Eric Vincent wrote on Sun, 17 July 2005 03:10 |
Another thing...
There is a huge distinction between: A) what "sounds good" from a purely audio perspective, B) what "sounds cool" from a purely musical perspective.
Modern audio engineers make the choice between those two options.
Option "A" tends to interfere with the artist's intent.
Option "B" tends to serve the artist's intent.
Agreed?
|
NOT Agreed.
About ten years ago (maybe longer) I mixed a few songs for a Bob Rivers production of the band Brother Kane out of Seattle. They sent me the 2" and I mixed the song and sent them a DAT. Bob called back and said "The mix is perfect, the band loves it, but where are the guitars?" I said, "In the song". He said, "No at the end of the song, where is all the feedback stuff?". I said, "Oh, I thought you wanted me to clean that up!". He said, "No, it sounds too polished without out it". So, I recalled the mix (I used to be one of those horrible SSL lovers I hear about here) and unmuted the guitars at the end of the song. They loved it.
My point is that there are very few happy accidents. Even when you want it to sound raw and unpolished, it takes lots of educated craft. All of the greatest sculptures, painters, musicians, writers, poets, designers, architects and dancers in history STUDIED their craft in order to master their art. I have been blessed with the experience of touring with some of the greats of rock and roll and to a man, every raw, dynamic, apparently spontaneous note and movement on stage was planned, rehearsed and re-rehearsed until it was a near rote response. THEN they were able to actually enjoy their own performances to the point of natural expression and spontaneity.
There are lots of people blogging and commenting on the internet about this or that. Except for the rare exception, we are all NOT creating liturature. We are amateurs and we sound like it. A lot of modern music is like the internet. Anyone can purchase a cheap recorder and rely on happy accidents to "make it big". Does that make it music? I think not.
Eric, I usually enjoy the enthusiasm and drive you expouse on these pages. However, this comment is a bit self serving. Happy accidents are rare. Continue to drive yourself to learn your craft and you will be successful. Rely on luck or pure instinct and you will lower your chances for success.
The kind of engineering that I usually perform (live broadcast) requires that I can get a reasonable sound on a major act in under thirty seconds without ever before hearing them in person. This is while trying to figure out if all my microphones are actually working. I have no time to experiment with mic placement, the artists "vision" or a variety of eq settings. This does not happen by accident. I have a plan, I execute it and usually things work out alright. (That was self serving on my part, sorry.)
Someday you will hear a demo, band on stage or some kid singing on the street corner and you will know instantly how to make them sound their best. That won't make you incompetent because you know how to make them sound "good" first and "cool" second. That just makes you in control of your craft as well as your art.
Best Regards,
Bill