by KODAJYNX » Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:07 pm
I saw this the other day, love the subject, just didn't have the time to post anything that day.
Just to add my two cents to why those recordings sound so good[mostly] is concistency [hope that's spelled right]. there are some instances where things got outta hand, like on the NUGGETS box set, alot of that stuff was recorded in someone's garage on that day's equivelant of the boom box. just set up and play, get a take that sounds good, run it down to the pressing plant.
But as far as the stuff that just sounds so good you can't not like it, from my research, and yes, I do read about this stuff. Is most of your larger name bands had one studio they worked out of, such as the Beatles, you mentioned George Martin, cj. He used the Abbey Road Studio itself as an instrument. He knew how everything, in every place in that room was going to sound. The few times the Beatles recorded elswhere, like Olympia for "baby, you're a Rich Man" or the 'Let it be" Album, mostly recorded live in a basement and on a roof top, these recordings just sonically did not live up to the standards set up at Abbey Road. Martin, didn't know the room well enough at Olympia, and Phil [the gun just went off] Spector mixed and according to Paul, totally screwed up the" Let it Be" fiasco. The point being, that if there truly was a Fifth Beatle, it wasn't Martin, or Brian, or Yoko, or any one else, it WAS the Abbey Road studio itself.
Motown had it's own studio. Every mic, Every amp, every drum was in the exact same place every time an act went in there to record, no matter who it was. And to the person that said Tape compression wasn't the answer, those engineers pushed every track as far into the red as they would go. That's why those Motown/Atlantic 45's sound so frigging loud and good.
Booker T. and the MG's were the "band" at the studio they worked [can't remember the name] they are the band on every record outta that joint, only reason we know who they were, is because somebody was smart enough to hit record one day while the band was jamming waiting for the next "big name", and the world got "Green Onions" which they tried and tried to re-record properly, but never could get it right. So a demo of a jam becomes a #1 hit.
Muscle Shoals, of course had the Swampers,which we all know thanks to Ronnie Van Zandt, of course Skynyrd played well enough, they didn't need the House band, but Al Kooper, the producer, Like Martin, knew that room inside and out.
The third Paul Revere and the raiders Album, starts a sound that stayed with them till the early 70's. Again, Mark lindsay knew that room like his own house [and anyone that laughs at me, because I love the guys, screw ya. They were America's answer to the Beatles, and were on TV almost everyday for 3 solid years, they just didn't have a George Martin to push them] If you think Reservation is the only song they had, look again.
There is so much more , but that's my opinion. as far a Mutt Lange, another genious. you mentioned DL and Shania, cj, but you left out AC-DC, until he took over the reigns starting with Highway to Hell, you have to admit, while the songs were cool on those earlier albums, the production left much to be desired
we won't even get into how Elvis, Perkins, Lewis, Cash...etc recorded those early songs with nothing but their balls and sweat and talent to back them up. If you woulda asked Sam Phillips about compression, he'd a thought you were an alien.
And as always, a good song is a good song is a good song is a good song, no matter what the production.
