2. music
  3. 1357745476

How did "Oh Mercy" end up sounding so great?

Hi,
Years ago, probably not long after it came out, an acquaintance gave me a CD of Bob Dylan's "Oh Mercy," which came out in 1989. Not being a Dylan fan, I never played it until a few weeks ago, when I noticed in another thread here that someone recommended it as a recording with an impressive sound stage.
I was blown away by the sonics of this recording. While clearly a big, multi-tracked studio effort, the sonics and sense of spaciousness are extraordinary, and this is just the garden variety CD.
Now, being that 1989 was hardly a golden age of pop music recording, it got me wondering: How did this record end up sounding so amazing? I mean that two ways:
1) Technically, what techniques did the engineers and producer use to get it to sound that way? Miking? Artificial phase manipulations? I don't know anything about studio recording so I'm just guessing here.
2) How, in an era of crappy sounding, compressed recordings, was such a feat pulled off (because it leaves you wondering why more records of that era didn't sound so good)?
Thoughts?
rebbi

Showing 2 responses by tostadosunidos

tostadosunidos's avatar
tostadosunidos
1,197 posts
 
Rebbi, I think a lot of it is a matter of placing instruments in the mix, left to right. Sometimes when you're mixing things can sound cluttered or distorted, then you move one or more parts a bit and the sound can suddenly "breathe." With all the processing equipment and techniques available it can get complicated, but it always comes back to trial and error (and having a good ear for this). Just as with the composition and the performance, each mix needs whatever works best for the material at hand. You can't get great art from a cookie-cutter approach.
tostadosunidos's avatar
tostadosunidos
1,197 posts
 
Well, I'm not hearing it on your system, but he definitely has some instruments panned totally (or nearly so) to one side or the other. That would make those instruments seem a good deal to the left or the right of the ones which are panned more to the center. If anything would seem beyond the usual soundstage limits I would think it would be those instruments. Some of the guitars have pulsing, tremelo-like effects applied to them, and those could possibly move back and forth somewhat on the image, contributing to the illusion of space or spaciousness.

Some guys mix a lot towards the middle and not much toward the side. The earlier Beatles stereo mixes feature very hard pans, so much so that an instrument or voice pretty much comes out of one channel only. It doesn't start to maximize the potential of stereo, but at least there's some feeling of "space."IMO. I usually prefer it to the mono mix, but many listeners do not. Then again, some folks just hear the music and don't notice these things. I'm not sure if it's a curse or a blessing.

FWIW there's an interview with Daniel Lanois about the album here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyXYVx5TJmA

--Tostados
More to discover