new purchase: Motown box & Otis Redding

A couple of reviews for you all. A couple of these titles were didcussed recently, so I took the plunge.

1) MOTOWN Singles Box "Hitsville 1959-1971". Not bad I guess, you probably couldn't get it to sound too much better. I'm not that big of a fan of the Motown production sound I guess. I still hear that typical Bill Inglot mastering sound too. I just don't like it.

2) OTIS REDDING "The Otis Redding Story". The mono tracks sound comparable to my 16-track 1992 "Very Best of" on Rhino/Atlantic. The stereo stuff is nothing to write home about. Otis, guitars, and drums are mostly in one channel and bass and horns in the other. Not great stereo. This is one artists' material where I definitely prefer original mono over stereo.

--Dan

 

Your bias against Inglot is showing bigtime.

There IS NO Bill Inglot "sound" or "signature" on that Motown box. The box is very close to the way those 45s sounded. Besides, he used tube gear.

If you have a beef with the way those singles sound, blame the original engineers and Berry Gordy!

 

Maybe I'm beginning to associate any thin sound with lack of bass with Bill Inglot! If he used tube gear I can barely tell in spots. Seriously, I tried to clarify that I've never been a huge fan of the Motown sound, the production value I'm talking about, not the music. I'm not a huge fan of Phil Spector's "Wall Of Sound" either. I admire it as a piece of musical history though.

I don't mean to totally dog Bill Inglot either. Every once in awhile I find a CD I like, I check the liner notes, and he did the mastering. The total clunkers really stand out though. Some of it is from fairly recent source tapes so that's no excuse. It's just his signature sound.

 

That's OK if you don't like the Motown Sound or Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, Dan.

 

Simple fix.

Send master tapes to Steve.

 

Thanks Steve.

 

Dan, the Motown mono singles have more bass than the stereo mixes. Remember, this was the 60s, and small record companies didn't always have the best gear. The concern was to get the record out, get it to sound good on AM radio speakers, and fast!

 

Oh, I totally understand. I worked in radio for a long time. These songs were made to be heard on AM radio, not people critical of audio. I just think a certain someone whom this forum was named after could have done a better job.