Quote:
Originally Posted by Janszoon
I wonder in the case of timbre though if a lot of that has to do with improvements in recording technology. It may not be so much that musicians employed more variation in timbre back in the 50s as that their recording technology was less reliable.
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I wonder how much also has to do with digital vs. analog recording technology.
At the same time though, you were far more likely to hear a legitimate variety of actual instruments on older records rather than just samples run through a synth. If you wanted a saxophone solo on a tune back in the day, you got someone to physically stand there and play the sax, you didn't just spin the knob on the keyboard, right?
I don't fully buy the angle that it's just because X sounds scored hits therefore taking X sounds and putting them in Y single will create another hit. There's a bit more to it than just the sounds, it needs to tap into some sort of social climate or mood. If anything I think the use of familiar sounds are just a way to help spoon feed the 'new' material to the masses by keeping a level of familiarity at play.