Commercial 80s and 90s songs with bad EQ that wouldn't be acceptable now

T

the_agx

New member
Hi,

I've been reading more and more about EQ since I am slowly getting back into producing - I just need a faster PC. Anyway, I was just curious about songs made before all engineers had the EQ knowledge that we have now.

What songs in the 80s and 90s had muddiness in their EQ, or on a particular instrument or sample?

Did engineers of the 80's know about "everything in its own space", EQ boosting and cutting, panning, putting stuff in the front/back of the mix (not just low volume), etc? I wonder when engineers realized "the mudiness area" and agreed on it almost unanimously?

As important as I think good EQ is, I am not overly concerned with super clean. I like grit. It adds a mid-90s Hiphop vibe.

Would Hiphop/RNB of the 90s sound the same with today's 1Khz high shelf +30dB boosts, over-airiness, and 50000:1 compression?
 
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LMAO. What was the problem. It was only a question. I was curious as to what would be considered "muddy" now, but was acceptable 15 years ago. That's all. Just reference, I wanted. Not facepalms coz I ask a freaking question.

Man. Some of yall just disregard any post that aint sucking up to Drake, or e-tossing Eminem's salad. smh.
 
Beleive it or not, alot of 80s/90s analog stuff was very well mixed. It's final destination was usually an analog source, so when we hear it today, it's been ran off of vhs tapes, cassettes, ect. without being digitally remastered for current playback devices.

Think of how digitally remastered movies and albums from back in the day sound through current speakers.
 
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deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup said:
Beleive it or not, alot of 80s/90s analog stuff was very well mixed. It's final destination was usually an analog source, so when we hear it today, it's been ran off of vhs tapes, cassettes, ect. without being digitally remastered for current playback devices.

Think of how digitally remastered movies and albums from back in the day sound through current speakers.
Click to expand...

bingo.... :cheers:

Renegade187 said:
Somebody get this guy a face palm...
Click to expand...

2s5yx09.jpg
 
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deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup said:
Beleive it or not, alot of 80s/90s analog stuff was very well mixed. It's final destination was usually an analog source, so when we hear it today, it's been ran off of vhs tapes, cassettes, ect. without being digitally remastered for current playback devices.

Think of how digitally remastered movies and albums from back in the day sound through current speakers.
Click to expand...

Thanks De.

So was it the technology that helped the mixing and not the actual techniques (eq cuts, boosts, fx)?

See, I know answering me is harder then pasting a face palm, so I shouldn't be surprised, but man, I wasn't intending to slate or be negative.
 
If you had the original analog signals and played them through your system, there's a good change at the same overall volume levels, the recordings from the 80s would sound better than current stuff.

The problem is analog signals are easily compromised. Dub the tape once, or run it through an interface to post on youtube and your audio is really suffering. With digital signals, you can justrip from CD and lose no quality whatsoever.
 
Well, if you are specifically talking about rap/hip-hop, there was some stuff that had some obvious errors, be it production, mixing or mastering errors, but i guess that was because there was still a chance for a small production to become a big hit.

Nowadays you don't hear anything on the radio by coincidence.
 
I think knowledge of EQ and various techniques has existed for a lot longer than 20-30 years man lol.
I believe EQ was invented somewhere around the 50s and 60s.
Parametric EQ came out in the late 1960s, but even so... smart engineers still existed who have innate knowledge of how to shape sound. It's all mathematics.
 
the_agx said:
As important as I think good EQ is, I am not overly concerned with super clean. I like grit. It adds a mid-90s Hiphop vibe.
Click to expand...

The "grit" does not come from some lack of EQ... it comes from the style people wanted at the time and the technology of the time.
 
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