Comments on: This Fear Of Looseness Has Got To Stop

By: MUHAW

MUHAW — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:52:45 +0000

OK! a couple more quick comments / a quicky here! I’m a humble musician who is bassically self tought ( yeah! I know there’s room to grow and I’m too poor to pay hourly for studio time ) Is it a myth or a fact that recording live is the way to go? I think I read about U2 approching recording this way. Their sound always was right on live as well as other artists. For example the settings on your effects and the instruments you use should naturally be use live. You can come close but not exact due to acoustical surroundings. I used to use a 2112 Digi Tech processor and now keep it as a back up incase the stomp peddals go- poop! I found over the years effects sound cool but in a band situation the guitar sounds muddy or dround out, not full or tight. Especially when your clean adding effects then get stoned and ya think the guitar sounds like crap or visa versa. So I don’t buy into the myth that getting stoned works in any respect, it wasts time cuz pilots don’t smoke up before takeoff. For an idea ? yeah maybe! But I believe we need to be patient for an idea. I can’t just sit down and make an idea flow, it just comes unexpected….and WOAH! get to the recording gear of last resort your cell voice mail. Cuz believe me when the thought is gone it’s gone! Acoustic instruments ( my guitars / 70 something Guild 12 F-? who knows / and a custom 1996 Mitchell MJC-25 6 string- solid mapel ) I found sound crappy plugging into a processor or direct into an interface; mic the acoustic barebones / dry signal ( I been using a Sterling ST55 mic ) then add a tad of Cubase reverb and de-esser. Especially if I’m using a metal slide on guitar cuz it tends to sound harsh. I haven’t been using any compression cuz I like dynamics and things sound more natural. Also what I been doing and read later via TUNECORE was to record voice and acoustics on a hard surface / the 18th century appartment I live in has a slate kitchen floor. More resonance here I believe? Some think they have a latency issue as I experienced ” HEADS UP HERE! ” HOME RECORDING GEEKS! check your outlets for grounding issuse or power serges. Try a surge protector. I been recording on battery alone but sometimes I pick up surge pops cuz the STERLING ST55 mic is phantom powered. One track at a time play it back to hear defects as mentioned and especially if your digs are not sound proof; it stinks to lay all the tracks and mix it down and hear some ambient noise. Let the force be with you all!…and after mixin down burn a CD in case someone steals your system or the place burns down.

MUHAW

By: MUHAW

MUHAW — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 06:38:18 +0000

Humm? Har Har! I had to laugh at that stuff too! Makes perfect sense. Kinda reminds me of trying to be righteous and comming short of the mark! Then lookin at the cross and the resarection and say OK YOU da Man I can’t controll my life to a certain degree and YOU + take my will and my life! Period!. Well, some of the old school ways have made sense to me! If ya can’t really play it live without cutting and pasting then go pick cotton or work at Home Depot! Give it up as a musician! Some are made to make music! Some clearly not! I wondered and still wonder if I’m sent by GOD to perform and secondly record. KEY here! OK I’m older now and my Mom says persistance, My Dad says when is Glenn goonna get a real job and a house or my older brother sayin pie in the sky, whatta ya wanna play in a band for anyway! My friends really pump me up!! sayin that song is kick ass or some stranger at a gig commin up to me and say NICE SET! or I can’t compair ya or you got some kinda soul about ya! They can’t figure me out neither can I ??? What I do know is a song is like some angel bumpin into ya or the devil strikin ya with lightning! and POW!!! I got an idea well shucks!!! someone’s gotta play it!! So there’s alot of questions here??? We don’t need to figure it out!! Just be you and stop using a technique similar to tracing paper! Humm??? Why did my brother who ripped on guitar get hit by a car? and pass away?? I really don’t need to figure it out and I still have his guiter YEAH A 78 FENDER STRAT- no I haven’t tried to make it sound like a Gibson ,,,Humm maybe? but I gave into that cuz ya can’t duplicate someone elses piece of wood, pick-ups, finger dynamica etc etc! so I never switched from a Fender or an old 12 string Guild cuz its what I learned on and it’s as if I like these old boots! I know a luther in NJ who shapes Fender necks for Springsteen and then sticks the logo on the head stock and lacquers it up and so ya can’t get a guitar like that @ Guitar Center, even the frets etc are custome. Anyway!!!!!Back to the recording world, cut and paste tracks I believe is like going Lilli Vinilli there like lip singing live! Like ya suck! Your just a stage doll!! ya know!OK ramble ramble!!! I hear myself! Just about finished here! THE LYRIC IS KEY and if it has a sweet hook I don’t believe anyone gives a rats ass about perfection; I believe you can tell to a degree who’s cheating and not real when ya hear vocals the same at the end as ya did in the beginning. If ya cant simulate it live as ya did in the studio your setting yourself up for a shitty live sound. I know I’m somewhat guilty here! I only been cuting and pasting tracks when the mic picks up the cars on the street or the dog barkin next door Woof Woof ! or what’s really been pissin me off is power surges leachin into the mic and onto the tracks!ROCKY MOUNTAIN PAWER SUCKS! COLORADO is pretty though! Pwder in UTAH is sweet!
P.S. Thankx for readin my B.S….cheers!

