What year in music sounds the best to you?

[popmann]

Single year is hard...but, as a range, I'm quite fond of the mid 90s. Digital actully started to sound good asa medium, but everyone was still mixing analog...and using tape for things that needed it. Before the (mastering) loudness wars really began. Synthesizers actually got really good sounding and less, well "synthy". The Hammond organ made a comeback in popular music.

Because rap/hip hop and grunge took the mainstream rock and R&B sales numbers, it left more traditional artists to go a little more left of center...bringing a bit more art back into what was traditionally "pop" music.

[Oldone]

Originally Posted by deeper

But after 1974, to my ears, sonics became deader, sterile, over-compressed. Killed by the disco era, with the overly deadened studios. Killed by the destruction of the great studios with real reverb chambers. Further killed in the 80's by the rush to digital format, with crappy converters and waaaaay too much brittle high end. I still favor the sound of tape recordings.

[vanpet]

1968

[Studio Addict]

I'm gonna cheat and say somewhere around '69 to '74.

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by u b k

Imagine if you could slather your productions with the tone and vibe of a particular 12 month period, past or present, what would it be?

I'm not even talking about how good the music was, most of us seem equally jazzed by sound as by music. I'm talking purely about the sonics that were in vogue.

What are the qualities that you find yourself admiring, or wanting?

Me, it's a tossup between 1975 and 1977, but I'm gonna go with 1977. 77 just had the fatness, the dryness, the density, and the clarity in all the right proportions.

Honorable mention to 1998, that was the last year I still heard a lot of what I would call massive but tasteful compression that wasn't totally killed by brickwalling. By 99, the limiting had pretty much taken over and crushed all the remaining transients to my ears.


Gregory Scott - ubk
.

I hear some great sounds today (I don't listen to the radio, though, except NPR -- so I'll often hear about it here, another forum or blog, or, frequently, from [not necessarily but often] young friends). I mean, there's oceans of drek, no question. But I hear some really nicely recorded stuff.

Of course, like most of us, there are a few periods that musically mean a whole lot to me. But, perhaps ironically, a couple of the periods where I was most intimately and immediately affected by the music, the mid and late 60s psychedelic/acid rock era, and the late 70s punk/no wave era/milieu, were not generally marked by stellar sound or production. (At least not on most of the music that moved me. There were exceptions, of course.)

I love the sound of some of the better pop sessions of the 50s and early 60s, your Sinatras, your Nat Coles, your Ellas. They really knew how to get a bunch of people in a studio and get a great performance out of them and onto tape. And they really knew how to make a single vocal track seem big and immediate and detailed. (Of course, if you're working with that kind of talent, you're not going to just throw the session together and toss any old mic and compressor at the vocalist. There was no close enough mentality at work when dealing with that kind of talent.)

Some of the very best sounding recordings, for sheer sonic gloss and impact, to my thinking are from the mid-70s. I'm thinking specifically of some of the Nilsson stuff. Production and recording on things like "Without Her" and a number of his other, not necessarily as well known, tracks continues to knock me for a loop. But, again, where does studio gloss leave off and a great ensemble playing really stunning arrangements begin? Let's just say things came together on some of those tracks.

Another example of a 70s stand out that's always knocked me out, sonically (and musically it was quite adventurous, as well) was the Fearless album from the little-known-in-the-US art/prog/blues band, Family, which had folks like John Wetton, Charlie Whitney, Ric Grech, and larger than life-voiced Roger Chapman. Its really a brilliant sounding record to my way of thinking.

[Soul Finger]

I love most 60's and 70's classic rock and r'n'b/soul/funk sounds, the raw sounds of early hip-hop, and even some 90's production styles well, however I have no trouble at all choosing a single fave year:

1969:

Led Zeppelin I & II

The Who - Tommy

The Kinks - Arthur

Sly - Stand!

James Brown - Say It Loud I'm Black and I'm Proud

The Band - The Band

CSN - CSN

Creedence - Bayou Country & Green River & Willy and the Poor Boys

The Stooges - The Stooges

MC5 - Kick Out The Jams

Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsies


Not to mention Abbey Road & Let It Bleed!

