I have an old 1914 book  on criticism that has it as one of the major failings that we seem to lack the ability to actually think through what either our contemporaries are doing or even current generations are doing..it only comes through time....

Yes, vis a vis recording, theres a laws of physics aspect to it all; microphones got as good as they were going to get a good half a century ago. Acoustically neutral space to make music in was well understood a century before that. To some extent, recording is the one area of our field that you could call "finished". MIXING is another area, one in which there is still much to play for, IMO. 

timidi


It seems technical advances in recording techniques have matched the degradation of talent conversely.
Wonder if they're related.

I don't know about that. Every week I get a handful of self promoting Youtubers in their teens friending me and asking me to check out their songs. I only friend people who make comments on my videos but I do check out some of their stuff and a lot of it is jaw-droppingly good. This is a great time to be a musician and there are a lot of extremely talented young people taking advantage of that. We may not see them on American Karaoke Idol or that show's clones, but they are out there.

+1 to that Chappel I am teaching sound engineering to the younger gen right now and we in a phase at the moment where they have to compose their own music tracks. Many have done absolutely killer tracks, artistically wise but also mega production wise. One guy played me a track he did in Ableton and it sounded incredible. I found myself asking him how he got certain sounds and what things he used. As a teacher I am always on the hunt for information and students are one great resource for that. One can learn a lot from them.

I have come from all that early analog right through to digital and I am certainly happier now with the quality of production that is now possible. No noise or hiss, no disortion really and no wow or flutter either, no generation loss when transferring or copying, not bad! (I have wasted many hours with Dolby setups and removing unwanted tape hiss.) I love the way all the early analog sound can be modeled so well now too. It is interesting how the younger gen can adapt and learn it all so well. Like they have never used an analog mixer really yet we can teach them how to do a complex analog mix signal flow all in the virtual world  and they get it and end up doing it themselves. We are getting into digital earlier on in the process now and can stay there if you wish.

I can't believe how powerful things have become in terms of removing unwanted noise or reducing the amount of reverb in a stereo or mono recording or removing something and isolating it from a mix. Many processes have remained very similar but others have seriously advanced for the better.

Overcompressed pop is only one small part. There are many digital beautifully mixed and mastered albums out there from many genres that now put many previous recordings to shame. Jazz sounds better now than it ever did before. Amazing articulate, detailed, dynamic recordings are going on in that world. Modern engineered Classical music sounds cool too up loud! It's like being there and from an old hi fi enthusiasts point of view that is one ultimate compliment.

Great observations Jeff.  It takes much less time and money to make great recordings which I believe lets the musician spend more time on artistry and less on technical aspects.

Another big thing for me is the quality and availability of Virtual instruments.  This has had a huge impact on the efficiency, quality and expense of making great recordings.

For example, Superior Drummer 2 has captured the sounds of drums that were recorded in ideal recording environments.  This enables one to employ great drum sounds without having to mic up a kit, which may take several hours in a properly treated room.  Trilian for bass is very realistic too.  The virtual world lets me create alternate arrangements, change tempos, etc., which lessens the need to re-record real instruments if I want to experiment.  The result is better arrangements and compositions in much less time than before. 

When one thinks of the time and money spent going through all the hardware needed to run a properly outfitted studio and the maintenance of same..and the idea that one could do a lot of this ITB now... 


To me, it is surprising how little actual energy it takes to run a DAW such as what we are now capable of using vs what we needed 40 years ago. The energy savings are something to behold...

Though I  agree with  both Guitartrek and Trimph1 about the great virtual instruments and the ability to have a incredible studio for a lot less of the dollars it took 40 years ago, I still think that those 2 items actually seperate the small home studio from the big boys.  I think one of the major areas that we lack in the home studio is still the great selection of quality mics and a great tracking environment.  Too me, 3/4 of the battle is in tracking.

All of the virtual drums have become incredibly great sounding programs that can almost replace the real thing to the average listener.  However, nothing still captures realistic drums like a real drummer.  Its a little to me like the virtual guitar programs, they are getting really good, but they don't have the touch and feel of the real thing.

That is just it though.

I'm just thinking that while there are great improvements in that area a lot of the real instruments bring something else to the plate....my problem is that I do not have a lot of space to work with....AAARRRAAAAGGGH!!!

MakeShift

All of the virtual drums have become incredibly great sounding programs that can almost replace the real thing to the average listener.  However, nothing still captures realistic drums like a real drummer.  Its a little to me like the virtual guitar programs, they are getting really good, but they don't have the touch and feel of the real thing.

