(no subject)
Welcome back to the next installment of the Mike Major recording info soapbox! Today I am going to offer my thoughts on the necessity of hiring a recording professional to record your music.
Recording is akin to playing music in that there is (hopefully) a mixture of skill and art. I have always felt that the best musicians are the ones who have put in the time to become excellent technicians, so that they are free to express themselves artistically without restriction. The same holds true for recording engineers and producers.
There are many technical principles, concepts and difficulties that come into play over the course of a recording. The more technically proficient the operator, the more apt that operator will be to deal with whatever problems arise. This "freedom", if you will, allows an engineer or producer to make desicions based on musical instincts and creative choices instead of simply searching for solutions to "save the day". Nothing will bogg down a recording session quicker than technical problems.
Because of the potentially complicated nature of good multi-track recordings (that's right...I said GOOD) it is in the artist's best interest to leave the technical aspects to a technician! Let the engineer make the mic choices, recording medium, outboard, effects/no effects etc. These kinds of desicions can cloud the artist's mind and obscure their vision of the final product. This allows musicians, to be musicians, and to concentrate on playing and singing well. There is no technical choice can have as big an impact on the outcome of a recording as good playing can.
A recording engineer's job is largely consumed by solving sonic "problems". This is not to say that everything sounds like hell all the time, but creating a skewed sense of reality that presents the band correctly to the listener is frought with obstacles. Drums, basses, guitars, keys and vocals sound one way to the naked ear and another with a microphone in front of them. The technical aspects come into play while dealing with this connundrum. Which mic? Placed where? EQ? Compression? Tape? Digital? Realistic? Bigger than life? Big? Small? Wet? Dry? I think you get the picture. A good technician has dealt with these very problems hundreds, if not thousands of times. He must simply reach into his bag of tricks to help achieve what the artist or producer is looking for. And he should do this without (what may seem!) any extraordinary effort. Easy right?
It is and it isn't. And therein lies the rub (thanks Owl!). It may seem easy but there is alot to it. I have devoted most of my adult life to learning more about sound and recording. It is my job, my hobby and my obsession. Thankfully I am married and have two kids or I'd be one messed-up dude! Can you say socially inept?
I guess that's the point of it all. With so many people choosing to record themselves these days, the recording engineer is becoming somewhat replacable is some artist's (and label's) minds. While this may be self-serving, I think this is a mistake. I am not saying that people should not record themselves. I just believe that if a project is important enough to the artist, then it shold be important enough to hire someone who does it all the time. Think of it as an insurance policy for your music.
When people hear your recorded music for the first time, there is the opportunity to cause irreperable damage to their perception of you as an artist. They can only react to what they are presented with. Songwriting aside, they will judge you based on what your recording sounds like. And despite what they may say, they are comparing you to everything else in their CD collection, not just other artists that are at your "level". Seems unfair, but that's the truth.
They don't know and don't care if you did it in your parent's living room while they were out of town; That you don't have access to any good mics or mic pre's; Or that you had to record all the drums to 2 tracks because that's all your soundcard can handle. All they really care about is that it sounds awful. And they can't hear the vocals. And the drums sound like they were recorded on a boom-box. And the guitars sound tiny and thin. And there's no bass. How much money did you save?
The bad news is that many people will be done with you musically at that point. They have heard enough and... "yeah dude....we'll check you guys out at your next show....for sure". Don't count on it. The same goes for labels as well..."Thanks for the submission but we have no room on our roster for any new acts". Sad but true. Their are few people that I know in the music business that can listen to a horrible sounding demo and get past the fact that it sounds horrible.
Conversely, an engineer or producer should be able to. He should be able to figure out what it's supposed to sound like, and more importantly, know how to make it sound that way. There are many twists a misguided recording can take and it's the engineer's or producer's job to keep things on course. They should help maintain the quality of the final product, not compromise it.
Just to prove that I am not out-of-touch with the state of things, I realize that some artists can make good recordings at home. This is where a good mixer can come in to the equation. I think it's important to have a real recording engineer "lay their hands" on the project at some point. It is a great measure of quality control. By hiring an outside mixer, you get this person's experience and objectivity at a crucial part of the recording. While mixing can't save a bad recording, it can minimize the damage.
I have gotten many projects over the years that were recorded at home studios. Some were good , some were not. The bottom line is that the clients were happy that they decided to go with a professional at some point. In the right hands, It can bring certainly bring out the best in a recording.
So the next time you're thinking of recording, take time to outline your objectives and consider what outcome you are looking for. Consider your audience and make your desicion.
