Pop recordings 1960 – 2005, good sense of acoustic

[rick57]

All too few recordings with a good sense of acoustic over the last 40 years, but odd ones that come to mind:

The Cowboys Junkies - Trinity Sessions
Forced by minimal budget, they used just one(?) in on old stone church and got a nice reverb (audiophile - -soundstage depth).

Led Zeppelin – When the Levee Breaks
T’other day I saw I magnificently appealing woman bestriding the streets in the sun. Immediately the sound of Bonham’s drumming echoing up the spacious stairwell of Headly Grange shot to mind. The oh so often replicated sound of the power of a big bass drum in a long medium space.

Neil Young– Harvest – was it tube mikes??
A beautiful golden ambience over all the somewhat diverse tracks. If rose coloured glasses looked as nice as this sounds, where do I order a pair?

What does it for you? What is the light in a dark tunnel?

 

[Nasse]

Odd but I found I could set my "experimental" surround stereo by using some cheapo Jimi Hendrix collection cd as reference, I think some tracks were from Electric Ladyland

My system was little messy, I had to choose the phase of the surround channel by ear

 

[rick57]

> "experimental" surround stereo
. . choose the phase of the surround channel by ear

Do you went to tell us more in another thread?


Here’s another:

Ramsey Lewis ‘The In Crowd’ recorded in studio, but with clapping and exclamations has the engaging feel of a black church (or a great bar). It jives!!

What takes you there?

 

[rick57]

er yes, there is more

Some mid 60s Muddy Waters eg Making Friends has nice life & depth.

Gee this thread is tough
What is it with those one eared engineers?

 

[Ropie]

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, 'Henry's Dream' has a realistic live feeling on most of the tracks.

 

[Ouroboros]

Also tapered. I believe.

 

[Ouroboros]

All too few recordings with a good sense of acoustic over the last 40 years, but odd ones that come to mind:

The Cowboys Junkies - Trinity Sessions
Forced by minimal budget, they used just one(?) in on old stone church and got a nice reverb (audiophile - -soundstage depth).


Only one mic, but it was a Calrec soundfield ambisonics one!

 

[mercator]

CSN&Y - Four Way Street - a great set of live recordings.

I also have a CD from an aussie duo - Mundy-Turner - featuring a track recorded with a womens choir in an old english church. The CD is called 'Crooked House', the track is called Refugee, very powerful.

/Dave

 

[SY]

CSN&Y - Four Way Street - a great set of live recordings.

Careful on that one. Without the studio wizardry to help unsour the harmonies, any listener with a good sense of pitch will be wincing continuously.

 

[mercator]

Sy, I guess that puts you in the (relatively large) group that doesn't think Neil Young is a great singer?

Studio wizardry aside, I really do enjoy that album.
/Dave

 

[rick57]

I have about 700 CDs but ran out of examples! One last:
Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin & Paco de Lucia : Friday Night In San Francisco.
Not pop, but re-mastered 1980 fusion.


Here’s a very interesting paper on the history of the art of recording from the 20s to now:
www.auldworks.com/bbrec1.htm
which while focussing on big bands suggests (probably correctly) that the introduction of transistor circuitry was the beginning of the end for depth in sound recording generally. Backwards progress

 

[pinkmouse]

I have about 700 CDs but ran out of examples! One last:
Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin & Paco de Lucia : Friday Night In San Francisco.
Not pop, but re-mastered 1980 fusion.

Yes, that's an excellent live recording, with a really nice ambience. If you listen carefully, you can actually hear the slapback echo from the PA coming back from the rear wall of the theatre. Oh, and the playing isn't bad either!

 

[Assesears]

Magical!

Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin & Paco de Lucia : Friday Night In San Francisco

Three great guitar players, especially the tracks Short Tales of the Black Forest and Fantasia Suite well my favorites, the opening passages of the Fantasia Suite the speed of the playing, brilliant.

I remember Channel 4 in the UK played a concert, I think around 1985 'their early days' wish I had a vcr in those days- poor student. Anybody no where you can get it.

Cheers

 

[SY]

Dave, if "whiny and off-key" equates to "great," then I suppose I could call Young "great." He's written some good songs, though. But it wasn't just him on 4-Way, the combo caused all the milk in my refrigerator to go sour.

 

[jeff mai]

the combo caused all the milk in my refrigerator to go sour.

Sy must love Robert Plant.

 

[rick57]

Are you suggesting Robert Plant sounds like Neil Young??
Maybe there’s a similar tonal balance, but what about the emotional intensity of Percy?

Anyhow, where's your recordings with a good sense of acoustic?

 

[jeff mai]

Are you suggesting Robert Plant sounds like Neil Young??

No, but he sings out of tune - often.

Anyhow, where's your recordings with a good sense of acoustic?

You said pop recordings - it's a tough ask as they're pretty much all multitracked including the live ones.

 

[rick57]

> he sings out of tune – often

Who?
NY – much of the time, or maybe he just has lots of resonant peaks that need more notch filters than any studio console can handle.
RP – name one out of tune song.

- it's a tough ask
You betcha, though I had hoped for more

 

[rick57]

From Perth, Australia (though in their day big in Belgium) The Triffids, best known for Born Sandy Devotional (1986) recorded The Pines (1987) with “Neanderthal technology” in a tin & timber woolshed.
I haven’t had the pleasure of hearing this acoustic.

 

[SY]

Of course, one can find lots of "bootleg" Grateful Dead recordings (also The Other Ones, Phil and Friends, Jerry Garcia Band...). Since these are generally made in the dedicated tapers' section rather than from a board mix with reverb, the acoustic is natural. And many were done with surprisingly good DAT/mike systems.