Been deep diving into Production and Mixing in different eras and genres of music the past week.
Listening is its own form of practice and learning, right??
Anyways, some conclusions I have drawn---maybe a bit prematurely---is that there is not really any
one method of production/mixing that is used universally. Some of the older stuff sounds great because
there are fewer tracks and more space for each individual instrument to breathe. Some of the newer
stuff sounds congested and bloated----because of ALL the tracks used and how little space there is.
It really makes me think about how to approach production, and how many different little decisions
there are along the way that impact the result.
The 80s loved the snare and guitar. So loud and in your face.
2000s-2020s and the bass gets buried a lot in mixes. Added subharmonic bass makes up
for it. I guess.
70s had a nice balance where it seems to my ears a lot went into making each part count.
Didn't have 128 tracks, and also were not limited to 8. May have been the golden era of
production. Or I am dating myself.
Just a really interesting experience to listen to music from one era back to back from music
from another era and only think about the Production and how a track is mixed. Really
enlightening. For me.