I hope this has offered some food for thought about this subject. Please email me with any comments or questions. I appreciate the fact that I get to rant about this stuff, and some of you actually read it! Until next time....
Recording is akin to playing music in that there is (hopefully) a mixture of skill and art. I have always felt that the best musicians are the ones who have put in the time to become excellent technicians, so that they are free to express themselves artistically without restriction. The same holds true for recording engineers and producers.
There are many technical principles, concepts and difficulties that come into play over the course of a recording. The more technically proficient the operator, the more apt that operator will be to deal with whatever problems arise. This "freedom", if you will, allows an engineer or producer to make desicions based on musical instincts and creative choices instead of simply searching for solutions to "save the day". Nothing will bogg down a recording session quicker than technical problems.
Because of the potentially complicated nature of good multi-track recordings (that's right...I said GOOD) it is in the artist's best interest to leave the technical aspects to a technician! Let the engineer make the mic choices, recording medium, outboard, effects/no effects etc. These kinds of desicions can cloud the artist's mind and obscure their vision of the final product. This allows musicians, to be musicians, and to concentrate on playing and singing well. There is no technical choice can have as big an impact on the outcome of a recording as good playing can.
A recording engineer's job is largely consumed by solving sonic "problems". This is not to say that everything sounds like hell all the time, but creating a skewed sense of reality that presents the band correctly to the listener is frought with obstacles. Drums, basses, guitars, keys and vocals sound one way to the naked ear and another with a microphone in front of them. The technical aspects come into play while dealing with this connundrum. Which mic? Placed where? EQ? Compression? Tape? Digital? Realistic? Bigger than life? Big? Small? Wet? Dry? I think you get the picture. A good technician has dealt with these very problems hundreds, if not thousands of times. He must simply reach into his bag of tricks to help achieve what the artist or producer is looking for. And he should do this without (what may seem!) any extraordinary effort. Easy right?
It is and it isn't. And therein lies the rub (thanks Owl!). It may seem easy but there is alot to it. I have devoted most of my adult life to learning more about sound and recording. It is my job, my hobby and my obsession. Thankfully I am married and have two kids or I'd be one messed-up dude! Can you say socially inept?
I guess that's the point of it all. With so many people choosing to record themselves these days, the recording engineer is becoming somewhat replacable is some artist's (and label's) minds. While this may be self-serving, I think this is a mistake. I am not saying that people should not record themselves. I just believe that if a project is important enough to the artist, then it shold be important enough to hire someone who does it all the time. Think of it as an insurance policy for your music.
When people hear your recorded music for the first time, there is the opportunity to cause irreperable damage to their perception of you as an artist. They can only react to what they are presented with. Songwriting aside, they will judge you based on what your recording sounds like. And despite what they may say, they are comparing you to everything else in their CD collection, not just other artists that are at your "level". Seems unfair, but that's the truth.
They don't know and don't care if you did it in your parent's living room while they were out of town; That you don't have access to any good mics or mic pre's; Or that you had to record all the drums to 2 tracks because that's all your soundcard can handle. All they really care about is that it sounds awful. And they can't hear the vocals. And the drums sound like they were recorded on a boom-box. And the guitars sound tiny and thin. And there's no bass. How much money did you save?
The bad news is that many people will be done with you musically at that point. They have heard enough and... "yeah dude....we'll check you guys out at your next show....for sure". Don't count on it. The same goes for labels as well..."Thanks for the submission but we have no room on our roster for any new acts". Sad but true. Their are few people that I know in the music business that can listen to a horrible sounding demo and get past the fact that it sounds horrible.
Conversely, an engineer or producer should be able to. He should be able to figure out what it's supposed to sound like, and more importantly, know how to make it sound that way. There are many twists a misguided recording can take and it's the engineer's or producer's job to keep things on course. They should help maintain the quality of the final product, not compromise it.
Just to prove that I am not out-of-touch with the state of things, I realize that some artists can make good recordings at home. This is where a good mixer can come in to the equation. I think it's important to have a real recording engineer "lay their hands" on the project at some point. It is a great measure of quality control. By hiring an outside mixer, you get this person's experience and objectivity at a crucial part of the recording. While mixing can't save a bad recording, it can minimize the damage.
I have gotten many projects over the years that were recorded at home studios. Some were good , some were not. The bottom line is that the clients were happy that they decided to go with a professional at some point. In the right hands, It can bring certainly bring out the best in a recording.
So the next time you're thinking of recording, take time to outline your objectives and consider what outcome you are looking for. Consider your audience and make your desicion.
I hope this has offered some food for thought about this subject. Please email me with any comments or questions. I appreciate the fact that I get to rant about this stuff, and some of you actually read it! Until next time....