ivan40 wrote on Wed, 28 December 2005 17:18 |
Mic placement is in fact an art form IMO... If it were not, there would be one way to mic everything. There is literally no end to the ways to mic everything.
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There is not just one way to build a car. There is not just one way to build a jet engine. There is not just one way to build a bridge. The fact that all of these things benefit from being handled differently in different situations doesn't take away from the fact that they are engineering feats. I think Steve's distinction between creativity and ingenuity is an important one, and applies here.
And ultimately, it's the band's decision if the rack tom is too muddy.
Bob Olhsson wrote on Wed, 28 December 2005 21:20 |
I think the words I would choose are "they damn well better be sensitive enough to what I'm doing to not screw it up!"
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I don't think that an engineer not liking what I'm doing musically affects the outcome much if at all, and am certain that it shouldn't.
bobkatz wrote on Thu, 29 December 2005 04:16 |
Music is ART. But an unmusical recording engineer can ruin a recording.
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Agreed.
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Who determines the balance? Does the producer say, "raise the clarinet mike 0.25 dB, ok, now lower the bassoon by 0.5?" Any engineer who does not already know what the musical balance should be would be fired.
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Agreed again.
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As far as I'm concerned, the line between "art" and "engineering" is entirely nebulous.
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Here's where you lose me, but I think I might see where we're looking at this differently.
I think the recording is an artifact of what the band does, but it isn't what the band does. An unmusical recording doesn't ruin what's important (the songs the band plays and how they play them). Songs can be recorded again.
It seems like you consider the recording the end result, and without that being well executed there is no art. That's probably a good view for an AE to take, because it means you're taking what you do seriously. However, I don't think that an AE being creative is necessary to have the final album be good, and can easily become detrimental.
The balance of the mix seems like something that can be put together by an engineer based on experience (not creativity), and is an element of craft. But anything beyond creating a solid, balanced mix should be the realm of the band. What mics are used, where they're placed - these are generally analytical decisions. If there's creativity involved, it's pretty minimal.