How recordings have changed over the years

Back in the 1970s, it seems like records were made very differently than today. What has changed?

[@digggerrjones7345]

"South America's uh, uh, a country I've always wanted to visit" South America is a *continent* consisting of 12 countries!!

[@MeAndTheBoys_]

Exactly. North, Central and South...AMERICAS. God damn, the level of the U.S. education really is bad.

[@SantanKGhey1234]

Think outside of the box... Paul didnt meant to say it that way...

[@drdelewded]

Next he'll want to go to the Country of Europe then Africa, then Asia and finally Australia... But we all know Australia doesn't exist..

[@trainwreck3697]

South America stole our name. Let's drop the big one, there'll be no one left to blame.

[@DJust-bv1sb]

You got it wrong too. South America isn't a continent, it's part of the American continent.

[@GaryB007]

The use of excessive compression has made a big difference too.

[@GaryB007]

@OctaveRecords00 We all know you're a scammer. Go elsewhere.

[@InsideOfMyOwnMind]

As culture has evolved so has music partly due to the technology that allowed it to happen. With the advent of home theater and the proliferation of the subwoofer with the extreme LF extension that it provides for, musicians and producers have opted to take advantage of that in their music as well as more proximity effect in vocals and more density in synths as processing power has increased. An actual musician could surely point out things I haven't mentioned but these are my observations as a listener. I believe these types of changes have contributed more to where we are with music today than have changes in the medium on which it is recorded.

[@zacharyhill8405]

I think you left out the Loudness Wars. In my opinion that has caused some of the most significant tonal changes in modern music.

[@dannyprecysroadtoforever5234]

Are those Hafler studio monitors I see in the background? If so they are pretty rare indeed.

[@telefoneification5813]

Octave recods has been operating for a while now. have there been any surprises, what people listen to and what format. it would be nice if you could open up about these things😊

[@Paulmcgowanpsaudio]

Sure. Our best selling albums so far (other than the Audiophile's Guide book set) are the two jazz pieces, Grusin's piano and Gabe Mervine's Say Somethin', followed by Zuill Bailey's Bach pieces. We've been steadily growing as a label.

[@jorgebravo7980]

Hey Paul! I’m from Peru 🇵🇪 currently living in Lima and I’ve been tons of times in Cusco (where Machu Picchu is located). So if you want any tips from a local (dinning, transportation, etc), I’m here to help! 👍🏻

[@Paulmcgowanpsaudio]

Thanks!

[@jorgebravo7980]

@@Paulmcgowanpsaudio hi Paul! My only time-sensitive suggestion is that if you want to dine in Central o Maido in Lima in March (both on the top 10 restaurants in the world) you should make a reservation as soon as possible. Have a great trip!

[@Skye_the_toller]

Having a good recording is more a challenge than the high resolution sampling! Bad recording in DSD512… still a bad recording… and more $$$

[@drdelewded]

Dunno if its really more money. Analog tape was a very expensive way to record. From the machines, to the tape, to the maintenance and downtime

[@enidsnarb]

Some of it has to do with super subtle alignment issues . The .05 millisecond gap created when converting from A to D or back ! It creates a different vibe for overdubs . Tape has none of this so the player overdubs a solo and the vibe he heard in the phones is the same when played back ! Not so with this .05 millisecond gap ! What I do is stretch the tracks way out on the screen and move the overdubbed tracks .05 milliseconds earlier and it ends up sounding more like tape ! I also believe in high resolution so 192 or higher . The bias frequency of a pro tape machine in the day was 230K !

[@matteoromenghi]

DSD256. That's all, folks!

[@marcbegine]

Revolution

[@hoobsgroove]

What's the chance of you getting Josie James recording her spectacular singer especially with Burt Bacharach pieces. Definitely an artist you want on your books Listen to her on the royal philharmonic anyone who had a heart can't get better!

[@Paulmcgowanpsaudio]

It'd be great but not likely.

