Hey Bob,
I'm definitely NOT saying modern equipment is more musical or more
truthful. However, it is quieter, which is one of the points I was
trying to make. I can't stand most modern recordings. I worship at
the alter of Decca and Mercury. One thing that is an absolute truth is
that some microphone techniques are stupid to the point of moronic
imbecility. No concert goer, anywhere, is going to here a French Horn
from two feet behind the bell. I've seen jackass recording engineers
put their microphones behind the Horns, pointed at the bell. The things
don't sound like Horns when they're recorded that way.
Brass players are successful arrangers because they use more brass
instruments. Brass is more "awesome" than the other instruments. When
you add all the various mutes to your tonal arsenal, a full brass
section can produce whisper soft sounds all the way up to something like
a freight train running over a jumbo jet.
Phillip
Bob Olhsson wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> >From phillip holmes: "...One thing that the couple could be talking about is
> the marked
> improvement in background noise levels since the '60s. From the
> microphones, to the cables, to boards and electronics, everything is
> much quieter than in the '60s. They might be comparing
> multi-microphoned Columbia recordings from the '60s to something similar
> from the '90s..."
>
> It's highly debatable that microphones, cables, boards or electronics have
> actually improved, especially since the 1960s when I began my career.
> They've only gotten cheaper and in too many cases both worse sounding and
> worse measuring once we learned what it was we needed to measure.
>
> The point is that they believed using multiple mikes made what they felt was
> an improvement in the final product and I can't imagine that this matter
> wasn't a subject of discussion among most recording musicians at the time.
> Musicians typically listen for being able to hear all the parts and for
> perfect time and intonation. The challenge is that 90% of what each of us
> hears are details that have been filled in by our imagination unless we are
> very careful. Fixing all three at the expense of emotional communication
> and/or the ability for an ordinary listener to suspend their disbelief is
> the very essence of overproduction. Producers who are fans tend to make that
> mistake a lot less in my experience than producers who have been
> professional musicians.
>
> Among musicians, brass players have frequently been the most successful
> arrangers and producers. Some of us speculate this may be because they were
> brought up counting rests in orchestra. Just for the record, I got through a
> year of violin in college before dropping out to accept my job at Motown.
>
>
> Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN
> Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
> Over 40 years making people sound better than they ever imagined!
> 615.385.8051 http://www.hyperback.com
>
>
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