AGCurry said:
No way. Classical and jazz recordings are made virtually the same today as they were then. No Autotune.
You bring up a good point, AG. There's a lot of great stuff from the 50's and early 60's that sound "clearer" than most of the stuff from the '70s. I always cite the Ellington and Hodges "Back to Back" album from '62 or '63, but yeah, the Miles stuff was always there too.
This is another one of those "what genre are you talking about?" subjects. AG is right, Branford Marsaillis and Diana Krall are not autotuned or aurally excited even in the 21st century. Neither are classical artists such as Itszak(sp?) Perlman, Andre Vocelli, Yo Yo Ma, or any of the three tenors. Nor are most modern blues, alt rock or alt pop folks like John Hiatt, Robert Cray or Susan Tedesci. That's because these people don't NEED it. As *even* Edan would say, those folks already have "it".
When you move into the realm of today's manufactured angst rock and pop frankenstein acts, however, you have performers that are signed more for their demographic appeal than for their actual musical talent. They often need artificial sonic enhancement to match their artificial physical enhancements. And for even what innate talent they may actually have, that's not enough for the Dr. Frankenstein producers who are looking to manufacture something completly computerized to fit their sales data charts like a glove. This is the stuff that makes it to MTV and VH1.
The reason that's done today in the pop arena is because it CAN be. It wasn't done in the '50's, '60s and '70s like it is now because auto tune/pitch correction technology wasn't there. And also because the music market was much smaller then; you didn't have everybody from the age of 12 on up walking around with MP3 players in their hands; everybody was out playing baseball or going to the Dog & Suds. Now electronic entertainment is like legal crack cocaine with everybody doing it all the time. The competition is fiercer than ever and the technological weapons for modifying the sound are more sophisticated than ever. This is the stuff with the money behind it and the stuff that therefore buys most of the airplay that you hear.
You want to get away from what you're calling "Clarity"? Start exploring the whole world of great music out there by great artists that aren't part of the top 200 singles rotation used on every Clear Channel station rotation in the country. There's a whole ocean of great music with great sounds out there that have never been near an autotuner, exciter or brick wall limiter.
G.
