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Post by drbill on Jan 19, 2020 20:31:54 GMT -6
To me it’s probably the drum sounds, the keyboards/synths, and the guitar tones, (and maybe the cocaine use). The type of console, outboard, and tape has a lot less to do with it in my opinion. You could probably find records done from the late 70’s all the way to the late 90’s that used the same gear but sound radically different. Forgot to mention that my mentor talked a lot about linn drums... yup. In the studio, drummers were almost out of business for the decade. Still got live work, but the smart ones bought Linn's, Linn 9000's, SP1200's, etc.. That was where the work was. The Forat was huge in LA too.
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Post by seawell on Jan 19, 2020 21:33:26 GMT -6
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Post by Ward on Jan 20, 2020 12:37:14 GMT -6
Thanks for sharing such a great and accurate article!!
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Post by seawell on Jan 20, 2020 12:41:26 GMT -6
Thanks for sharing such a great and accurate article!! I'm glad you enjoyed it! Warning though...after I found that site this past summer, I bought about 5 of those units before I even knew what hit me. Proceed with caution 😂
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Post by dreamsambas on Jan 20, 2020 23:05:23 GMT -6
Forgot to mention that my mentor talked a lot about linn drums... yup. In the studio, drummers were almost out of business for the decade. Still got live work, but the smart ones bought Linn's, Linn 9000's, SP1200's, etc.. That was where the work was. The Forat was huge in LA too. That's really interesting. What is a "Forat"?
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Post by drbill on Jan 20, 2020 23:50:12 GMT -6
yup. In the studio, drummers were almost out of business for the decade. Still got live work, but the smart ones bought Linn's, Linn 9000's, SP1200's, etc.. That was where the work was. The Forat was huge in LA too. That's really interesting. What is a "Forat"? A high end (for the time) sample playback unit. I believe it was 16 bit in the day when others were 12/8 bit. HIGH END!!! LOL en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forat_F16
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 21, 2020 11:50:50 GMT -6
Forat also did custom MPC mods that seemed to be popular for a while.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2020 11:52:22 GMT -6
It sounds shitty? To me, it's a lack of low end, lots of treble, excessive reverb and this over-arching coldness. Digital effects... stuff like that. Obviously, there are exceptions, but it's a decade of music I have a hard time getting into, often because of the production aesthetic.
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Post by donr on Jan 21, 2020 12:21:11 GMT -6
The '80's sound to me much better in retrospect than they did in the moment. Stuff holds up, even as some of the production effects were over the top and don't wear that well.
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Post by matt on Jan 21, 2020 12:23:03 GMT -6
When I think '80s, for some reason I don't come up with hair metal. I think of this:
There's something about the songwriting, look, and production aesthetic that is just self-evident. A mix of daring and conformist- it's four on the floor disco but with an entirely different vibe. New Wave indeed. It's cool, now that I look back on it.
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Post by chessparov on Jan 21, 2020 13:03:49 GMT -6
Great thread. Still in "NAMM Recovery/Back to work mode". Will catch up by tomorrow. A few stories too, like how Terri Nunn had a crush on me, before she was famous! We were both in the same typing class in Jr. High. I had a crush on her too-unaware of hers, at the time. Chris
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Post by nobtwiddler on Jan 22, 2020 21:34:56 GMT -6
AMS RMX-16
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Post by donr on Jan 23, 2020 10:31:33 GMT -6
Great thread. Still in "NAMM Recovery/Back to work mode". Will catch up by tomorrow. A few stories too, like how Terri Nunn had a crush on me, before she was famous! We were both in the same typing class in Jr. High. I had a crush on her too-unaware of hers, at the time. Chris You went to school with Terri Nunn? Awesome. +1 on the SPX-90 (And the AMS 'verbs.) Sound of the '80's.
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Post by chessparov on Jan 23, 2020 19:19:49 GMT -6
Thanks Don. I didn't find out about her crush on me, until early High School, from one of Terri's best gal pals. By then, she was long gone from our school system-oh well.
In the 80's I hung out a lot with Mark Stewart-Brother of Gary Stewart (RIP). So... We were around the Go Go's/Pandora's/L.A. Guns/etc. on "The Strip" back in the day. Chris
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Jan 30, 2020 22:39:52 GMT -6
We forgot Cocaine! In the faders and blood stream!
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Jan 30, 2020 22:43:55 GMT -6
Paul I don’t think I even saw an AMX till I was at either Paisley Park or Sound Summit / Musichead. I know at the top level they were the thing, but they were no where to be seen in the world of us mortal souls.
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Post by nobtwiddler on Jan 31, 2020 19:16:28 GMT -6
Eric, Whether we saw them or not, the "ROCK" records that were released on Major Labels during that period, all had that sound~! As a matter of fact, a short time after it's release it was requested by almost all the artist who came into my place in Manhattan.
