Joe Corn Mo Member since Aug 29th 2010 15139 posts
Sat Jan-18-14 06:56 PM
"songs produced between 2000-2004 sounded like they cost money. "
i am not talking about the content of the records. i mean the way the songs were engineered and produced.
i was on a nostalgia kick so i went and listened to some songs that were out when i was in college.
even minor hits from artists like sunshine anderson an blue cantrell sounded like some time and money went into making the song sound like something that would sound good coming through your speakers.
compare that to songs like "thrift shop." i'm not saying it's a bad song. but it sounds like it was engineered and mixed on an iPhone.
maybe that's a part of why folks went crazy over timbiland and the neptunes last year.
it's been a while since music has sounded that... clear.
again, this post is not about the content or quality of the songs. it's about the way the stuff was engineered and mixed. 00-04 had songs sounding like 80s pop singles.
crisp. bright.
and you could tell somebody spent some money on it.
I think that over the past 5 to 10 years, specifically in popular R&B and Hip Hop, the music has so few elements that it doesn't warrant great mixing and engineering. So much of it has been a bass heavy kick, a clap and some synth notes.
You named 2004. The biggest hit that year was Usher's "Yeah" and the track sounds dense but there are only maybe 5-10 elements in the music. It seems like many songs after that had so few elements that I don't think it really warranted any type of creative engineering.
With downloading and listening to music on laptop speakers, it seems like quality engineering mattered a lot less. Its very apparent if you listen to mixtapes from the past 10 years. Freestyles sounding shitty is understandable, but even some of the original songs sounded like shit. Demos leaking unmixed kind of made it acceptable for a while. I don't think consumers cared for a while and just enjoyed they were getting free music from big artists.
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3. "The Good life - Faith Evans (2001)" In response to Reply # 0
I love you - Faith Evans (2002) Ms. Jackson - OutKast So fresh so clean - Outkast The best of me Part 2 - Mya (Featuring Jay-Z) (2000) Soul Sista - Bilal (2001) Mama's Gun (CD) - Erykah Badu (2000) World Wide Underground (CD) - Erykah Badu (2003) Those were the days - Aaliyah (2001)
4. "the budgets are gone" In response to Reply # 0
labels make so few dollars off the sale of albums and singles that recording budgets evaporated. that means money for producers decrease... recording and mixing dollars are lower
so now even when a record is "mixed" in a big room it was usually recorded in a much cheaper room and many times a "home setup"
tape also just sounded different and the pro tools era gets ushered in early 2000s
and one other big BIG thing is mixing in the box. I think of jay z blueprint for being the beginning of the PTE (pro tools era) which was 2001 but everybody was still mixing thru boards. now labels want instant recall (couldn't do that so easily with a board with hardware comps, EQs and verbs). so now it's all in the box. digital has come along way but it still ain't like 2 inch tape mixed down to half
5. "Pro Tools has been around A LOT longer than people realize" In response to Reply # 4
hell Tribe used it on Low End Theory but you're right though, around that time was when people moved away from big ass rooms with tape running all over it
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6. "RE: songs produced between 2000-2004 sounded like they cost money. " In response to Reply # 0
Hmmm...
Well 2000-2004 they were still mixing pro tools and cutting to 2" Tape. The songs definitely have a tape sound.
I think macklemore is a bad example because that record is mixed pretty fucking good.
I'd say the rise in soft synths have changed things as well. Back in those days you'd record the sounds off the mpc and outboard gear (keyboards) into the computer through a pre amp. So even recording in gives you a better sound.
If you were to listen to all dr luke records they still do this which is why all their shit is so big.
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8. "RE: when you say 2 inch tape, do you mean like a reel to reel?" In response to Reply # 7
>how does the process work? >is it like the instruments are recorded in analogue >and then they run it through protools for the mix?
it's different things at different times
the 80s was basically all tape based recording. digital instruments like MPCs were synced via SmPtE so they could start at the same spot when the tape was played... but yes analog instruments were either plugged direct into the board or a mic (or mic) placed in front of a guitar amp or thru some preamp or direct box.
when cats did use pro tools early it was usually as some sort of processor or manipulator. cats wasn't recording vocals and beats to it...and even the protools bits would end up back on tape
it stays that way until protools becomes at first a recorder (mid late 90s) that was then many times dumped to tape (after edits etc) and mixed thru an analog board with proper outboard gear
then cats wouldn't dump to tape (tape started disappearing) but would still mix through a console....
now cats just put everything in and mix everything right in protools
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