C
chessrock
Banned
Man, I'm just getting so sick of that whole "vocals panned dead center" thing. 
jitteringjim
Insert Custom Title Here
You know - everything gets run into the ground, that's the business I guess. I'm recalling what I can remember here...
In the 70's most drums sounded like cardboard, right? - I remember watching a dude tune his drums back then - he put a friggin wide strip of cloth across the shell & then the head on it. Sure as shit, sounded like a cardboard box. Lame.
Back then everything had to be run through a flanger or a Leslie. Even the bass. A cool effect for awhile, but enough already - it faded out after awhile. And handclaps. Damn handclaps everywhere.
The early 80's, all things synth. You might have a real one, but we're gonna use the SYNTH. Man, that shit sounds so lame today. Super fat pads behind everything... quite a few good bands went belly up because of that lame shit. ...and that godawful 80's reverb... and the drum machines, don't get me started. It was bad enough that drum machines became the shit, but then you also had to add like 100 tracks of auxillary percussion that sounded, well, like a fucking drum machine. Even the damn handclaps. I remember watching a big regional band cut tracks in the studio in the late '80s. The "producer" says.. "hey, let's try this..." breaks down the drum kit (save for the cymbals) and sets up trigger pads - we're gonna trigger the drum machine but record the cymbals. "Sounds more radio," he says. LAME. And starting in the late 80's onward towards the present: sampling. Producers dropping in samples everywhere... most of the time incoherently. That Robert Plant tune from back then... everyone all excited... Led Zep samples WooHoo... how cool! LAME!!!
Shit, I could go on here, but I'm ranting and rambling (sort of pissed at the world at this moment I think.)
My point is this: (I think) even as a home recordist I have more shit at my disposal than a lot of commercial studios once did. Effects, editing capabilities, a world of shit to work with - all you need to do is listen to the radio to realize what's cliche.
(except for the telephone voice thing - I used it in one tune with a reverse reverb - had several women tell me it caused them spontaneous orgasms - I'm keepin' it.)
In the 70's most drums sounded like cardboard, right? - I remember watching a dude tune his drums back then - he put a friggin wide strip of cloth across the shell & then the head on it. Sure as shit, sounded like a cardboard box. Lame.
Back then everything had to be run through a flanger or a Leslie. Even the bass. A cool effect for awhile, but enough already - it faded out after awhile. And handclaps. Damn handclaps everywhere.
The early 80's, all things synth. You might have a real one, but we're gonna use the SYNTH. Man, that shit sounds so lame today. Super fat pads behind everything... quite a few good bands went belly up because of that lame shit. ...and that godawful 80's reverb... and the drum machines, don't get me started. It was bad enough that drum machines became the shit, but then you also had to add like 100 tracks of auxillary percussion that sounded, well, like a fucking drum machine. Even the damn handclaps. I remember watching a big regional band cut tracks in the studio in the late '80s. The "producer" says.. "hey, let's try this..." breaks down the drum kit (save for the cymbals) and sets up trigger pads - we're gonna trigger the drum machine but record the cymbals. "Sounds more radio," he says. LAME. And starting in the late 80's onward towards the present: sampling. Producers dropping in samples everywhere... most of the time incoherently. That Robert Plant tune from back then... everyone all excited... Led Zep samples WooHoo... how cool! LAME!!!
Shit, I could go on here, but I'm ranting and rambling (sort of pissed at the world at this moment I think.)
My point is this: (I think) even as a home recordist I have more shit at my disposal than a lot of commercial studios once did. Effects, editing capabilities, a world of shit to work with - all you need to do is listen to the radio to realize what's cliche.
(except for the telephone voice thing - I used it in one tune with a reverse reverb - had several women tell me it caused them spontaneous orgasms - I'm keepin' it.)
crawdad
Dammit, Jim, Shut Up!
I'm tired of the REALLY REALLY HUGE BIGGER THAN GOD drum sound all the freaking time. Even country records have it for gosh sakes! Why? (because we can!) I like the sound of a real kit in a great room played by a talented drummer so much more. Oh yeah--I hated that gated drum thing too!
I'm really sick of records full of digital tricks to get weird sounds that could never be duplicated again. Once in a while, its cool, but are you a band or are you a knob twiddler? (U2)
Every once in a while, I throw on the oldies station just to hear those old 4-track records. I love the sounds on some of those. The engineers had less to work with but found ways to make the performances even more magical. These days, I feel like a lot of the human-ness is edited out in favor of perfection. I guess we are listening through music filtered through newer technology is the only real difference.
Despite it all, I am feeling good for two reasons. First, there is some damn good music coming out these days--at least here and there. Second, the whole trying to sing higher than Robert Plant school of vocals has left the building. I thank God for that!
