"Born To Run" sounds the way it does becuase it was made in 1975. It was mixed in a typical studio of the time with speakers with no bottom real bass. The track needs to be heard on Altec Big REds or the equivalent JBL studio speakers of the time. There is a huge bump in the frequency response of those speakers at 12HZ so that the ear thinks it is hearing real bass, ergo, the bass isn't on the tape. Secondly the tracks were mixed with lots of compression/limiting (for the cartridges and amps of the day as well as the radio) so there is not dynamic range on the master. That is why it sounds so flat and small on a system of today (and on some special systems back then too). This mixing style also affected many other great musical tracks that don't sound great such as the Eagles Hotel California, etc. The Brits always made more dynamic records with more real bass such as 10CC, SuperTramp, etc.
Lastly, the Springsteen track was so great to listen to they mixed it for a week or more and by that time one's ears get to know the track so well all objectivity is lost in judging a mix. It is ideal to bring in a fresh remix engineer or wait a week or more to mix a track so that your ears come to it fresh.
I think that even if you went to the 16 or 24 track of the original session you would find a lot of EQ/compression/limiting on the recorded tracks which was the style back then, and even a modern cost no object remix would not make it come alive to a significant degree. I bet Bruce kicks himself everyday when he hears that track and its missing bass.
I am always amazed at the engineers from the RCA and Mercury Living Presence classical recordings. They knew that they were getting what they were hearing onto the tape but no playback system was invented yet that would get it back off the tape to your ears. It was a labor of love truly, and that is why the recordings sound so good today.
Lastly, the Springsteen track was so great to listen to they mixed it for a week or more and by that time one's ears get to know the track so well all objectivity is lost in judging a mix. It is ideal to bring in a fresh remix engineer or wait a week or more to mix a track so that your ears come to it fresh.
I think that even if you went to the 16 or 24 track of the original session you would find a lot of EQ/compression/limiting on the recorded tracks which was the style back then, and even a modern cost no object remix would not make it come alive to a significant degree. I bet Bruce kicks himself everyday when he hears that track and its missing bass.
I am always amazed at the engineers from the RCA and Mercury Living Presence classical recordings. They knew that they were getting what they were hearing onto the tape but no playback system was invented yet that would get it back off the tape to your ears. It was a labor of love truly, and that is why the recordings sound so good today.