Summer of Love(1967) Albums

[WeFixFlats]

Here you go. Some of the most trailblazing groups, singles and albums of that time. (Though The Monkees weren't on my list). Even now, the echoes of those songs, guitars, mixes, production and mastering are still the benchmark, why? It's all analog reel to reel tape, vinyl LP's with mostly just 16 channels, max and still sound incredible, especially with your headphones. 'Are You Experienced' was released that year; the guitar world was never, ever the same.

So for a blast from the past, check them out.

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/summer-of-love-albums/

 

[Deli6505]

That's a pretty decent list and my apologies for the correction but I should point out that most, if not all, of those albums were done on multiple 4-track recording consoles. The 16 track recorder, although created in 1967, wasn't put into production until mid-1968 as most studios couldn't afford them and the maintenance and space that went along with them, being that they were quite large. That aside, I definitely agree that the albums from that era are very satisfying to listen to because of the amount of care and skill that went into making them because tape (not to mention studio time) was very expensive and the performers had to get their parts done right with the least amount of passes as possible.

 

[WeFixFlats]

most, if not all, of those albums were done on multiple 4-track recording consoles

Even better then...the vision and ingenuity of those engineers/producers and artists still hold up over time.

 

[László]

That aside, I definitely agree that the albums from that era are very satisfying to listen to because of the amount of care and skill that went into making them because tape (not to mention studio time) was very expensive and the performers had to get their parts done right with the least amount of passes as possible.

Actually, the issue wasn't the expense of tape. It was cheap then. The problem was bouncing down tracks to free up more tracks for overdubs.

Machine synchronizers were very primitive, so the solution of just bringing another machine in and slaving it meant timing errors. Because SMPTE timecode used up a track, it couldn't be used to control synch (and I don't recall when it even was considered for tape machine synch; I relied on it for A/V synch for my machines for many years, but by then I had plenty of tracks so I could afford to lose one track for time code).

With 4 tracks to work with, multiple tracks had to be bounced down so that new parts could be added. Bouncing down meant freeing up more tracks, but it also erased what was previously there. So parts had to be right. The bounce was destructive, and choices were crucial. Safety copies were often made, but they'd add noise if bounced back to the 4 track machine.

Bouncing down also degrades the signal with analog tape, so one only wanted so many bounces to prevent things from sounding pretty distorted and noisy.

I got started with recording when there weren't many tracks to work with; signal quality degraded rapidly when bouncing tracks.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I could afford to lose one track for time code

Two tracks really. Depending on how much crosstalk/bleed was between tracks on your recorder. I mean, maybe you could use that adjoining track for percussion or something.