Older music on new rigs: Need education

Systems

Its important to note that I am a music child of the 80's. From 80 to 90 is still my favorite generation with lots of love for the 90's to.

As my rig continues to get more powerful and more refined, I’m finding that I very much like the less refined music of the generations earlier. I was listening to "The Who" on my rig and its so much more raw! It sounds so much better. It just feels like there music wasn’t completely altered in a studio, as if it is a raw recording of them just playing. It just sounds better on the system. Sure the newer music (especially 90's on) is louder and more clear but it now that I can jack the music up to extreme levels, it sounds so synthesized. Hell, I hate music in the 2000's because you can clearly tell in a lot of music that they will even stretch vocals out to match the keys they should be in. Its like they can take the worst singers and synthesize their voice to keys to sound right, but you can tell its been altered.
I love listening to the old “Stand by me” … It sounds awesome!
I’m gonna start going back, damn it, I lost the tons of Led Zep that I had. The sound of that raw recording of an electric guitar!


Is there any info out there as to how recordings have changed over the years? It seems like there were major changes in quality in the late 70’s and the late 80’s. For example, the BeeGee erra recordings (late 70’s) are not as clear as say the early def Leppard recordings (early 80’s) as compared to say Pearl Jam recordings in the early 90’s. There has to be some basic technology changes in formats in the studios right? Clearly as everything became digital.

That’s something I want to educate myself on.

Danny Tse

I think you have the fever and you just need "more cowbell"

The advent of computers in the studios and the increasing numbers of tracks available for recording mean that the sound can be manipulated much than Pete Townshend can ever imagined. I remember reading Toto needed three people to move sliders on a recording console to record their "IV" album. Also, by the early 80s, synths started to become more mainstream and that cheesy electronic sound started creeping into everything (think Van Halen's "Jump").

Also, I think one should for the best possible version of a recording for playback on a home system. I found that many so-called "remastered" CD don't sound good at all. Of course, there're exceptions. But newer doesn't always mean better.

hypertone

The main difference between those old recordings and new stuff is that they were recorded on analog tape (mostly), while newer stuff is recorded digitally. You can't beat those old tape machines.

Nowadays, digital plugins are the norm, but back then they used legendary analog compressors and eq's exclusively. Now they use a lot of digital models of that classic gear, and the stereo mixdowns are summed to a stereo mix digitally, instead of a classic analog console such as an SSL.

Also, they tended to pan things wider, and those old recordings are WAY more dynamic than today's recordings that have been ruined with too much compressing and limiting.

Oh and that vocal effect where they tune the vocals is called Autotune. It can make an out of tune singer in tune. Back in the old days, you actually had to sing!!

madmax

The further back you go, the better the recordings get. The late 60's/early 70's seem to be really good. 60's stuff can be rather good too but usually seems to lack in some way, usually bass. (they used a lot of acoustic bass and it "seems" light compared to todays standards. If you go back in time, go with a turntable...
madmax