Mel
Joined: Feb 25, 2008
Posts: 321
Canada's Wet Coast
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Posted on Sep 27 2008 05:17 PM
estreet
Mel
Most basses are DI'd in a lot of the studios, and a good engineer can work wonders recording a guitar amp. I think the hardest thing to record is the drums. Probably why they make isolation booths...:-)
Most of us DI the bass at least 50% of the time and I'm not saying there aren't studios that have no good acoustic qualities, or that those can't produce results. - the point is that any great recordings you make in those you could have probably done at home - but there's a whole other type of recording that you can't.
Right, hard to fit an orchestra in an iso booth...:-)
Last night I was at a Beach Boy concert. I wish I'd had my decimeter with me because it was loud. I'm guessing 105-112 db and I'd be 75 or 80 feet back from the stage. The vocals were spot on and the only thing that detracted from the performance was that the band was too loud and tended to wash out the vocals.
The drummer was behind a plex booth, I seen one Hot Rod Deville and two twin reverbs. DI boxes running everywhere. Bassist was using a Danelectro bass with some sort of octaver but no bass amp to be seen. Couple of Korg keyboards. One guitarist was using an Ibanez the other pretty much did the whole show with a Fender VG Strat.
The PA system was faithfully trying to handle it all and almost making it. When they played a quiet song it sounded great. The rest of the time it was a good thing I knew the words.
But then I didn't go to enjoy the sound, if that was the case, I'd have bought the CD at the door, went home and played it on my stereo system. We went to dance (after all, people did at one time go to actually dance to surf music to) and have a good time. Which we did, even with the musicians doing their best to win the volume war..:-)
— Mel
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estreet
Joined: Mar 17, 2007
Posts: 839
United Kingdom
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Posted on Sep 27 2008 07:04 PM
I am constanly amazed that with all the advances in technology, your odds on enjoying a good live sound at a concert seem to be no better than they were when I started going to them about 35 years ago.
— http://www.myspace.com/thepashuns
Youth and enthusiasm are no match for age and treachery.
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Kawentzmann
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 1058
Berlin, Germany
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Posted on Sep 27 2008 07:50 PM
Venues dont see the need to pay for state of the art PAs. In Switzerland I have heard good live sound. I wouldnt mind a tube driven live sound once in a while, though.
The sound of a place is as important as the drinks. Maybe more so!
— The Exotic Guitar of Kahuna Kawentzmann
You can get the boy out of the Keynes era, but you can’t get the Keynes era out of the boy.
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Mel
Joined: Feb 25, 2008
Posts: 321
Canada's Wet Coast
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Posted on Sep 27 2008 10:18 PM
estreet
I am constanly amazed that with all the advances in technology, your odds on enjoying a good live sound at a concert seem to be no better than they were when I started going to them about 35 years ago.
Now that sentiment I am in complete agreement with! Of all the concerts I have been to, exactly one sounded fantastic. Why, I have no idea, maybe a good sound man...:-)
— Mel
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DeadRanchHands
Joined: Apr 15, 2008
Posts: 1281
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Posted on Dec 11 2008 01:13 PM
If the record companies insist on releasing crappy, over-compressed mixes, they could at least offer alternative mixes using mixing/mastering designed for people who like music. They could easily master the stuff using good taste and discernment, make a copy of that, and then run the master through the trash compactor for mass consumption.
— http://www.reverbnation.com/thedeadranchhands
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZEW74mHjQk
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Jagshark
Joined: Nov 05, 2008
Posts: 745
Colorado, home of The Astronauts
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Posted on Dec 11 2008 03:17 PM
Vinyl is the way to go to avoid the digital compression madness. 
Actually, T-Bone Burnett has a very cool system that allows great mastering on digital which utilizes dvd technology.
Here's a blog link about it:
http://www.audiojunkies.com/blog/1476/tbone-burnetts-code-john-mellencamp
— (defunct) Thee Jaguar Sharks
Plus! Other stuff not surf: https://soundcloud.com/jamesmileshq
Enjoy every minute
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SURFmole
Joined: Nov 22, 2007
Posts: 901
Portland, OR
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Posted on Dec 11 2008 04:37 PM
JakeDobner
MTV isn't to blame for the volume wars. Radio is. People compress the tracks to make them louder so they will stick out on radio. MTV is to blame for ridiculous over the top productions and fashions.
Ummm...wrong!
Radio has nothing to do with the volume wars; radio stations have been compressing tracks for years and the volume wars weren't happening in the 70's. Besides...their compression is done post mastering on playback and this thread is talking about squashing it during the mastering process.
What do you think, that the record companies started doing pre-compression to save the radio stations the trouble? 
The record companies, artists, and consumers are to blame for the loudness wars. A few years back consumers started noticing that some CDs were louder than others which equated to better sound in their minds (louder=better). The artists and record companies followed the trend (nobody wants to be out-done) and the war started.
— www.apollo4.com
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JakeDobner
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 12159
Seattle
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Posted on Dec 11 2008 06:05 PM
SURFmole
JakeDobner
MTV isn't to blame for the volume wars. Radio is. People compress the tracks to make them louder so they will stick out on radio. MTV is to blame for ridiculous over the top productions and fashions.
Ummm...wrong!
Radio has nothing to do with the volume wars; radio stations have been compressing tracks for years and the volume wars weren't happening in the 70's. Besides...their compression is done post mastering on playback and this thread is talking about squashing it during the mastering process.
What do you think, that the record companies started doing pre-compression to save the radio stations the trouble?
The record companies, artists, and consumers are to blame for the loudness wars. A few years back consumers started noticing that some CDs were louder than others which equated to better sound in their minds (louder=better). The artists and record companies followed the trend (nobody wants to be out-done) and the war started.
That is kind of what I meant. Only I used Radio as the forum for which they noticed that tracks were getting louder.
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