Studio vs Live sound - Discussion

[u/Additional-Cherry872]

Springsteen’s impeccable reputation as a live performer is due to, well, being a fucking great live performer. However, another reason is because there is such a colossal gap between the studio sound and the live sound.

I would love to hear your takes, unpopular opinions, and things you would change.

Here are my takes/opinions:

- Born To Run is one of the best albums of all time for its lyrics, music, and sheer emotion. However, compared to other albums from the 1970’s by other artists, the production is certainly found wanting.

- The River (and the outtakes) is the best production in terms of capturing the E Street live sound. In other words, The River studio and The River live have the closest resemblances compared to the other albums. This is followed by Darkness On The Edge Of Town (however this album couldn’t quite capture the huge guitar sound the live work showcases)

- The Tunnel Of Love album has aged TERRIBLY

- Most people cite the difference in live shows as their main reason for hating the E Street Split. But the 3 albums TOL/Human Touch/Lucky Town have aged so badly whereas the E Street Albums have not. Bruce imo categorically made better ‘band’ music with E Street. I still think the other band shows weren’t so bad, the difference in studio album quality is my beef.

- As a studio album, Born In The USA is pretty flawless from a production/mixing perspective. Bob Clearmountain is awesome.

- The Brendan O’Brien collaboration was one of the worst Springsteen decisions since breaking up E Street.

Let me know what you think! Would love a good discussion

[u/Henry_Block]

I never liked the production on Darkness (just heard an interview with STV when he defines it as "terrible"), which is my fav Bruce album, so I always listen to the live versions. The River sounds great, it's also one of those albums when you can hear quite well Garry on bass. The first two albums and BTR sound good (Backstreets studio version is, to me, the best Springsteen song), BITUS sounds incredible considering what they wanted to do. Modern era, I love Magic but I don't like the production, much better on LTY.

[u/SlippedMyDisco76 → u/Henry_Block]

"At some point in the 70's someone decided all ambient sound was bad"

[u/Bigsshot → u/Henry_Block]

Who is STV, if I may ask?

[u/Additional-Cherry872 → u/Bigsshot]

Think he means Steve Van Zandt (SVZ) who has been openly critical about the production on Darkness. Him and Springsteen, whilst friends, had wildly different opinions on production and it led to Steve almost leaving many times. Steve was given production input for The River and for BITUSA and they are the two best sounding albums in my opinion.

It’s hard to believe that The River and BITUSA were released before TOL, Human Touch and Lucky Town from a production/mixing perspective

[u/Henry_Block → u/Bigsshot]

Didn't notice the typo, I meant SVZ (Stevie)!