70's sound and interpretation compared to today

For me, its much more about the sound of the instruments rather than the production. Obviously, I like good production where you can hear everything clearly, but generally I figure thats a monetary problem (or if playing live thats a lack of microphone/recording devices problem...which I suppose could be monetary). But my point is...take an album like Can's Tago Mago...the drums have a very standout, crsip, no nonsense sound (I don't want to say unique, being its not...its very much like other 70s albums at least the good ones ). Then the 80s came and drums had a big thudy fake sound (especially snares). Then the 90s/00s where IMO the drums sound more natural or real (for lack of a better term). Not to say that the 70s sound is fake, it just seems like it's not replicatable in this time period (I don't know if this is because of type of drums available today are made of different stuff or if the recording method that just didn't emphasize the drums [or perhaps did?]). The point of all this rambling is to say that I love the sound drums had in the 70s...Tago Mago, GG's early albums, KC's early albums...I'm sure there are many more examples but these are the first three to come to my mind.  

BaldJean wrote: Snow Dog wrote: BaldJean wrote: Snow Dog wrote: BaldFriede wrote: Snow Dog wrote: BaldFriede wrote: Henry Plainview wrote: I guess maybe if you grew up with crackling vinyl you crave imperfection, but I've never thought to myself that an album sounded "sterile" because of the production. At the moment I'm primarily interested in music that is partially or wholly improvised, but there's nothing with with glittering perfection on composed rock albums. I am not talking about imperfection of sound, I am talking about imperfection of performance. Even the best classical musicians make a lot of mistakes when playing live, but that's what gives the music its soul. If all the imperfections are edited out the result becomes sterile. Opinion. Not opinion; it is the truth.  These imperfections are what make music sound alive., else you might as well let a robot play. If programmed right he will make no mistakes at all. Modern recordings are usually as bloodless as a young woman that has been guest at a vampire banquet. Opinion. it certainly is opinion that you think it is opinion OK You are wrong then. I guess you will be the first to buy the 20 CD box set "The Greatest Tracks Of Prog Rock, Replayed By Robots"

Edited by Snow Dog - August 10 2010 at 15:28

BaldJean wrote: Snow Dog wrote: BaldFriede wrote: Snow Dog wrote: BaldFriede wrote: Henry Plainview wrote: I guess maybe if you grew up with crackling vinyl you crave imperfection, but I've never thought to myself that an album sounded "sterile" because of the production. At the moment I'm primarily interested in music that is partially or wholly improvised, but there's nothing with with glittering perfection on composed rock albums. I am not talking about imperfection of sound, I am talking about imperfection of performance. Even the best classical musicians make a lot of mistakes when playing live, but that's what gives the music its soul. If all the imperfections are edited out the result becomes sterile. Opinion. Not opinion; it is the truth.  These imperfections are what make music sound alive., else you might as well let a robot play. If programmed right he will make no mistakes at all. Modern recordings are usually as bloodless as a young woman that has been guest at a vampire banquet. Opinion. it certainly is opinion that you think it is opinion

Used to prefer the crisp clean sounds of modern production, but I've been warming up to the 70's "live" sound recently

I tend to prefer a warm, rawer "organic" sound over a shiny, overproduced one, and that includes the performance itself.  I like bands that offer either one, sure, but my preference is the former.

BaldFriede wrote: Henry Plainview wrote: I guess maybe if you grew up with crackling vinyl you crave imperfection, but I've never thought to myself that an album sounded "sterile" because of the production. At the moment I'm primarily interested in music that is partially or wholly improvised, but there's nothing with with glittering perfection on composed rock albums. I am not talking about imperfection of sound, I am talking about imperfection of performance. Even the best classical musicians make a lot of mistakes when playing live, but that's what gives the music its soul. If all the imperfections are edited out the result becomes sterile.

I like both, but if I had to choose one, I'd definitely take the 70's sound. I really love the modern sound universum of i.e. Radiohead, but when I'm thinking of "tunes" or "songs", the less direct handling of the overall sound that epitomizes my favourite bands like Gentle Giant, Yes or PFM gets my vote everytime. My great regret is that nowadays so many prog bands sound like heavy rock bands.

Modern production encourages laziness, since lousy performances can be dropped onto ProTools and then strung together to create technically perfect Frankenstein's Monster that's not representative of how much the band actually sucks. Put them on stage and you'll see how terrible these new acts are. What's worse, modern recording, digital effects and other implements create a samey-stounding stew of sound that simply can't compare to the age where real musicians played real music and got it down on tape.

Say "NO!" to new music.

I prefer the "hook up the mics and play" method with minimum overdubs.  I feel like a lot more bands today are multi tracking, which obviously is cleaner in the mix, but it looses a lot of feel, and gets rid of the possibility of improv's and spontaneity (I mean jamming, not improvised solos).  Thats another thing worth pointing out, the majority of bands today play their songs back the exact same way as they are on the album it seems, no unique versions of songs.  (jam bands and certain other bands contradict this, but there's always exceptions.)

I don't think it really matters, I still get the same feel from both types of music flaws or no flaws.  Heck sometimes I can't even pinpoint what decade music came from.  Bowie's Space Oddity for example came out in the sixties but it seems very technologically advanced to me for its time.  I actually thought it was from the eighties when I first heard it.