Great Recordings

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:05 am

How could anyone not have mentioned Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon...especially for it's time, it holds up SO well today. A lot of 'room' and 'space' in the sound.
I agree with Zeppelin stuff, does not sound 'dated' as so much 70's stuff does..great drum sound, of course...

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:33 am

I was going to mention DSOTM, Steve, but forgot. How about "Wish You Were Here"?

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:43 pm

All of the Floyd's albums after DSOTM were very well recorded...I think there was a quantum leap from the "early period" to the DSOTM/WYWH/Animals/Wall era.
Dark Side still sounds very warm and pleasant to me now.

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 3:53 pm

Tony, you're probably right about the digital thing, but what I would say is that when the top notch quality gear isn't available, then maybe its easier to get a warm sound going ot tape first. The best converters I've been able to use would be on a MOTU 2408 Mk3, which is 24bit and 96khz I think. I can hear a difference myself between 20 bit and 24 bit, and I can hear a large difference between tape and both of those still. I did a session where we recorded to tape and digital at the same time, and on playback, with the levels set the same on test equipment, the tape stuff was warmer...but then there wasn't anything going into the digital to warm it up either. Those Radiohead cd's probably used top gear, but they still sound a bit cold, although not as bad as Trent Reznor's stuff. It's developed into an art I guess, and like anything else, there are some engineers that are better at it than others. In the world I live in with not as much money, tape is the quickest and easiest way to get some warmth. After the tracks are on tape, then I put them into the computer and work with them from there and it seems to work quite well. Now if I can just get some more money I can finish a cd or two!

scott_s · Post by **scott_s** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 6:17 pm

Speaking of the Floyd, let's not leave out "Piper at the Gates of Dawn." The sound (to my ears) is clear and warm, with good separation. Norman Smith, the producer, had engineered several Beatles records before, so I guess it makes sense.

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 8:01 pm

The Floyd were recording that at Abbey Road at the same time the Beatles were doing Sgt. Pepper, I've read stories of them going back and forth into each other's studios while they were working. Another great one...makes me sad when I hear it though...sad that Syd's no longer "with us".

325_fan · Post by **325_fan** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 2:36 am

The Grays

tony_carey · Post by **tony_carey** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 2:45 am

Greg, even now, there are quite a lot of final mixes on 1/2" tape that are taken to Abbey Road for mastering. They are recorded digitaly & often mixed that way as well, but then some producers will copy that onto 1/2" tape at 30 ips. Sometimes, the project is mixed directly to tape. There are still some 2" tape die hards, but this is pretty rare now a days.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 8:45 am

Steely Dan, Aja album, especially Aja itself,

Stones, Get yer Ya Ya's Out, sounds like you are in the front row at Madison Square Garden.

Many late 50's, early stereo jazz albums were recorded essentially live, you can hear the room.

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 8:57 am

I've always liked the sound of the song "Take Five" (Dave Brubeck?).
Sounds like one mike in the middle of the room, very live. Sax sounds great, cymbals, bass all sound fantastic, even coming out of my tiny bedside radio, dialed into an AM station.

jaybic · Post by **jaybic** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 2:16 pm

Dave Brubeck indeed Jerry. One of my favs I usually have on in the background all the time

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 4:30 pm

Anthony, thanks for elaborating. I guess it all depends on which studio you go to, even in the big time. Out of the local studios I know, all of them use digital, but many will track the drums and bass at least to tape before going digital. Some will track them all to tape and mix in digital.

red_rob · Post by **red_rob** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 12:59 am

This is a clip of a few seconds as opposed to a whole album or era, but I've always really loved the start of the Smiths' "William it was really nothing". The way it fades in quickly and you're awoken by that amazing 12 string acoustic strumming super fast....sounds like er....a waterfall. Or something. Sorry.

tony_carey · Post by **tony_carey** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:13 am

Greg, that's a great idea, especially for drums. That is not common practise over here, but I can see the reasoning for it. For drums, I would normaly use 10 tracks (for an average 5 piece kit), but some will use 20ish, so you would need a full 2" 24 track recorder.

Tape multitracks are very expensive to maintain though & I would guess that as the machines get older, then this practise could unfortunately die out.

No need for apologies Rob, all posts are welcome & you have a good point.....

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 11:55 am

Yes, I've noticed the expense part of it in one of my friend's studios. The biggest problem is that manufacturers stop making parts for reel to reel machines that were made as recently as the late 80's. When you can't get parts to fix it, it becomes useless. It may be that they start making the stuff again at somepoint but in the meantime, you're left with no choice.