible to tell when he's changing chords on the bass line of his keyboard. "Closer To It" isn't much better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 The bass on those old poor recordings can be restored by modestly using a DBX 120X-DS Subharmonic Synthesizer, it restores the bass that was trimmed/compressed by the recording engineers. To breathe life into the dead recording use the 120X-DS in conjunction with a DBX 3BX-DS 3-Band Dynamic Ranger Controller with Impact Restoration and Ambience control. The results will surprise you! I use a set regularly for my Satellite Audio signals to uncompress and revitalize some of the weaker audio signals. They make a big difference and I get no additional noise or artifacts while they are in operation either despite what others may say about this type of gear. They work equally as well with early CD recordings as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 Hey Frzn maybe I should get that 3 band equalizer to add more bass in my music room?? Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jheis Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 Phil seems to be having a REALLY bad hair day - everyday - these days. My guess is that he's laying the groundwork for an insanity defense. Does anyone remember the Brian Auger, Julie Driscoll & the Trinity album "Streetnoise." One of my favorites "in the day." Tried to buy a remastered CD a a month or so ago, but everyone who claimed to have it in stock later claimed it was back ordered - after they took my money. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben. Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 ---------------- On 6/9/2005 1:41:53 PM Jimmy James wrote: Phil has been committing musical murder for years. "Imagine" surely suffered a grisley fate, but not nearly as heinous as the hachet job he did on "All Things Must Pass", makes his work on "Let It Be" sound like a purist recording. ---------------- ???? Imagine sounds fantastic from where I sit. Original pressing, though... I never really noticed until I had the record at home, but there's quite a nice backbeat to the title track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 ---------------- On 6/9/2005 2:22:04 PM Frzninvt wrote: The bass on those old poor recordings can be restored by modestly using a DBX 120X-DS Subharmonic Synthesizer, it restores the bass that was trimmed/compressed by the recording engineers. To breathe life into the dead recording use the 120X-DS in conjunction with a DBX 3BX-DS 3-Band Dynamic Ranger Controller with Impact Restoration and Ambience control. The results will surprise you! I use a set regularly for my Satellite Audio signals to uncompress and revitalize some of the weaker audio signals. They make a big difference and I get no additional noise or artifacts while they are in operation either despite what others may say about this type of gear. They work equally as well with early CD recordings as well. ---------------- Frzn, so how do you have this gear connected in your system? Interesting proposition. Especially if it can redeem some of these bad recordings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bytor33 Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 There is at least some good 70's bass. I love the bass sound on all of Rush's albums from the 70's. The remastered cd's sound great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 Dee, Ideally you would put it in your tape monitor loop so that you could call upon it when you need it and switch them out when you don't. On ny NAD HT preamp however when you switch in the tape monitor it will playback in two channel only so I have the components hooked directly in line with the Sat Dish receiver so it goes like this Sat Dish Rcvr - DBX 3BX-DS - DBX 120X-DS - Preamp input. It works very well! It makes the dynamics and realism that is already present with Klipsch loudspeakers even more startling! The sell on ebay used for around $125 - $250 depending on condition and completeness. Once you have used one it is hard to imagine how it sounded without it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 ---------------- On 6/10/2005 2:42:25 AM bytor33 wrote: There is at least some good 70's bass. I love the bass sound on all of Rush's albums from the 70's. The remastered cd's sound great. ---------------- I have lots of great 70s recordings,2112 remaster is outstanding.The bass on Grand Funk's self titled album(red cover)and Closer to Home is almost overwhelming,fantastic.I suppose it comes down to the type of music and what you play it on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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