I must confess to disliking most of the 80s pop music, perhaps that is why. I am interested in the nerdy stuff, though; it brings understanding and clarity to know the how and the why.
I had never liked the band though they were quite popular and I recognized some of their songs; my husband put a different song on you tube from another band and the algorithm chose “Mind Over Matter” from the in the open series as the next song. After a few seconds we both dropped what we were doing to find out who was singing and what song it was because it was so beautiful and free. Untweaked, I like your word for it! It is absolutely fascinating to me, as you say. I am sorry you did not get your dream job, but hopefully you can indulge your love here!
I can’t recall which song came up first, but they were just sitting round a kitchen table after (or during) a meal. The drummer improvised with an food bowl and chopstick. Amazing sound. Put me in mind slightly of a vocal-heavy band called the Fleet Foxes from a few years back.
There is something I can’t like much about overdone, overproduced (to my ear) music; have you ever heard Young the Giant’s “In the open” series? It is really beautiful and for me far outweighs anything they produced in a studio.
There is real grit— blood, sweat, and tears in the stuff that sounds like it was recorded in a garage and created by humans. That’s so interesting about the sample tracks; I for one did not realize at all how common sampling is. I love that you found that track by the Chi lites, giving them the credit for its origins. I think if sampling is to be done, it should be akin to writing a report; with footnotes giving credit to where the clip(s) came from.
.....I found that band and the sessions on YT. Very beautiful and superbly recorded as well. I love the idea of going on the road to different outdoors locations. Thank you for the recommendation. And yes, live music has a magic that can't be "spoofed" in a studio with every musician going in separately and recording their own part, exclusive of the the other people, just playing to a backing track. I might do a piece on the era of the live album sometime. I still love a live album !
I’m glad you found them and enjoyed their talents! It’s really a cool project. I would enjoy your thoughts on live albums if you ever got to working them out!
Yes, I agree about over-production stifling the life out of a recording. It was a big thing in the '80s and in fact makes it easy to recognise if a record was recorded in that era, even if you are unfamiliar with the recording! And then especially in the '90s the use of recording tools like compression and equalisation are easily discernable, as they make all of the record sound equally LOUD...so that the recording doesn't seem to breathe and loses its natural dynamics. Anyway that's all a bit nerdy I guess, but it's a big subject and one which is very relevant to what you say about the sound of those "live" recordings. I will have a look as I have not heard of the artist. The thing is that you instinctively knew or felt that there was something uncomfortable about the "tweaked" recordings , possibly without knowing why (maybe). And that in itself is a fascinating thing don't you think? Working in a recording studio was my ultimate dream job number 1....or maybe equal top, with being a music journalist for New Musical Express in the 1970s. Boyhood ambitions haha ! Thanks for the comments. Appreciated. Yes....The Chi-Lites! I presume the writers eventually got a royalty, or hope so anyway.
I must confess to disliking most of the 80s pop music, perhaps that is why. I am interested in the nerdy stuff, though; it brings understanding and clarity to know the how and the why.
I had never liked the band though they were quite popular and I recognized some of their songs; my husband put a different song on you tube from another band and the algorithm chose “Mind Over Matter” from the in the open series as the next song. After a few seconds we both dropped what we were doing to find out who was singing and what song it was because it was so beautiful and free. Untweaked, I like your word for it! It is absolutely fascinating to me, as you say. I am sorry you did not get your dream job, but hopefully you can indulge your love here!
I can’t recall which song came up first, but they were just sitting round a kitchen table after (or during) a meal. The drummer improvised with an food bowl and chopstick. Amazing sound. Put me in mind slightly of a vocal-heavy band called the Fleet Foxes from a few years back.
Oh, I do know fleet foxes a little. The song you found is a good one, I am impressed at their improvisation.
There is something I can’t like much about overdone, overproduced (to my ear) music; have you ever heard Young the Giant’s “In the open” series? It is really beautiful and for me far outweighs anything they produced in a studio.
There is real grit— blood, sweat, and tears in the stuff that sounds like it was recorded in a garage and created by humans. That’s so interesting about the sample tracks; I for one did not realize at all how common sampling is. I love that you found that track by the Chi lites, giving them the credit for its origins. I think if sampling is to be done, it should be akin to writing a report; with footnotes giving credit to where the clip(s) came from.
.....I found that band and the sessions on YT. Very beautiful and superbly recorded as well. I love the idea of going on the road to different outdoors locations. Thank you for the recommendation. And yes, live music has a magic that can't be "spoofed" in a studio with every musician going in separately and recording their own part, exclusive of the the other people, just playing to a backing track. I might do a piece on the era of the live album sometime. I still love a live album !
I’m glad you found them and enjoyed their talents! It’s really a cool project. I would enjoy your thoughts on live albums if you ever got to working them out!
Yes, I agree about over-production stifling the life out of a recording. It was a big thing in the '80s and in fact makes it easy to recognise if a record was recorded in that era, even if you are unfamiliar with the recording! And then especially in the '90s the use of recording tools like compression and equalisation are easily discernable, as they make all of the record sound equally LOUD...so that the recording doesn't seem to breathe and loses its natural dynamics. Anyway that's all a bit nerdy I guess, but it's a big subject and one which is very relevant to what you say about the sound of those "live" recordings. I will have a look as I have not heard of the artist. The thing is that you instinctively knew or felt that there was something uncomfortable about the "tweaked" recordings , possibly without knowing why (maybe). And that in itself is a fascinating thing don't you think? Working in a recording studio was my ultimate dream job number 1....or maybe equal top, with being a music journalist for New Musical Express in the 1970s. Boyhood ambitions haha ! Thanks for the comments. Appreciated. Yes....The Chi-Lites! I presume the writers eventually got a royalty, or hope so anyway.