Peak Production Era

[la szum]

I listen for Production a lot. Just like a live show is inseparable from the performance
of those gathered on the Stage, recorded music is inseparable from the Production
that is the packaging it is presented to us in. I believe great Production can take a
good song and make it great, just as awful Production can take a great song and
bury it in Bullshit!

It seems to me that every Era as a sort of vibe or tonality to it. How the music was recorded,
whether it was phoned in (literally!) or the guys/gals were all in the same room at the same
time recording live.

Some Eras have a lot of bleed. Some are all about pure isolation and the antiseptic capture
of not infecting the guitars with the drums and the drums with the guitars.

I have some things I like from every Era, and some I love. How about you? Thoughts on
Production methods and the Eras best fads and failures??

 

[Stone]

70's had some good productions Alan Parsons DSOTM comes to mind
80's also had some good production
But the 90's while not the best Era for me music wise had some great production

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Subjective of course but there are things I love and don't love from all eras of production.

Anyone love hearing drums in one side, guitar in the other?

The 80s had some really cheeseball production taboos that I cannot stand. A buddy coined the term "paper bag snare" and I about keeled over laughing. Gated reverb, always on Chorus pedal

But there was also a ton of development in technology from the 70s that moved the needle in terms of value of production in the 80s and a lot of it holds up today.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

As far as how quickly things advanced, the 60’s allowed a LOT of technical and creative innovation.

70’s has a ton of incredible sounding records that hold up perfectly now. I’m not sure there was the same advancement of the decades either side of it (some digital reverbs started appearing towards the end of the 70’s but are probably more associated with 80’s music).

I think something similar happened in the 80’s with digital, and more affordable analog. Indie bands could truly exist making records on a budget.

90’s has a beautiful intersection of amazingly engineered analog and some technical benefits of Pro Tools. Budgets still big, and some interesting productions.

I think there has been a lot of great sounding records made ever since, and generally things sound great. There’s tons of great sounding music being released every week across lots of genres. The issue is there is WAY more recorded music than ever before, and lots of it isn’t recorded well. There’s also somewhat of an issue with guitar based music, where it largely hasn’t advanced or changed sonically for a long time and sounds somewhat flat and predictable.

Very tough to pick a best, or favourite. Every decade has some of my favourite sounding music.

 

[HomespunEffects]

My son loves Michael Jackson so I got him Off the Wall on vinyl and we listened to it together. I think it may be one of the best produced albums I’ve ever heard. What was that 1979? I’ll go with the 70s. Some of those disco albums were crazy. Full orchestras and sweet bass lines. And anything with Bernard Edwards and Nile Rogers was tops, too.

 

[norminal]

Mid 80’s gave us Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms which, if I’m not mistaken, was the first full-digital album (DDD). As much as I love the “character” of analog/tape, that album production is benchmark material for me.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Great Sounding Shit In Every Era TM

 

[Jon Pearson]

Probably my favorite on the production front was the late 70s into the early 80s. I think of records like Joe's Garage, the first few Van Halen records, Michael Jackson's records of the era, Stevie Wonder's records in that time... The list could go on for a while. Even bands from earlier eras greatly benefited from the technological advancements and the knowledge gained from years of experimentation - bands like Floyd, ZZ Top, ACDC, they released some of their most classic material during this time and a big part of it was how much better their contemporaneous albums sounded.

Every era has its geniuses, but that slice of time from 1977-1984 set a standard that still endures.

 

[TSJMajesty]

70’s has a ton of incredible sounding records that hold up perfectly now.

I'm often amazed at how well 2 songs in particular sound, from that era:
Yes Roundabout, and,
Cliff Richard, Devil Woman

To my ears, they've always sounded really good, especially for their time. Devil Woman came on an oldies station in my truck one day, which has a great sub, and the song was noticeably better than ones from the same era.

 

[State of Epicicity]

70s

The Year of The Cat album by Al Stewart was produced by Alan Parsons, and it just is incredible for production. Just try the eponymous song.

The two songs that always top my list of great music combined with an audiophile achievement are Roundabout by Yes and Singing Winds, Crying Beasts by Santana.

Best sounding song ever? I'd throw Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder in the ring. I don't know; there's so much sonic goodness in the 70s.

I say this as a dude who lives and dies for thrash.

 

[hemmelight]

Every time I hear the "Solid State Survivor" album from YMO I'm amazed by the production and recording.
It's one of the best sounding records I can remember. Certainly the best-sounding synths I can remember on any album.
Sounds ridiculous on a good set of studio monitors. Here's a decent upload of a track as an example (ELECTRONIC MUSIC WARNING ):



It was released in 1979, but it kind of straddles the line of 70s and 80s for me in terms of production.
It's fat and warm like a lot of 70s stuff, but it's also super clean and slick like the 80s eventually became. Just awesome.
My favourite era for production is probably early 80s. The right balance of warmth and clarity.
Tons of 90s stuff sounds great of course, but I really wish the loudness wars never happened.

 

[State of Epicicity]

And even for the lesser known stuff there are unbelievable accomplishments in the 70s. I can't help but think of one of my favorite Al Stewart songs, Roads To Moscow, from the Past, Present, and Future album. Sounds better than most stuff I've ever heard, and it moves sonically into different areas.

 

[FuzzyAce]

70's was unbelievable. Then 80's.
But you can't discount 50's or 60's either.

 

[Sleezy E]

I think all era's had some great production.

It's the trends of the era that muddy the mixes waters

 

[DrewJD82]

Easily the 90’s for me.

The 70’s brought us production that really took advantage of the studio and using it like an instrument in itself (here ya go, la szum, thank you Beatles), the 80’s brought us slick production and the introduction of gear made to create that slick production, with the 90’s being a culmination of the previous 2 decades, the gear finally meeting a level of quality where everything could be hi-fi sounding.

I love shit from all eras, with probably ‘86-‘00 being my favorite period.

 

[laxu]

I'm a sucker for the 1980s gated and reverberated drum sounds. Plus Yamaha DX7 everywhere.

 

[Mooselake]

I picked the 70s, mostly because of the sheer sonic variety in the mainstream during the time, and lack of over-the-top compression for maximum loudness. I get amused when I see youngish folks on Youtube or whatever listen to albums of that era and act astonished at how good much of it sounds given how primitive and backward things were 50 years ago (in their minds). I think you could safely include the late 60s and early 80s in there too, but from the mid 80s it took some time before it felt like people got the hang of digital and learned to steer cler of too much gimmicky stuff.

Some that stand out to me off the top of my head include the Boston records, some of the mid-decade Fleetwood Mac, early Doobies and Steely Dan, the heart of Pink Floyd's catalog--list goes on and on.

 

[la szum]

Great replies/responses so far.

 

[Achilles]

70's had some good productions Alan Parsons DSOTM comes to mind

His solo album 'I Robot' is probably the best headphone album I ever heard.

 

[la szum]

My son loves Michael Jackson so I got him Off the Wall on vinyl and we listened to it together. I think it may be one of the best produced albums I’ve ever heard. What was that 1979? I’ll go with the 70s. Some of those disco albums were crazy. Full orchestras and sweet bass lines. And anything with Bernard Edwards and Nile Rogers was tops, too.

Totally! 70's era Soul and R & B was

Here's my personal fave from that era. This is timeless!