> Did not Phil Specter do the same thing back in the 60's so his hit
>songs would sound "good" on crappy AM car radios?
The typical mix from that era was essentially two-channel mono. Listen
to "Hey Jude" and you'll know what I'm referrring to. A dry vocal
would be placed in one speaker and the reverb in the other speaker.
Splitting up the vocals across the two tracks like this created a nice
wide sound on a stereo system. Same with the guitars and other
instruments. When summed to mono, it all fell perfectly in place since
you didn't have any phase issues to worry about. Remember that it
wasn't just AM radio that was mono. Most juke boxes were too, and we
also had to retain phase hygiene for vinyl.
What Phil Specter was known to do was to do this same technique, but
overdub the same instrument in the opposite channel. If done correctly
(and it's not easy to do well), you do create a soundscape that has
width and density to it, yet still maintains mono compatibility.
Frankly, it makes my innerds twist into knots. I was never so glad as
to see true stereophonic imaging make headway, with the Michael
Jackson's "Thriller" album crossing the Rubicon in that regard.
> The way I understand things... to a degree. A lot of songs from the golden
> era of rock'n'roll on AM were mixed with the frequency response of AM in
> mind - mostly mids and some highs, not much low end.
Not just AM radio, but the primary means of music playback was vinyl.
Roll-off for vinyl was typically around 12kHz. You get effectively
more frequency response on playback because of the overtones created
by the pickup.
> But the mastering
> thing wasn't as bad, since radio stations all have compressors, like the
> OptiMod, in the transmitter audio chain to keep everything at an even
> level. Often it was the station's engineer, under direction from the owner
> or GM, who set the main station compressor on "stun" so that his station
> would stand out on the dial when tuning across the frequencies.
The best setup I've EVER encountered remains a hot-rodded OptiMod with
a pair of PRISM multiband compressors and a spacial enhancer. I'm
going to call this the "Michigan Sound". A couple of engineers figured
this out and all of the top stations in Michigan, Chicago, Milwauki
areas had it. When the digital OptiMod came out, it was a HUGE step
backwards. To this day, we still can't get the same sound. It also had
the uncanny ability to be able to provide ducking for voice-overs.
When configured correctly, you just crank the mike up a little hotter
and as you speak, the music would duck down a bit as you leaned into
the compressor. The recovery time was so fast that you didn't get any
compressor pumping.
Modern technology is great at many things, but once in a while there
is no substitute for the old stuff. In the recording industry, we seek
out those old tube and ribbon mikes. In broadcast radio, the above
mentioned processing setup has no equal.
--
Ken Norton
ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.zone-10.com
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