I’d like to hear a scientific explanation of this!
[Example song](https://youtu.be/C7HP9Xkim9o)
I have a few questions about this.
I was once told that it’s because multiple vocals of this era were done live through a single mic (rather than overdubbed one at a time), and the layers of harmonies disturb the hair in such a way that it causes this quality. Is this the case? If it is, what exactly is the “disturbance”? Are there other factors, such as the equipment used, the mix of the recording, added reverb, etc?
EDIT: uhhhh well I didn’t expect this to blow up like it did. Thanks for everyone who commented, and thanks for the gold!
In: Physics
Any recording engineer will tell you that a particular “sound” whether it be from the modern era or older is not due to any single factor but a number of little differences that produce the signature when stacked together. A few of them in this case could be:
1. Recording technique: As is mentioned already, tracking harmonies together verses stacked (individually at a time) creates a softer, but more cohesive sound. If you have ever played a digital piano you will notice that individual notes can (in the best emulations) be almost utterly convincing but chords less so, because the resonance of the notes together impact each other on a real piano.
2. Recording equipment: Tube gear and tape were used in these earlier eras. Tape in particular can mute the high end frequencies. When you add them back or compensate for them you get the same frequencies but sweetened by harmonic distortion and non-linear characteristics. Digital is cleaner but harder. Older technologies are (generally) softer and sweeter. Plate reverbs were also more popular back then. They produce a rich, haunting sound that is very beautiful but less suited to modern music. Yes plate reverbs still get used a lot today but it more subtle ways and often with a digital emulation rather than the real thing.
3. Recording spaces: A room is as important to a sound recording as light is to a film recording. And in the 70s there were some LEGENDARY rooms that simply don’t exist today. It’s also one of the reasons for THAT signature Motown sound. Recording spaces today are more perfectly designed and built for a variety of recordings. Older, less perfect, more creative spaces gave different sounds.
4. Fashion: There was a popular style for harmonies of that era. You can hear similarities in something like Fleet Foxes in more modern times but when you have a critical mass of artists all going for one “sound” you are going to get an overall higher standard and the best of those will be better than the best today, when the fashion is not as popular.
Add all these things together and although each is not a game changer, the cumulative effect is a unique sound that is not easily replicated today.
Mixing aside I think it’s 1 5 10 all male harmonies.
In the style youre talking about melody sings in normal range, male falsetto sings octave plus a third (10 total) and mid sings the 5th. [Simon and Garfunkel](https://youtu.be/9C1BCAgu2I8) Use octave separated male male harmony but are missing the third harmony that rounds it out . Csn’s use of 1 and 5 harmonies are definately unique since singing a third higher or lower is more common. But balanced with the falsetto third harmony up an octave you get massive range, and a different sound. Think [bohemian rhapsody](https://youtu.be/fJ9rUzIMcZQ) pushing the limits of their voices although they use more beach boys esque harmony (see below) but great range. [momma’s and the papas](https://youtu.be/N-aK6JnyFmk) have great harmony but use counter melodies male and female so it doesn’t mean the same way.
Next most similar is the most common duet harmony that your probably comparing csn to. Often mixed male and female it lacks the complexity. Sibling harmony like [first aid kit](https://youtu.be/PC57z-oDPLs) interesting haunting harmonies and they both sing the melody sometimes for a doubling effect. [Jack black singing extreme](https://youtu.be/1ISYT6EeUM0) Is another example of the much more common up or down a third harmony that’s common.
In comparison the beach boys use similar spread in their harmonies but they rely heavily of the seventh chord 2 4 5 7, a dissonant non smooth tense style that is actually popular in 50’s music and even old hymns and church music. Also maj7 chords.
Another comparison is barber shop. This has the same notes as csn but in the same octave usually 1 3 5 or 7ths but never the octave above. It sounds crowded and outdated. Depth in barber shop is given by adding a simple walking base line usually an octave lower playing the root note of any chord. This type of music usually also has simple chord progressions of 1st 4th and 5th.
Acapella harmonies usually have an ooh aah background sound so they aren’t singing the lyrics, producing another style. Same with choral arrangements or backup singers which dont sign the melody but instead add a rhythm section vibe.
So with all the harmony styles I can think of that all fundamentally use the same notes in different ways that style your talking about which I’m caling 1 5 10 male harmony is difficult to arrange, difficult vocally and just out of style compared to the third or choral/backup harmonies used so often today.
I’m late to the party but something I don’t see mentioned much is that a lot of it is a very clear stylistic trend in arranging music. Big thickly voiced chords with lots of 3rds are not in vogue. The trend by and large across most popular genres is more toward open, powerful, clean chords (or just single note lines) that do not contain a lot of harmonic material. I say this as someone who does it for a living – if I layer up chords with nice fat harmony I get the note “it sounds old” or “cheesy”
Because it’s not popular? Hiphop doesnt have record scratches anymore, rock doesnt use twangy clean guitars, hammond organs aren’t in every rock song, folk doesn’t include mouth harp in every song etc.
It’s just an aesthetic that was really popular in the vocal pop and folk groups in the 50s and 60s, and kept going into the 80s and 90s but kind of died down after that. You still have bands like Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Beirut, Tindersticks, Elephant Revival, even more popular things like The Dead South and Mumford & Sons do a lot of quite airy harmonies regularly in their music.
There’s a lot of comments here that are technically true, but aren’t really related to the issue OP is asking about. Yes, there’s the loudness war and digital effects and autotune and all that. Those have definitely changed things.
But the main thing is just the style of music. It’s just not as popular as it was 40 years ago. That’s why it doesn’t appear as often in modern music. It’s the same reason you don’t hear a lot of disco on the radio anymore.
There is plenty of music coming out today that still sounds like this that was recorded and mixed digitally on modern equipment.
Came here knowing the example would be “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”.
Was not disappointed. Thanks OP.
Vocals were often recorded much further off the mic back then 1-2′ rather than 6″.
Also not everything was pitch corrected and an amount of tuning variation between harmonies can make them sound thicker and richer.
Edit: auto correct hates me
I see a lot of good info, but I didnt see anyone talk about this. When people sing in the same room the vibrations of their voices actually affect each other. When perfect harmonies are sung there are natural overtones created by the stacking of the sound waves. When voices are autotuned or electronically harmonized you are actually missing a lot of frequencies that natural harmonization would have, making the newer stuff sound flat and robotic.
Dude. Seriously. These people don’t know what they are talking about. CSN sounds incredible, not because of any recording tricks, it’s because they are incredible together. That’s how and why they got together.
Modern compression and limiting techniques also tend to kill any sense of natural ambience in music.
If we REALLY want a deep dive into this, the proliferation of digital effects has reshaped sound quality as well. As good as digital reverbs can be, IMO they are still no match for dedicated reverb rooms and huge, real, plate reverbs.
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