Why are recordings from the late 60s and 70s so pleasant?

Aquaman

Aquaman

Senior Member
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Oct 20, 2025
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This may come over to you a little strangely, but I‘m serious about it.

I have a number of old recordings of both classical and contemporary music from the late 60s and early 70s. I was just listening to Enrico Morricone‘s soundtrack of Once upon a time in the West from 1969. How nice that was! I find the same with old I Musici recordings.

I assume they were analogue recordings. I have (had) them on either CD or as downloads from Qobuz. Now they‘re all data files on my server.

Everyone‘s raving about the quality of DACs and the transparency of audio gear. And I‘m not sure what I am hearing or not hearing in these old recordings, but I love them to death.

Any ideas / opinions?
 
Aquaman said:
This may come over to you a little strangely, but I‘m serious about it.

I have a number of old recordings of both classical and contemporary music from the late 60s and early 70s. I was just listening to Enrico Morricone‘s soundtrack of Once upon a time in the West from 1969. How nice that was! I find the same with old I Musici recordings.

I assume they were analogue recordings. I have (had) them on either CD or as downloads from Qobuz. Now they‘re all data files on my server.

Everyone‘s raving about the quality of DACs and the transparency of audio gear. And I‘m not sure what I am hearing or not hearing in these old recordings, but I love them to death.

Any ideas / opinions?
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IMHO it has nothing to do with the gear, and everything to do with the meticulous work of the artists and the sound engineers, working around the limitations of the gear to get the best result possible to the listener.
It would be interesting to see some statistics on how much man hours of work were put in on average per album back then vs these days...
 
I’m sure one factor was that these recordings were most likely cut live off the floor. Most everything today is pieced together in the digital realm.
 
Aquaman said:
This may come over to you a little strangely, but I‘m serious about it.

I have a number of old recordings of both classical and contemporary music from the late 60s and early 70s. I was just listening to Enrico Morricone‘s soundtrack of Once upon a time in the West from 1969. How nice that was! I find the same with old I Musici recordings.

I assume they were analogue recordings. I have (had) them on either CD or as downloads from Qobuz. Now they‘re all data files on my server.

Everyone‘s raving about the quality of DACs and the transparency of audio gear. And I‘m not sure what I am hearing or not hearing in these old recordings, but I love them to death.

Any ideas / opinions?
Click to expand...
They were all made before the loudness war. Modern recordings seem to have a totally different agenda 🤷‍♂️
 
s3igell said:
There are surely also elements of "selection bias" at play - both in the recordings that you choose to remember (or more recently collect) from that time period; and in the contrasting examples from today's media.
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Aaah, no bias here. It‘s been like that for decades across multiple playpack systems.
 
It's a bit ironic really. At a time when it is relatively cheap to buy a well performing system all the modern recordings sound awful and the equipment exposes how bad they are. Even Dave Gilmour is guilty.
 
slartibartfast said:
It's a bit ironic really. At a time when it is relatively cheap to buy a well performing system all the modern recordings sound awful and the equipment exposes how bad they are. Even Dave Gilmour is guilty.
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While good hifi is affordable now, 99% of people don't have one, they listen on their phone, in the car, through their TV etc, so quality really isn't on the menu.

It is ironic that these same people who listen to music at 96kbs (DAB on their Bluetooth speaker) also are the same people who want an 8k giant TV, but here we are.
 
cooky560 said:
While good hifi is affordable now, 99% of people don't have one, they listen on their phone, in the car, through their TV etc, so quality really isn't on the menu.

It is ironic that these same people who listen to music at 96kbs (DAB on their Bluetooth speaker) also are the same people who want an 8k giant TV, but here we are.
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Hey, don‘t bawl out my car stereo. Some people would give an arm and a leg to have the same in their living room🤣.
 
Because those decades were full of optimism and hope for the future - the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there (as somebody once wrote). Starry-eyed but true nevertheless - it was the best of times 😁🎶👍😎
 
I remember well me in my twenties. Listening to many of the infamous loudness war records while having some of the best moments in my life. Still continued...
 
slartibartfast said:
Can anyone recommend a modern recording that actually sounds good at all volumes?
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There are still many modern recordings made with care. Good gain staging on the microphones and other instruments, great dynamics and not congested in especially the midrange. That last part is what mostly dictates if a recording can be played (very) loud and still sound pleasant and "correct", well in my opinion and ears...
But there are limits off course. I mean, if Adele is standing in your livingroom and she yells some high pitched notes in your face that will not be pleasant and recordings of her, no matter how well made, will sound the same. ;)
 
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