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Posted By: John on: 02/23/2010 21:36:53 EST
Subject: Sound Quality Diminished As Time Passed

Message Detail:

Sound Quality Diminished As Time Passed, by (me) John

In the mid '80's I'd listen to Bob Pantano on WOGL during his Saturday night show. He'd play songs that were popular around the Philadelphia area that I hadn't heard in ages. That alone was enough to make me seek out these fine songs on vinyl. It was a pleasure for my ears to listen to best quality obtainable - great sound quality intrigued me. Hearing first time Stereo was even more impressive.

While collecting vinyl records, I came across recordings recorded on 35mm film audio tracks. The sound quality was very impressive! This was about the early '60's. This practice didn't seem to last, maybe because people didn't want to pay a premium price for premium sound.

While collecting vinyl, I ran into a recording of "Blue Moon", by The Marcels. It was a raw non hit version and it included a bit of studio talk/chat. I went wild over it; I finally got to hear what went on in a recording studio!

I was late to jump on the CD collecting bandwagon, since initial CD sound quality was not as good as on the vinyl records I found. However, since CD began to offer alternate versions and/or demos, some with studio talk, I began to collect them. When I discovered there were bootleg CDs of Beatles songs, I had to have them. This was about the late '80's. The raw sound quality of The Beatles, directly from session tapes, was more impressive than even the late Beatle Remasters. I learned, early on, record companies were out to milk my wallet dry, offering fair, then better, then even better sound quality, and so on.

I wanted to find and collect as many alternate versions as I could, from the '50's and forward, of US Top 40 Hit songs. Doing so, it made me question why alternate versions seemed to fade about the late '60's. Something had to have changed in the way music was recorded. No longer was it common to record Take after Take wasting miles of recording tape. Tape recorders became more advanced with many tracks, that could record and play tracks simultaneously. If, for example, a guitar solo went sour, you could just record that over after sending the rest of the music group home. Faster, more efficient productions became popular so record companies could profit more or survive. The focus was lost on sound quality, what could be fabricated in a recording studio, the fastest way possible, was the new key issue.

Granted, this practice of fabricated studio sound was not always approved by some, such as Tom Dowd. Not sure if Tom's emphasis was on sound quality or he didn't want the production to drag on until each member of the group individually recorded their part of the songs on tape. Thanks to Tom and other like-minded individuals, there are some alternate versions of '70's, Pop, hit songs. Even Paul McCartney learned from his Beatles days, you could dub this and overdub that to make a song without actually having an entire group, per se' re: Wings.

Was this dubbing practice common with Country & Western music? I'm not sure, but thanks to Chris S., we found Tammy Wynette, in 1976, was recorded real-time, hence an alternate version and higher quality sound. Tammy was worth the cost of studio production time and recording tape.

Not many music group members will admit what actually happened to make that hit record in the recording studio, because it would subtract from listeners' admiration.

Best,
John


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