[@hoobsgroove]

@@Paulmcgowanpsaudio You don't think you'll be able to put a tender for Burt Bacharach album maybe live, You don't think you get the contract?? give it a go you might surprise yourself. Depends on the rights now probably his family And I think if it's 70+ years there's no copyright on music like films

[@gracenotes5379]

Autotune vs. true vocal talent, beat timing re-quantization vs. groove, DAW plugins vs. excellent microphones, loudness wars vs. musical dynamics, earbuds vs. room-filling Hi-Fi sound. We cheapened music and were surprised to find that the resultant "product" had little value.

[@davidfromamerica1871]

How the artist talent has changed over the years. Today::🤮 192/24 cannot create a masterpiece with 🤮

[@esongsore]

There is lots of phenomenal music out there. Arguably more than olden times. It just takes a lot of digging to find it.

[@davidfromamerica1871]

@@esongsore Globally yes there are many music artists I can filter through. I like to find artists I never knew about in my old age. I discovered unique singing talent, even new genres, unique voices I never knew about, a voice that is completely new to me. Learning the background history of artists. The comments sections in KZbin is another way other people help me understand better. Especially in different languages. Wikipedia also.

[@mgbspeedy]

I’d say the biggest difference in todays sound, which is what I think the question was asking, is in dynamic range. Years ago large dynamic range was the popular way to master. Today the smallest possible dynamic range and the loudest possible master is desired.

[@SantanKGhey1234]

and Autotune f'd everything else further after Cher and T-Pain

[@drdelewded]

The difference with Cher and T-Pain is they were using Autotune as an effect and not to fix their voices

[@GuillermoCarrasco]

Hi. "South America" it is not a country, it is a continent, a sub-continent indeed. Together with Central and North America, they can be called The American Continent. Regards

[@AllboroLCD]

Proof is in the pudding! Just listen how production quality gradually peaked from the 70's to the late 90's. Somewhere in the early 00's is where we start really getting the poo poo, and unsurprisingly that was the dawn of pro-tools hitting critical mass and the inexpensive audio interface. People also blame Rick Rubin and his obsession with loudness marking the slow decent to what most recordings sound like today.

[@davidfromamerica1871]

Go back in time to the 20’s 30’s 40’s 50’s 60’s ✅ Big Band, Swing, Jazz, Blues, Singer’s. Classical Music over the Centuries. If I am in the mood once in awhile for some hearing damage, Rock and Disco..😎

[@drdelewded]

Phil Spector before Rubin was murdering music.. before murdering people.

[@AllboroLCD]

@@drdelewded Yeah? Wall O' Sound, no bueno? Back to mono a sales gimmick? I say given what he had available in his time, he made the best out of it. Then again were talking about a sociopath, a brilliant one at that but nevertheless.

[@drdelewded]

@@AllboroLCD Blaming him for squashing dynamic range with wall o sound. I tell this joke because years ago I was sitting in my audio suite (TV post sound), chatting with the VO talent I recorded daily just as Spectors arrest came up on a news feed. The VO talent was an old school rock and roll radio dj. My boss walks in, studio engineer since the early 80s and the VO talent says "Hey you hear Spector got arrested for murder?".. Without missing a beat my boss nonchalantly replies "No surprise, he's been murdering music or years".. My boss was instrumental in setting up 5.1 audio level standardization at our network and for AES. Dynamic range was very important to him. He was also a pro musician for years before getting into recording

[@Antoon55]

De "grid" killed the music. Notes are placed on the exact right place by the software. I doubt Octave is omitting the grid ..

[@drdelewded]

That's only if you are quantizing. Having been a recording engineer for 30 years now, i've never quantized anything. Granted I only work with non digital instruments, but record them digitally.

[@VideoArchiveGuy]

All popular music is quantized today. Each note is properly placed and each beat is precisely quantized. It’s what’s demanded of the marketplace today.

[@drdelewded]

@@VideoArchiveGuy Maybe in top 40 kids noise. But are we talking about that?

[@VideoArchiveGuy]

@@drdelewded No, pretty much everything - pop, country, rock. etc. kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3fEg3yNYtyNotk