A poll here at ProSoundWeb a while back asked, “The one thing I’d like to see the return of, or at least more of, in sound reinforcement is…”

Response choices included tube electronics, rotary faders, loud/distorted audio, wired-only microphones, and wedges only (no IEM).

Oh, and the winner: None of the Above, which garnered almost 50 percent of the vote.

Number two was tube electronics getting more than 20 percent, with number three being wired-only mics at about 15 percent.

I was a bit surprised at the result, given the deluge of times over the years I’ve heard seasoned audio professionals fondly remembering the “good old days.”

Yet I suspect the real reason(s) behind this response are quite a bit more complex.

Obviously, technology “back then” was not nearly as advanced as it is now, but decades ago, exceptional results in both sound reinforcement and recording were attained regularly.

It was often just a tougher proposition, with the people doing the work figuring out techniques, working to maximize everything they had, and improvising when things went wrong.

There’s a lot of satisfaction in that type of endeavor, and also a lot of fun, even when the situation doesn’t go quite as planned.

Now, on the other hand, there are so many proven techniques, as well as proven tools readily available to a lot of audio professionals, of exceptional quality and reliability and from so many sources, that some of the crazier (and unknown and uncertain) stuff has been taken out of the equation. (And keeping in mind, of course, that in the wrong hands, a million dollar system can sound worse than two soup cans linked by a string, but I digress…)

So while some might say “tubes sound better” and the wireless/RF picture has been a tad rocky of late – and overall, the good old days may hold a lot of warm memories – there’s much to be said for the hard-earned techniques and technology of the current age. And this is reflected in the poll result.