I'm really sick of records full of digital tricks to get weird sounds that could never be duplicated again. Once in a while, its cool, but are you a band or are you a knob twiddler? (U2)
Every once in a while, I throw on the oldies station just to hear those old 4-track records. I love the sounds on some of those. The engineers had less to work with but found ways to make the performances even more magical. These days, I feel like a lot of the human-ness is edited out in favor of perfection. I guess we are listening through music filtered through newer technology is the only real difference.
Despite it all, I am feeling good for two reasons. First, there is some damn good music coming out these days--at least here and there. Second, the whole trying to sing higher than Robert Plant school of vocals has left the building. I thank God for that!
J
JuSumPilgrim
New member
Maybe one day soon rock will evolve beyond 3 chords.
Maybe one day soon rock will evolve beyond beats that have the snare on 2 and 4.
Maybe one day soon rock will grow beyond the sing-verse-scream-chorus formula.
I think those are worse than the telephone filter, autotune, and all the bad reverbs of the 80s.
....and heres to rap/rock being dead by next fall. (6 years late). Please God.
Maybe one day soon rock will evolve beyond beats that have the snare on 2 and 4.
Maybe one day soon rock will grow beyond the sing-verse-scream-chorus formula.
I think those are worse than the telephone filter, autotune, and all the bad reverbs of the 80s.
....and heres to rap/rock being dead by next fall. (6 years late). Please God.
P
P Hallin
New member
Flanging, and phasing for that matter are seldom good effect to use. Too electronic. (shudder...)
elevate
New member
Tool.
Blue Bear Sound
New member
flapo1
New member
Yes, Camel, ELP
J
JuSumPilgrim
New member
elevate said:
Theyre the exception, not the rule.
Though their last album was more redundant of aenima than most are willing to admit. Once you know maynards style of singing and songwriting there arent too many surprises.
esactun
New member
JuSumPilgrim said:....and heres to rap/rock being dead by next fall. (6 years late). Please God.
I once did a lousy, cheesy, satirical rap/rock song called "Blista on My Trigga Finga." All about poppin' caps and smokin' crank. At the time ('97) I though the trend was dying... no such luck!!
It CAN be done real well though-- I dig the old Powerman 5000 stuff. More funk than rap though.
As far as Tool goes, I still like "Opiate", but I could never take in any of their other records in one sitting. There's something seriously pretentious and annoying about them, IMHO.
elevate
New member
Danny Carey.
Whoopysnorp
New member
Pretty soon, I bet 'lo-fi' will be a cliche and everybody will be sick of it. Some people are already.
Lame Thrower
New member
Why are Tool fans always so freakin' fanatical? I like them, but it's not revolutionary.
They play in odd time signatures, it's really not all that impressive. I personally think that they peaked on Undertow, and are just milking it now.
They play in odd time signatures, it's really not all that impressive. I personally think that they peaked on Undertow, and are just milking it now.
elevate
New member
You can think that. I think you need to go to a Tool concert and see for yourself. Before I saw Tool on the last leg of their Lateralus tour I thought nobody would be able to surpass a Pink Floyd show in terms of atmosphere and sensory overload. If you don't think seeing Danny Carey play is impressive, you must be pretty jaded.
Upon reflection, I think certain music speaks to certain people and other people can't really relate to it. You may think some other music is incredibly awesome and inventive, while I may think it blows goats because I can't relate to it. As long as you can find something inspiring it's all good.
S
Shockadelica
New member
Re: Overdone FX
Death to Sonny....oh, wait.
Sonic Valley said:
Death to Sonny....oh, wait.
S
SalJustSal
New member
Overcompression is my biggest pet peve and very cliche. Everyone's squashing the life out of their music. A lot of times the only reason for this is to make their music louder, which brings about another cliche', the "Loud Wars". Let's try to make our album louder than all the others.
-Sal
-Sal
J
John Byrne
New member
Autotune? - is that what some people (including me) call vocoder?
Thanks for helping an old fart with new terminology
Thanks for helping an old fart with new terminology
Blue Bear Sound
New member
Autotune refers to the Antares Autotune s/w or h/w that does an excellent job of changing vocal tuning/pitch without artifacts (generally)... kind of an advanced pitch-shifter........John Byrne said:
When used to the extreme you can get a "snap-to-scale", stepped vocal effect that is currently "high-fashion" in dance tracks... it's overused and horrible............
Bruce
BrettB
Well-known member
Over here there is a cover ofMadonna's Like A Prayer on ther adio by some Dutch chick. Completely awful! Man you can hear the autotune for miles. And the worst thing is: it isn't even used as that effect thing. It's like the producers thought: the audience is dumb anyway, they won't hear it anyway.
Well, I hear it!
Well, I hear it!
Track Rat
Just Your Average Sized Member
Same in Nashville. It's permanently wired across the vocal buss.