Listening to old analog recordings compared to modern recordings, with exception, the modern stuff sounds horrible to me. Way too compressed/limited, midrange forward, lack of dynamics, transients cutoff/softened, fake sounding, as if it isn’t real musicians playing, real instruments, in a real room.
What do you guys and gals think?
I rarely listen to new stuff. There’s still so much old stuff to explore.
The only way I get to hear most newer stuff is via streaming with Tidal. Yeah, overall stuff sounds very compressed, but that started decades ago. Once in a while I find a new band I really like, but it’s a toss up if they have decent mastering. Maybe they are doing it themselves to cut expenses? Kids don’t seem to care. I also hate the sound of most “Remastered” content.
I pulled out my old Magnavox CBD650 player last weekend (had to fix it first) and quite a few CDs sound much better than I remembered. I’m still working on getting my vinyl rig to sound as good or better than CDs, but I’m getting closer.
“Get it like That” - The Aristocrats - On TIDAL - See if this is overly compressed to your ears . . . for my listening/mixing reference, please.
I’m listening on my PC rig - no big woofers, just an FX Audio DAC, 1980s Onkyo amp & my alt version of the Dayton 4s. I notice the bass & guitar are pretty much “leveled”, although that’s likely part of their sound. Drums seem punchy, but the kick is pretty compressed once it hits the threshold and then it’s well forward of the rest of the kit. Hard for me to compare, since I’m not a fan of most modern Jazz.
OK, now listen to “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John/Bernie Taupin and tell me about the texture of the bass guitar, please?
Concerning → “Hard for me to compare, since I’m not a fan of most modern Jazz”; this is the place that another whole paradigm of subjectivity comes into play - let’s put that aside and just listen the recording and playback on your system - forget the esoteric stuff - how does it sound?
Much thanks, Tom.
I don’t listen to much new stuff, but haven’t found many modern recordings that sound as good as some of the stuff that Glyn Johns produced in the 70s, such as Who’s Next and A Nod’s as Good as a Wink (Faces). Drums, in particular, sound just right to me on those recordings. Pretenders’ Isle of View and Nirvana Unplugged sounded great too. A big tick for Brothers in Arms and Clapton’s From the Cradle.
Of ‘newer’ stuff, Lucinda Williams’ Live at the Fillmore album is pretty decent. But I hear Smashing Pumpkins and Red Hot Chilli Peppers and my ears scream ‘stop’. Compressed, harsh treble, tinny drums, bleah.
Guy at work plays the drums for a local band. I was listening to their latest album and while their work was more than listenable, the recording totally sux. Compressed … yes, but worse than that, it has this kind of harsh edgy overlay to the entire sound that after a little bit of listening, is very fatiguing. Talked to him about their sound and the recording being so fatiguing. He never noticed and from the sound of it, neither did any of his band mates.
What kinda music, does he wear ear plugs?
What kinda music, does he wear ear plugs?
Not sure what genre, modern rock I suppose. Doubt he wears earplugs. On the bright side, I refound an old local band and have been listening to it lately, powder mill. Probably their biggest hit was meth house blues. If you listen to more of their music, it definitely has a hillbilly/bluegrass sound.
Bad recordings span all generations. The original mono recordings of The Beatles, for example, are not particularly well done. Most mastering for vinyl has limited DR due to the inherent capability of the medium.
There is a golden age of CD that began somewhere in the late 80s and disappeared by the mid 90s. They figured out how to master for CD, and then a few short years later boom! Along came the loudness wars. Loudness wars were nothing new, highly compressed music existed well before CD of course - but the capability of the medium meant it could be even louder! It became the sound everyone was looking for and to this day most pop music is mastered like shit. Too bad, some strong songwriting out there getting ruined in the studio.
That being said, there is still plenty of well-recorded and mastered modern music, just gotta keep your eyes and ears open.
Agreed, there are bad recordings from any era: the bass and drums on Beatles’ albums until Rubber Soul are pretty weak. Their early stereo mixes, with vocals on one channel and instruments on the other - unavoidably so, due to stereo being ‘new’ in pop music - are weird.
Classical CDs on Mercury ‘Living Presence’, HMV and RCA ‘Living Stereo’ from recordings made in the late 50s and 60s sound absolutely marvellous. I was able to compare the LP and CD versions of many works and always preferred the CDs, although the lack of compression on the CD version sometimes means that quiet passages can be really quiet, so I turn up the volume, and then the louder passages are too loud.
While the recording and mastering technology has improved in 60 years, I haven’t heard many modern classical recordings which sound as natural as those to my ears.
There have always been bad recordings and there have always been good recordings including recordings made today. At least with digital sources you don’t have to put up with bad pressings. I do notice how bad a lot of new music is.
Good point about pressings: many LPs pressed in Oz were of inferior quality to US and UK import copies, which were, at the time I bought LPs, only a little more expensive than the Oz pressings.
Moreover, record companies could skimp on the covers so you would only get a single cover instead of a gate-fold and/or a poster; Led Zeppelin II and Santana’s Abraxas to name but two. I had an Oz ‘Who’s Next’ LP which was thin sounding to the point of being un-listenable; when I bought the English version the difference in sound was truly amazing.
I just listened. Wow ! Yup, incredible recording quality!
I listen a lot to two stations on Sirius. Outlaw Country and Spectrum. Both play a lot of newer music, and I have a one hour commute. In my car I am generally impressed at the songwriting happening today. Sadly, when I order or download said music it is definitely a crapshoot if it sounds good in a better listening environment.
Regarding pressings, digital suffers from that as well. Remastering is common these days, and fucks up some albums that should not have been touched. Meloncollie and the Infinite Sadness is one of them. If the remastered version is your reference for SP, I can see why the aversion.
Hendrix CD remasters are a case in point, although recent releases with sound by Bernie Grundman (Cry of Love, Rainbow Bridge, Electric Ladyland) sound pretty good to my ears. I found the Joe Gastwirt Reprise remasters (aka ‘Sonic Solutions No Noise System’ discs) in the 1980s rather hard sounding and at the same time, lacked high end ‘sparkle’. As a fanatic, I bought almost all of the Hendrix CD issues, of course but many were hissy, thin sounding and had crap artwork, complete with typos (“Jimmi Hendrix”). Not to mention putting out Electric Ladyland on two CDs with sides one and four on one CD and two and three on the other! Crap sound too on that issue.
There are website discussions on various artists about ‘which remaster is best’ for Hendrix, Beatles etc which can end up being thoroughly confusing!
Sorry - traveling a lot for work this week.
I definitely like that Aristocrats track more. Tiny Dancer - bass guitar - not my cup of tea. Texture is ok I guess, but it’s a 70s Pop song mastered for LP & radio play. Seems like they avoided the low E string or played up the neck more back then. Same with kick drum. Usually tuned higher than we would these days.
. . . Which makes it sound muddy on any playback system not capable of reproducing it cleanly, IME after trying to get it clean in my mixes.
Just a listening experiment.
Thanks again Tom and happy travels.
I even listened on my Sennheiser HD600s and I think I could hear some fingers on the strings. But once I put it up on speakers (and add in my room bloom), yeah, it’s pretty thick & muddy. I know Pete Schumacher from the old TechTalk days used an Elton song as one his reference tracks. Maybe that was to balance the bass & low mids? It’s got me pondering my current voicing on my 8" 2-ways again.