[blim]

10-year period? 1968-1978.

Remember, the OP wrote," I'm not even talking about how good the music was, most of us seem equally jazzed by sound as by music. I'm talking purely about the sonics that were in vogue." I don't like music from the mid- to late-70s all that much, but the sonics were great.

[Brad McGowan]

I'm going to say mid-90's and late 50's / early 60's. I should note that I'm in my early 30's. I'm just starting to discover some of the recordings from the late 50 and early 60's (especially jazz and big band stuff that others have mentioned) and I'm finding that the sonics of those recordings sound as good or better than anything else I've ever heard. I think I was listening to some Chet Baker the other day and thought to myself "wow, 50 years later and we still haven't figured out how to make a better sounding recording". And I don't even really like listening to jazz. I'm listening to Pandora right now...Ella Fitzgerald is on ("That Old Black Magic")....oh man oh man. That sound is to die for.

In general the sonics I prefer are big, clear, and real souding recordings full of dynamics....nothing overly stylized or reeking of super trendy production choices.

Brad

[Everlast]

I'd join mid 90's sonic signature altho I'm not too knowledgeable about 70's sound, but there are many examples of good, ear pleasing production from that period..suppose i have to dig more in 70's. It'd be nice if Greg UBK can point out and direct me to some concrete bands and names from that period

[Kjetil]

1979

[rectifier]

1969 for me - so many great eternal records.

[matucha]

Originally Posted by Batchainpuller78

Interesting decade of music '65-'75
Sound i'd like to get '58-'64

The stuff with Esquivel, Arthur Lyman, Martin Denny, Rudy Van Gelder recordings, BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Raymond Scott, Herbie Mann, Sinatra, well the list is long
but that late 50's early 60's has to my taste some of the best sounding recording ever.
You are in the room with the players everything is very warm, lush, thick yet crystal clear

That... and some of the bossa nova recordings of the second half of the '60.

[Waltz Mastering]

1972

Black Sabbath
Led Zeppelin IV
Neil Young "Heart Of Gold"
Derek and the Dominos, "Layla"
The Temptations, "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone"
The Rolling Stones, "Tumbling Dice"
Al Green, "Let's Stay Together"
Elvis Presley, "Burning Love"
Elton John, "Rocket Man
Mahavishnu Orchestra
George Harrison
Todd Rundgren
James Taylor
Alice Cooper
Roxy Music
Steely Dan
Pink Floyd
Jeff Beck
JLennon
Zappa
Bowie
JCash
T.Rex
Eno

and on and on......all had great records that year.

[popmann]

The fact that there are so many people picking late 60s/early 70s here is kind of telling why I rarely agree in gear discussions.

I think there was some truly magical and revolutionary material done then...BUT...sonics? Really? Jimi Hendrix records sound terrible to me. Beatles hit and miss. Zepplin...good SOUND? Did someone just mention Rod Stewart? Unless the CD translations of these completely killed them...I can't call MAggie May or Stay With Me or Castles Made of Sand or Whole Lotta Love great sonic recordings. Have you actually heard the acoustic guitar on Fire and Rain? You're gonna tell me that Taylor's own Hourglass (digital recording, I might add) doesn't slay it sonically? Sure, there are exceptions--Dark Side of the Moon has really fab sonics. Some Beatles stuff sounded very nice in a "best that era's tech could" way. Moving into the mid 70s, Rumours has a very warm embracing sound. The Eagles records really excelled, as well. Jackson Browne had moments. As did Linda Ronstadt. By the late 70s...the world had pretty well mastered the 24 track multitrack production. Certainly by the time Paghdam added SSL cleanliness in the early 80s.

