How to make record albums

Why do you think all the obsession with the low end powered subs? To try to fill in the holes.

Boy, I could not agree with you more. So true and a great way of putting it.

Astralography: Nice post. I am a bit older than you, so have seen the evolution a bit longer. Put simply, recording live performances and making the result as convincing as possible was replaced (for economic reasons) by the recording culture that you describe. The technology (LP records) that allowed the mass production of high quality recordings rapidly evolved into the mass production of a substitute for a live musical event. Popular groups were created in the studio and road show performances were conjured up to replicate the recordings - a complete reversal of the definition of recording. The record BECAME the creative event.The Beatles completed the process, and this order of things seems "normal" today.
I respectfully disagree that digital sampling is at fault. The computer processing of the digital signal is the problem. A simple, unprocessed digital signal sounds as good as a similar analog signal. In fact, few people can hear any difference when an a/d converter is switched in and out of a line, but they can easily hear the difference when it is recorded to a hard drive and the retrieved.

Astralography: very well said. thank you.

If you do give validity to the multitracking culture of the 1960's, you still had bands that felt a responsibility to reproduce those recordings as faithfully as possible. Not all the bands did this of course, but some made very concentrated efforts to do so. The British Progressive or Art Rock bands seemed to take this seriously, probably to their detriment. Some of this music was very complex, and difficult to perform, and there were some serious musicians who prioritized their execution over the spectacle of visceral showmanship. Others combined both of course. However, this led to a rebellion from the counter culture creating the Punk Rock movement, and on the other side of the coin you had the invention of fake bands and experiments in marketing empty talent shells, lip syncing and so forth.

Anyone who was around in the days before digital work stations and even better, drum machines, knows that DRUMS on any kind of rock or fusion record are the most difficult things to record. Not only are many drummers not proficient, but their kits are not tuned or miked properly. Once the cold starkness wore on peoples ears, real drums were then sampled using midi technology, or triggers, and now programs that read the sound file, and replace the peaks with samples of well recorded kick and snare drums. Other programs quantitize the kick and snare hits or even the hats or ride cymbals to the nearest 8th note, or quarter note which really sounds contrived. Can you really buy an honest recording these days?

The point is.. the entire stream of consciousness has moved in this direction, from public listener.. to band... to record company and promoters. Bands now take this onto the stage with loads of technology masking their inabilities to perform.. in fact if you don't do this.. you are not likely to get very far.

At this point, the public ear has been programed to believe that real sounds bad..that excessive compression is a good thing, bass rules, and music is better played through ear pods than tube amps and large properly designed speakers.

No label is going to invest in proper recordings to "a market" that is about as big as this chat forum.

I did work with tape machines early on, just long enough to know how bad things are now. But what are we really going to do?

You could make the greatest record of all time and it could easily go completely unnoticed.

The industry is so dead and stagnating artistically.. I mean there are still singers sounding like Eddie Veder 20 years later thinking that's cool, and getting signed.. look at American Idol... that's the biggest thing in the country, and it is simply a karaoke contest.

Everything is about smoke and mirrors.. and moving further and further from the truth... or a real natural truth.

Not sure what would have to happen to turn the ship around.. but I don't see it happening. I am just thankful I have a mountain of clean vinyls and a nice restored vintage tube amp, and a wall of speakers that make listening to music a proper experience.

I think bands putting stuff out on vinyl these days is simply silly... as they are just pressing their CD onto black plastic... makes no sense other than somehow marketing "cool".

Anyone who invests in a studio, and can press to Vinyl correctly.. do let me know..

I remember George Martin saying in an interview that even when he was producing the first Beatles albums,they were designed really only to sound good through the popular players of the time.That is a 3 in 1 console with speakers only 3 feet apart.He also admitted that he was only learning in public with doing stereo mixes of these records.It probably means you are correct to say that most people have no idea of what is natural or even good for that matter given the influence of the Beatles sound even today and how it is held up in such an iconic way as being the benchmark.Ten years before Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf were making great records that to my ears at least match the Beatles'.