Metropoulos Forum

All these old bootlegs of VH, the live club recordings, why do they sound so much better than anything out today with the latest phones or recording devices?

Even this Stormer recording sounds great, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh41XIH ... e=youtu.be

Everything is clear, the mix is well done between the instruments, vocals, backing vocals.

Was it the recording devices were so crappy they actually filtered out a ton of noise and crap?
Did bands have a better ear for their live sound or the club sound guy knew what he was doing?
These days, or for awhile now, you can't hear a live unprofessional recording where the bass and cymbals aren't killing everything.

I don't get it.

Edit: I have one of these http://www.reuter822.com/2009/h2zoom.jpeg and while it's better than a phone it doesn't blow me away, like wow we sound good!

I'm guessing: no computers. I don't know if it's the digital thing or the fact that now engineers and producers can fill up every frequency, but there's no space in recorded music anymore...and it may be a lost art. Bummer.

fivecoyote wrote:I'm guessing: no computers. I don't know if it's the digital thing or the fact that now engineers and producers can fill up every frequency, but there's no space in recorded music anymore...and it may be a lost art. Bummer.

That's true but I'm talking about the club recordings, I take it they weren't professionally done?

The properties of tape? Anyone?

IIRC or someone may know; In a 5150 Studios video interview, Ed points to the massive tape collection sitting on the shelves and says that he has to bake them / put them in the oven. I think to preserve the adhesive...

JimiJames wrote:IIRC or someone may know; In a 5150 Studios video interview, Ed points to the massive tape collection sitting on the shelves and says that he has to bake them / put them in the oven. I think to preserve the adhesive...

You generally bake old tape that is shedding for example (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky-shed_syndrome) , usually to transfer material off of the old format to either newer tape or digital etc..

Modern recordings are done with Telephones, right? A cell phone mic is optimised for speech, no bass at all, huge peaks around 3kHz and 5Khz for clarity. Tons of limiting built in. No real treble (which lacks on many old recordings, too).

Dave Wronski's Eros Bogarts recordings (and many other vintage bootlegs used either cheap recording mics (designed for music) and reel to reel in most cases. Not great gear, but forgiving and warm, richer, softer.