MUHAW

( myspace.com/muhawrocks )( LastFM – MUHAW ) ( imeem- MUHAW )

By: Richiebee

Richiebee — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 22:03:04 +0000

When my band made its CD, it cost a lot of money. The engineering costs were small compared to some of the costs. What’s the point in spending thousands of dollars making a half-assed product?

When people listen to your CD, they don’t have the visual, atmosphere or beer that they have at a live gig. Expected standards are generally higher.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to put anything but my absolutely best performance on CD. Anything less would make me hate to listen to the CD. Any tiny mistake would make me cringe. I’ve done it. Wouldn’t do it again.

Looseness should be a feeling, not a mistake.

By: brandondrury

brandondrury — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:06:15 +0000

Well JJ,

A big part of this process is for ourselves…especially now. While most of us want to entertain an audience, in the end we do this because WE want to do it. If you gain satisfaction from a job well done, that’s a great thing!

Now, I do have to pose a question. Are you making these edits because you want to or you feel your music is better for making or are you making these edits because you are worried what the people at the label are going to say?

Brandon

By: jj

jj — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:59:51 +0000

Your rant strikes a chord with me…
I’m one of those musicians (with some talent I like to think) and while painstakingly editing some tiny little part of a mix my good friend and engineer said “you should be so lucky anyone would listen that carefully to your music”
Now when that song comes on I can’t even remember what I was trying to fix.

By: brandondrury

brandondrury — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:00:36 +0000

This little rant of mine was in no way a recommendation for making a sloppy recording. I quantize my techno productions all the time. I do it because I WANT them to sound mechanical quite often. I think I mentioned this in the blog.

This article was more about attitude than anything. In particular, it was about why a person hits the quantize button. Are they hitting it because they are looking for a specific feel? Are they doing it because “the system” says all recordings made in 2009 are supposed to be mega rigid.

You may be surprised by how many do the latter. If I want to sound “professional” I need to go in and chop up my human performance. I don’t make recordings to sound “professional”. If I wanted to be professional, I’d put on a suit and lie. I want to make recordings that are exciting.

As a person who makes a living recording people in the rock/metal/pop genres I know how worried some people are about “competing” with the big boys. This competition idea fueled by insecurity is the problem. It’s a dramatically different state of mind than a musician demanding X style of playing (and tightness level) because it’s right for the song.

I could see how this article could come out one-sided, but that really wasn’t my intention.

Brandon

By: Richiebee

Richiebee — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:42:35 +0000

It’s very much genre and tempo driven, and rightly so. Putting loose rhythm parts on a techno track is pretty pointless. Machines make the beats. Why would you loosen them? It doesn’t make them sound more authentic. Quantizing, at least partly, a rock drum track isn’t pointless. You kind of imply that looseness is the ONLY human element in drumming. It’s not. Choice of instrument and dynamics are way more important. If a 145bpm funk track is loose, it sounds like a train wreck. On the flip side, if an 80bpm funk track is loose, it sounds dirty… in a good way!

Go with your gut. There are times when music should be tight. There are times when loose adds to the personality of the track. Don’t pigeonhole one way or the other. Sometimes its important, sometimes its not.