My introduction came from from a session where I was recording a new release for Roy Buchannan at Electric Lady, and the AMS RMX-16 just came out. One night after the session proper was over, it was time to do some ruff mixes for executive producer Ramon Silver from Nemperor Records / Atlantic/
My assistant told me they just got the new AMS RMX-16 in, and would I like to try it ... Hey I wasn't;t paying the Al a Carte bill for outboard!, So hell yeah. Obviously it blew me away!
Long story short, the very next day I went to Martin Audio in NYC, and bought the unit, for $8100. cash. (I still own today) It does a few things, but what it does is amazing. And if you want the biggest warmest sounding digital delay, that actually has some weight to it.... The AMS 1580 is the ticket. I have 3 x TC 2290's which I love, but the 1580 (even without the harmonizing) is in a class unto itself!
These pieces were made when the manufacturers were not building to a price point, end users wanted quality. This was possible all because there used to be BUDGETS ! Probably because the listening audience at the time cared.
I was lucky enough to own a few different studios starting back in the early 70's ...back when all this mattered. Unlike today.
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Jan 31, 2020 21:10:23 GMT -6
Eric, Whether we saw them or not, the "ROCK" records that were released on Major Labels during that period, all had that sound~! As a matter of fact, a short time after it's release it was requested by almost all the artist who came into my place in Manhattan. My introduction came from from a session where I was recording a new release for Roy Buchannan at Electric Lady, and the AMS RMX-16 just came out. One night after the session proper was over, it was time to do some ruff mixes for executive producer Ramon Silver from Nemperor Records / Atlantic/ My assistant told me they just got the new AMS RMX-16 in, and would I like to try it ... Hey I wasn't;t paying the Al a Carte bill for outboard!, So hell yeah. Obviously it blew me away! Long story short, the very next day I went to Martin Audio in NYC, and bought the unit, for $8100. cash. (I still own today) It does a few things, but what it does is amazing. And if you want the biggest warmest sounding digital delay, that actually has some weight to it.... The AMS 1580 is the ticket. I have 3 x TC 2290's which I love, but the 1580 (even without the harmonizing) is in a class unto itself! These pieces were made when the manufacturers were not building to a price point, end users wanted quality. This was possible all because there used to be BUDGETS ! Probably because the listening audience at the time cared. I was lucky enough to own a few different studios starting back in the early 70's ...back when all this mattered. Unlike today. Funny enough I was about to type $$$$!! It’s a box I probably should have taken a deep dive into when I had the chance, but I guess I just stuck with what I knew!
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Feb 3, 2020 14:16:23 GMT -6
We forgot Cocaine! In the faders and blood stream! That was over by the '80s!
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Post by Guitar on Feb 3, 2020 15:04:53 GMT -6
When I was in high school in the '90s people used to say something like, "Everything sounds good, except '80s music."
I don't really agree with that now of course.
I would characterize the '80s as a listener as being highly experimental and somewhat robotic. And you have to give a due amount of respect to the full arrival of digital studio gear and instruments, which were in full force and very prominent in the productions.
I was just a wee tot so I don't have too many personal recollections of the music. Mainly just the way things looked, rather than sounded. The art/fashion seen was also highly distinctive.
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Post by chessparov on Feb 3, 2020 15:12:01 GMT -6
Yes! In my own way..I'm re-discovering the 80's. Chris
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Post by johneppstein on Feb 3, 2020 16:06:20 GMT -6
when everything sounds bad and the music sucks thats usually a dead giveaway.... Dead giveaway of what? 21st century pop?
To me the '80s were mostly punk, new wave, and "the new wave of heavy metal" - not so much the hair bands that were kinda leftover '70s glam, the harder ones like Motorhead, Metallica, Megadedth, Exodus, etc.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2020 2:59:51 GMT -6
80's - when clever marketenders tried to sell bucket brigade delays as "digital" because digital was cool and "analog" was dated. 256, 512, 1024, 2048, or 4096 stages, this smells like digital, no? If I remember it right. I might be wrong, though. Drank a lot and smoked weed against the socially freezing cold politics of the axe of evil in Europe. (Helmut Kohl and Maggie Thatcher...) ;-)
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2020 3:07:23 GMT -6
Oh, Portastudio. In the living room. A Roland TR-606 for drums, programmed by a hip-hopper, chimes samples tuned down for crazy church bell effect, a jazz bass with Chorus stomp pedal and my brother singing gothic'ish. Sounded kind of cool. :-D Memories...
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Post by mrholmes on Feb 7, 2020 7:39:11 GMT -6
We forgot Cocaine! In the faders and blood stream! That was over by the '80s!
I doubt that cocaine ever was over....
I think it became more a kind of NORMAL - like drinking beer....
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