Quote:
Originally Posted by Driving Wheel
Not a big fan of the little, squashed compression sound. It's lifeless; even in the hands of the best players, it really seems sterile.
|
At the time, the Rockman was revolutionary. People could play guitar without an amp, whether it was plugging into a live console, an SSL or a pair of headphones. The sound of the Rockman inspired musicians, composers and producers to create music that had previously not existed.
And
Hysteria is one of the most respected albums ever made to this day. Its sound is extremely unique. The production values are amazing. While that sound isn't for every artist and every band, it works for those songs and that band.
That's all that matters.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Driving Wheel
Part of the way an instrument sounds is dependent on the room it's played in. Take away the room, and it takes away from the overall sound and ambiance.
|
That's really not true. An overwhelming number of albums have been recorded with amps recorded in amp closets or surrounded by Gobo's to deaden the room sound. In the 70's, guys taped terry cloth towels to their drum heads to deaden them, an enormous number of bass guitar tracks were recorded direct into the console and not through an amp and guitars have been recorded direct forever.
Listen to most 70's rock records and you're hearing damped drums, DI'd bass and guitar amps covered with Gobo's and in some cases, blankets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Driving Wheel
Like, to me, Hysteria wouldn't sound as dated if they had broken out the Marshalls and cranked it up. Of course, that's not Mutt Lange's style - the only band he did that with was AC/DC (no accident that those are the Best records of his career).
|
It's not "dated" at all. It was innovative. If he had recorded Hysteria with Marshalls, live drums, etc. instead of Rockman's, Linn and Oberheim drum machines while recording each vocal take into a Synclavier, I seriously doubt that the record would have long standing impact today.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Driving Wheel
That's why I don't like Foreigner - I LOVE Mick Jones and Ian McDonald; can't stand the records, the sterility of them. rock and roll is an inherently imperfect art form - it should never BE perfect; that 'perfection' washes away the very mojo that makes it beautiful, ya know??
|
I disagree. That's like saying that orchestral musicians should not play their instruments perfectly, that it somehow takes away from the music or the art to use world class musicians for film scores and orchestral and chamber music.
There's a difference between a "raw" performance and imperfection. Imperfection occurs when the players aren't top notch or world class. I can guarantee you that you're not walking into a session, whether it be a 70's police show or The Family Guy if you're not a world class musician that's incapable of making mistakes.
Capturing the rawness of a band is completely different, although that was as rare in 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's as it is today.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Driving Wheel
It's like, we got away from that BS in the 90's and now it's cycled back, only now everything is through cakewalk/protools plugins and bands 'run tracks' live.
|
At the end of the day, the job is to entertain the audience. That's all that matters.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Driving Wheel
So you KNOW what I'm talking about, and WHY I don't like that music. I'm not being a dick; it's a tanglible thing. All those songs are ran through the same box, and plugged right into the board. That's why they literally all sound the same, exactly.
|
You don't have to like it. But you should appreciate the effort and appreciate the beauty of what they accomplished as a band and what Mutt Lange accomplished as a producer.
Much like what Terry Manning achieved with
Eliminator, it's a very unique sound and unique record.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Driving Wheel
Amplifiers hum, that's how rock and roll sounds when you turn it up, ya know?? and the same amp with the same guitar on the same settings in the same room will sound different from day-to-day, just because the air is different, and then any recording you make will be different...it results in a different snapshot of that day.
|
Well, I have to disagree with this. If you have properly maintained guitars and amps, there shouldn't be any variance in recorded sound from day to day. That's the job of the amp and guitar tech and if it doesn't happen, they're fired.
If you want different sounds every day, have 20 or more guitars, basses, amps and drums on hand.