If you were to do 70s Prog Rock today, how would you do it (production wise)?

[msmcleod]

To me, the biggest differences in modern sounding prog (and by that I mean modern prog rock bands such as Spock's Beard, Big Big Train, The Flower Kings etc.. rather than prog metal), are the vocals and drums.

The vocals in many 70's recordings are generally quieter in the mix than the up-front vocals of modern recordings.  Also the way the vocals are treated e.g. tight delay's or obvious reverbs in the 70's compared to the more detailed, drier (but not dry-sounding) vocals of today.

The drums, again, are not only quite often way back in the mix, they're also pretty cluttered/mono sounding (probably due to recording constraints and a bounce or two).  The kick and snare are far more prominent in modern productions, and the rest of the kit makes better use of the stereo space.

I was just listening to the 2004 remix of Genesis' Cinema Show (from "The Platinum Collection"), and it's far more modern sounding than the original 1973 recording.  Despite all the instrumentation being the same, it certainly doesn't sound old to me in the way the original does.

[Lord Tim]

I always found the drums pre-1983 to be pretty flat sounding myself, even if they had a lot of room mic in the mix. Then it was nothing but loud overheads (for heavy rock / metal anyway) and now it's very.... triggered. it's so tight that the excitement is kind of squashed out of it a bit. A lot of modern prog suffers from that for sure, unless they're deliberately going for a retro sound.

[bats brew]

i always find it's better to go for the sound in your head,

rather than emulating another era/style.

 

if you like 70's prog, just use your ears and break down your favorite recordings,

as to what was done then.

things were a lot simpler in the 70's,

because there just were not as many choices.

i use plugins that emulate older equipment, using K-18 as a basis for gain structuring.

dry drums (except for sections that need bigness, think, pink floyd TIME, and the drum intro...),

and favor more mono drums, with hard panning for overheads and toms.

smoother sounding guitars, that don't have a lot of high end crunch, and MUCH less gain, more room sounds than actual reverbs or delays.  analog style delays for solos, etc.

all analog keys. use MOOG sounds and ARP, Yamaha CS80, etc...

verb and delays on voices, but with a good amount of predelay.