I’m not talking about the mid-atlantic accent which has been asked about on this sub. I mean how the actual recordings of voices have a distinct sound quality where you can tell they’re…. old timey. Not the graininess, not background-noisiness, but the actual timbre/character of the voices has some sort of… idk, almost slightly electronicky sound to it. And modern artists use it as an artificial effect. But modern recording technology recreates voices much more true-to-life. What is this?
If this makes no sense feel free to roast me and remove my post >_>
edit: someone suggested to link an example. This was on my mind when watching this clip of the Jordannaires singing at the Grand Ol Opry in the 50s: [https://youtu.be/qkJU8BS-jDU?t=337](https://youtu.be/qkJU8BS-jDU?t=337) I listen to a fair amount of barbershop, and lots of the old recordings have this vocal quality to it, but modern recordings are much more accurate to the person’s real-life voice.
In: Technology
One of the biggest factors is the microphone.
Older ones were less efficient (you had to speak louder, there’s less dynamic range) and had a smaller frequency response, especially on the higher end. That leads to the lower-end being more prominent, resulting in the “warmth” that we know from old recordings.
In other words, you’re hearing the microphone and recording, not just the singer.
As the microphone and recording technology improved, the final product became more accurate, to the point that it’s “invisible” and we only hear the singer.
Latest Answers