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  #16  
Old 11-09-2011, 11:10 PM
k.crabbe k.crabbe is offline
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Overproduced is a tough one to agree upon. For me it's a recording that sounds too "slick". Lacking warmth. Flat. A good example for me is alot of the newly remastered albums. For example, the Stevie Wonder remasters sound really clear and pristine. And sterile. I much prefer the original recordings. Also, most popular country music of the last 10-15 years. The sterile guitars, electric keyboards, cheesy violin, all (to me) sound overproduced, compressed, and lifeless. There are some artists today going back to analog recordings. They feel that analog better captures the music. I tend to agree.
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  #17  
Old 11-09-2011, 11:34 PM
flagstaffcharli flagstaffcharli is offline
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I think it's just anything that is added that really subtracts from the quality of the production. I've got no problem with complicated over-the-top production if it makes for a musical record. I love the Beatles, the Who, and Led Zeppelin. None of them were shy about using anything and everything available. There are things that stand well as solo acoustic jobs that also could be enjoyable as huge productions with orchestras or layers of synths.

I've got some solo acoustic stuff on my Imagining Dancers CD, but we've also got a tune with a sax, organ, guitars, bass, and a couple layers of percussion. A few of my folk music friends think the sax was a bit over-the-top. To each their own. I like the song with the sax, but I like it enough plain Jane that I might slap the original solo demo on a future project just for my own satisfaction.

It's just subjective. But I think there are certain things home recordists tend to be guilty of doing that are somewhat predictable. Too much reverb or too much layering of unison voices are two things that jump to mind immediately. That outer space sounding reverb is really a beginner mistake that you hear a lot.
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  #18  
Old 11-10-2011, 06:19 AM
coreybox coreybox is offline
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Originally Posted by zabdart View Post
Suddenly, all kinds of people starting adding string sections and symphony orchestras to their songs where it just wasn't appropriate, because the Beatles (and George Martin) had done it so successfully.
This is where the line is drawn for me. Putting things into songs just to have them, not because they add anything musical.
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  #19  
Old 11-10-2011, 07:16 AM
Ty Ford Ty Ford is offline
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Originally Posted by zabdart View Post
I\ I also feel that if you can't do it in front of an audience, you shouldn't try for it in the studio........
The late Sergiu Celibidache was opposed to making records for an altogether different reason. For him, music was something alive in the moment it was created. One's thoughts and approaches to a given piece of music should evolve over time with the individual. Records, therefore, are like photographs. They fix an image in a given moment of time... but may have very little to do with the individual before you now, at this moment in time.
Hmm, so, as an artist, if I hear a full band arrangement for one of my songs and record it but can't afford to pay musicians to tour with, I'm screwed?

Celibidache's idea sounds more like a rationalization for recording studio phobia, but it does allow an escape from being forced to play your "hit" just as it sounds on the record. (We should all have that dilemma.)

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Ty Ford
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  #20  
Old 11-10-2011, 07:26 AM
Ty Ford Ty Ford is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by k.crabbe View Post
Overproduced is a tough one to agree upon. For me it's a recording that sounds too "slick". Lacking warmth. Flat. A good example for me is alot of the newly remastered albums. For example, the Stevie Wonder remasters sound really clear and pristine. And sterile. I much prefer the original recordings. Also, most popular country music of the last 10-15 years. The sterile guitars, electric keyboards, cheesy violin, all (to me) sound overproduced, compressed, and lifeless. There are some artists today going back to analog recordings. They feel that analog better captures the music. I tend to agree.
I don't think analog makes any difference. Years ago while reviewing some Neumann mics, I helped to record a 23 piece orchestra. The studio used a 24 track analog Studer. I was also working on a review of a Radar HD system. I asked them to use it as well and please tell me where it was deficient. During the evaluation, they were unable to tell the Studer tracks from the Radar tracks until one of the guys noticed the "head bump" (an increase in low frequency) due to the non-linearity of the analog Studer recorder.

They subsequently bought a Radar which was very helpful for new clients who didn't want to pay for 2" multitrack tape.

Some folks use analog tape for recording things like drums because, when tweeked a certain way, the non-linearities of slamming a signal onto analog tape rounds off the tops as the tape becomes saturated by the overly hot signal.

Regards,

Ty Ford
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  #21  
Old 11-10-2011, 07:37 AM
Ty Ford Ty Ford is offline
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I think it's just anything that is added that really subtracts from the quality of the production. I've got no problem with complicated over-the-top production if it makes for a musical record. I love the Beatles, the Who, and Led Zeppelin. None of them were shy about using anything and everything available. There are things that stand well as solo acoustic jobs that also could be enjoyable as huge productions with orchestras or layers of synths.

>>Absolutley. The palette of artists at their level warrants that. OTOH, most people should be warned, "Don't try this at home", or "what you do at home, behind doors, should not be inflicted on others."

It's just subjective. But I think there are certain things home recordists tend to be guilty of doing that are somewhat predictable. Too much reverb or too much layering of unison voices are two things that jump to mind immediately. That outer space sounding reverb is really a beginner mistake that you hear a lot.

>>Yep to both. unison voice is usually a budget thing, or to TRY to cover up flaws. (Throw enough stuff on the wall and some of it is bound to stick- syndrome). The reverb is usually just a response to the dislike of their own voice or performance. There is also a "Wow, listen to THAT!" reaction that some people have to all that s p a c e!!! They get entranced by it and it gets in the way.

Regards,

Ty Ford
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