...but, then, IMO, it slid backwards. Due to not to digital recordings...they weren't the majority until the early/mid 90s. Jagged Little Pill was the big tunring point for that, IMO. Sure, Nashville was an early adopter of SHIT digital tech...but, the majority of that sterile, overly effected, robotic 80s music was cut to 2" tape. Just FYI. isten to the flutter on some of those 80s new wave tunes for proof. It was the source that changed...and the manipulation after the fact. Gated verb reshaping drums. Long reverb tails on vocals. Hollowing out of guitars. The first and second and third wave of digital synths-say 83-88. I noticed as a teen that things started to improve around 89. What I was hearing was the beginnings of a revival of older production styles--intermixed with more "current" synth tech.

I think Don Was was a big part of the 90s intermingling of old and new tech for a new and better sound. Until all digital and plug ins and look ahead limiters and "digital remastering" of older works, and yes-home studios, came in to take it all back down a notch...or three.

[rectifier]

Nice post popmann, really.

[Skylar20]

90's

the sound of bands like modest mouse, built to spill, pavement etc.

non-hyped, completely natural production...beautiful

[dannygold]

I'm going to go with 1991-1992. Maybe not a popular choice, but I like a lot of records from this period. People had to some degree moved on from the 80s sound (but not to the point of it being post grunge) and were using technology in a different way... for example it was the early days of using sequencers that did midi AND audio (vision) and people were using DAT to great advantage for things like location sound gathering and multiple mixes that could then be edited together. A few records that I think are technologically groundbreaking from this era:

U2-Achtung Baby
Peter Gabriel-US
Thomas Dolby-Astronauts and Heritics
Depeche Mode-Violator

Flame suit on?

[AllAboutTone]

Originally Posted by blim

10-year period? 1968-1978.

Bingo....

[Mr. Tom]

Mid 90s?
LOL

Damn...
Oh, well

One year eh?
1968---
that would be mostly 1 inch 8 trk tapemachines...
ah, The ultimate format.

[SeanBlack]

1990

Alice in Chains- Facelift
Slayer- Seasons in the Abyss
Janes Addiction- Ritual De Lo Habitual
Pantera - Cowboys from Hell
Mother Love Bone- Apple
Public Enemy-Fear of a Black Planet

Plus things were getting started in 89 with Nine Inch Nails-Pretty Hate Machine and Soundgardens- Louder Than Love

The 90's were my Golden years for music.

[jdtrbn]

1973 would be a nice average.
I miss the dryness of the sound back then. Of course there's that it served the music well. A modern composition probably wouldn't work as well with that sound. I don't like the "wall of sound" thing that we seem to have in almost any genre these days.

Those early Herbie Hancock albums sounded great with a more polished sound too.

[roadsweeper]

1972 - 1973

Mainly because of Dark Side of the Moon, think Tubular Bells was also released that year though which sounded terrible!

Over here in Britain we had the best snare sound ever in my opinion between 72 and 73 with Lez Zeppelin and Floyd. Can't stand a lot of snare sounds these days.

[Sinewave]

!978 to 81

[CassidyGT]

1974

Dark Side of the Moon
Ziggy Stardust
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

Unreal stuff.

[Sqye]

.

1727 - JS Bach's St. Matthew Passion

next up, 1976 - Dan, Zappa, Chick, etc.

lastly, 2009 - Season 4 - Prison Break


(oh, and everything in between )

.

[reddirt]

Wasn't "what a fool believes " from 77 (78?) -whatever that was pretty damned good.
Cheers, Ross

[u b k]

Originally Posted by CassidyGT

1974

Dark Side of the Moon
Ziggy Stardust
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

Except that Dark Side of the Moon was 73, and Ziggy Stardust was 72.

But Lamb Lies Down was indeed 74. thumbsup


Gregory Scott - ubk
.

[arkmabat]

mmhmm...I love that good ol' 90's sound...backstreet boys or gin blossoms anybody? I love the experimental diversity (with real guitar amps) of the songs back then...21st century music all sounds the same to me...

[RKrizman]

1968

-r

[author]

Originally Posted by Sqye

1727 - JS Bach's St. Matthew Passion

Yeah, awesome sonics back then...