I agree.  However, if you are a drummer or have a good feel for drum parts you can be pretty darn convincing to not just the average listener, and not just other musicians, but Drummers!  You can trigger Superior or BFD with an E kit and produce a virtual drum track that could fool anyone.  An E kit takes up just a small amount of space and no mics are necessary.  One of my old drummers, who is a fabulous drummer, plays out with VDrums and his performances are absolutely amazing.  And every hit can be turned into midi data on a track - in fact he also has sonar and that's what he does. 
 
So yes - if you don't know how to put together a drum track, you can get killer sounds, but crappy feel.  It's all about who is putting the parts together.
 
I do agree wholehartedly with the virtual guitars.  Basic Bass parts are a little easier to deal with in a virtual instrument, but guitars get a lot more complex in a hurry.  I haven't been impressed yet with virtual guitars.  Real Saxaphones are also hard to virtualize.  The instruments that have a lot of dimensions to them are difficult.

MakeShift


Though I  agree with  both Guitartrek and Trimph1 about the great virtual instruments and the ability to have a incredible studio for a lot less of the dollars it took 40 years ago, I still think that those 2 items actually seperate the small home studio from the big boys.  I think one of the major areas that we lack in the home studio is still the great selection of quality mics and a great tracking environment.  Too me, 3/4 of the battle is in tracking.

All of the virtual drums have become incredibly great sounding programs that can almost replace the real thing to the average listener.  However, nothing still captures realistic drums like a real drummer.  Its a little to me like the virtual guitar programs, they are getting really good, but they don't have the touch and feel of the real thing.

Mike: A few things I wanted to share with you about this if I may? Your first paragraph is spot on man. The big studios have the quality they have due to quite a few things. The right rooms, the right mic's, knowing sound, good engineers and the key thing that most people forget, a producer. That there holds lots of weight and you're right, 3/4 is tracking not only to you, but to me and most others. At the end of the day, when something is tracked right, you shouldn't have to carve it up like a Thanksgiving turkey to make it work. Subtle things here and there. That's when you know you're getting this stuff down man.
 
Now, on your second paragraph...this is where I want to share a few things. When you mention the drums...I can give you a clip of me playing my real kit, then me playing my V Drums into a sample....if I asked you which was real and which was fake....well, I can't speak for your ears...but I honestly can't tell on this end. It depends what module you use and how you make them all work. To me, drum programming will always sound a little stale unless the person has the talents Jonbuoy does. He's done some really impressive programming that would take me weeks to do. I thank God every day I record a drum track, that He gave me the gift to play them. I've programmed drums 2 times in my life. The first time, I had a blast. The second time...I was so frustrated I went out and bought an E kit. LOL! Never again man! But if you have a cat that plays an e kit and they are dialed in right with the pad to midi interface so the pads are putting out realistic pulses, it's the same feel a drummer gets on a real kit...honest. Especially with these incredible drum programs we have like the NI stuff, BFD 2, Superior etc.
 
Now, one of things people also don't know because this is a behind the scenes thing...90% of the drums you hear on commercial recordings have samples in them. Just about no one but blues or jazz bands use real kits out of the box. Rock, pop, metal, country, all use real drums, but they either run midi triggers as a safety net and hybrid or run programs like Drumagog or Beat Detective at all times. Some are programmed in, some are resampled, some are hybrids. But they always exist.
 
Now, this is for you and Geno. I've always been against the fake guitar thing. No one has it right...umm...or do they? Do this for me in order...it's going to blow your mind.
 
If I posted this up and told you this was an instrumental of mine, you'd believe me right? Just click it and don't read the tags or anything. Assume your listening to me play here and we're not having this discussion and I just wanted you to check out a guitar tune of mine. Click this link and don't read any further until you've listened to this until you've had enough or listened to the entire thing. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4909348/Another_World.mp3
 
Ok, now you've heard it. What if I told you not a single guitar in that was real and it was all triggered via keyboard? If I didn't tell you that, after hearing this monster piece (which isn't me) you'd have no reason to doubt me, right? It's all fake...done on boards.
 
Now, check this out...here is what they used to do it. If you do not watch this video and see it being performed on a keyboard, it fools you. If you watch it though, your perception changes. LOL!
 
(Click Underwater World vid) http://www.prominy.com/demo/SC/video/Underwater_World.html
 
Check out some of the other demos...this thing is sick! And I feel my job is now in jeopardy. These tones are so incredible, you'd be spending years getting them in real life. Someone finally has it as down as it's going to be in my opinion. so now they even have guitar down to the point of being so close, even trained ears may not know if they don't see it or they weren't told what was used. Scary stuff! :)
 
-Danny