ABSTRACT
There were also changes in the way the recordings were made and mixed. In the early days, when the sound system operators first began making records, the studio facilities had been very primitive. Usually the music was played by session musicians and the recording was made in one take. Before long, vocal tracks were added too. The instrumentals were recorded on one track of the tape and this was later pressed as a record. But as the industry evolved and became more sophisticated, so too did the recording equipment. Soon it became possible to mix
together a number of musical tracks to build up a more complex and interesting sound. At the same time, the engineers experimented by mixing the tracks together on the final tape in different ways. For instance, ska and rocksteady records were mixed differently. In ska, the vocal track had been given prominence, and this is still the case with most forms of modern pop music where the lyrics are considered important. But on the new rocksteady records, the singers’ voices tended to be treated like any other instrument. Instead, pride of place was given to the bass guitar.
