Recording

Pete has a new blog post up about Recording:

Here's a quote:

What is the thesis? It is that the quality of the equipment used in the old days, and the limited scope for modification of sound, placed the focus entirely on the music itself, and of course on the sound of the room in which the recording was made. So many wonderful recording rooms have been lost in the last twenty years, all around the world. Rooms that had either been 'found' to sound good, or 'helped' to sound good, or 'designed' to sound good are now serving duty as Loft-style apartments.

I've been thinking about this a lot listening to modern rock 'n' roll recording. My big problem with it is that it all sounds so flat, like the instrument has no resonance in the air around it; just the flat sound of the instrument. "Room sound" is very important to the quality of what is known as "classic rock" and accounts for one of the important reasons why music of that era sounded so good.

My friend and fellow Who historian Joe McMichael lived in Los Angeles the day they tore down Gold Star Studio, where The Who recorded their vocals for "I Can See For Miles" and "Magic Bus". Here's Pete from 1971 on Gold Star:

The real production masterpiece in the Who/Lambert coalition was, of course, "I Can See For Miles." The version here is not the mono, which is a pity because the mono makes the stereo sound like the Carpenters. We cut the track in London at CBS studios and brought the tapes to Gold Star studios in Hollywood to mix and master them. Gold Star has the nicest sounding echo in the world. And there is just a little of that on the mono. Plus, a touch of home-made compressor in Gold Star's cutting room. I swoon when I hear the sound.

Anyway, Joe got to Gold Star just as they were demolishing it. After a quick word with the construction foreman, he was allowed to step into the studio before they brought it down. He looked around in the darkness and clapped his hands, listening to the reverberating beats that brought artists from around the world. He was the last human to hear it.