Post about digital being too clear or something like that...
Post about digital being too clear or something like that...
There was a post here a while back about the beauty in a bit of lack of clarity in recordings, or something like that. I've searched and searched and can't find it. Anyone remember it?
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- zen recordist
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was this it?
http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?t=37327
i agree with not being able to hear everything perfectly clearly. a little haze makes everything more interesting. and i think if you can't tell exactly what's going on your brain will invent something, and often that will be more interesting than what IS actually happening.
that said i have no prob with mixing ITB. the sound of it anyway. i know i know i'm sure once i heard stuff through a nice board i'd like that way better but whatevs. not an option. and really i think everything you do at tracking is way more important than anything else...
http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?t=37327
i agree with not being able to hear everything perfectly clearly. a little haze makes everything more interesting. and i think if you can't tell exactly what's going on your brain will invent something, and often that will be more interesting than what IS actually happening.
that said i have no prob with mixing ITB. the sound of it anyway. i know i know i'm sure once i heard stuff through a nice board i'd like that way better but whatevs. not an option. and really i think everything you do at tracking is way more important than anything else...
- joelpatterson
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My brain just invented something that wasn't there:
I think there's a whole undiscovered science of how the textures of the final mix provoke reactions in the listener. Sure, we all try for an "accurate" representation of the music that was happening, but the more you try for this, the more you realize that however elaborate the micing and however clean the preamps, you always only get an "arbitrary" version of what went on.
It's true that each person in the audience only hears an "arbitrary" version too, but there's a whole psychology of being there that invests the occasion with significance and meaning. When you are preparing a recording to be played back, you need to find a way to somehow "create" a significance. And my brain thinks that there's something about the interplay of the frequencies you boost and cut, emphasize and de-emphasize, that triggers some subliminal reaction.
Digital recording can give you the clean, clear, "definitive" audio--but that's not the same thing as something that's soothing and enrapturing. No, no, no.
I think there's a whole undiscovered science of how the textures of the final mix provoke reactions in the listener. Sure, we all try for an "accurate" representation of the music that was happening, but the more you try for this, the more you realize that however elaborate the micing and however clean the preamps, you always only get an "arbitrary" version of what went on.
It's true that each person in the audience only hears an "arbitrary" version too, but there's a whole psychology of being there that invests the occasion with significance and meaning. When you are preparing a recording to be played back, you need to find a way to somehow "create" a significance. And my brain thinks that there's something about the interplay of the frequencies you boost and cut, emphasize and de-emphasize, that triggers some subliminal reaction.
Digital recording can give you the clean, clear, "definitive" audio--but that's not the same thing as something that's soothing and enrapturing. No, no, no.
- bobbydj
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So joel - when *are* you going to buy that Nagra?joelpatterson wrote:My brain just invented something that wasn't there:
I think there's a whole undiscovered science of how the textures of the final mix provoke reactions in the listener. Sure, we all try for an "accurate" representation of the music that was happening, but the more you try for this, the more you realize that however elaborate the micing and however clean the preamps, you always only get an "arbitrary" version of what went on.
It's true that each person in the audience only hears an "arbitrary" version too, but there's a whole psychology of being there that invests the occasion with significance and meaning. When you are preparing a recording to be played back, you need to find a way to somehow "create" a significance. And my brain thinks that there's something about the interplay of the frequencies you boost and cut, emphasize and de-emphasize, that triggers some subliminal reaction.
Digital recording can give you the clean, clear, "definitive" audio--but that's not the same thing as something that's soothing and enrapturing. No, no, no.
Bobby D. Jones
Producer/Engineer
(Wives with Knives, Tyrone P. Spink, Potemkin Villagers et al)
Producer/Engineer
(Wives with Knives, Tyrone P. Spink, Potemkin Villagers et al)
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That is what all the "cool kids" use for location recording.bobbydj wrote:So joel - when *are* you going to buy that Nagra?joelpatterson wrote:My brain just invented something that wasn't there:
I think there's a whole undiscovered science of how the textures of the final mix provoke reactions in the listener. Sure, we all try for an "accurate" representation of the music that was happening, but the more you try for this, the more you realize that however elaborate the micing and however clean the preamps, you always only get an "arbitrary" version of what went on.
It's true that each person in the audience only hears an "arbitrary" version too, but there's a whole psychology of being there that invests the occasion with significance and meaning. When you are preparing a recording to be played back, you need to find a way to somehow "create" a significance. And my brain thinks that there's something about the interplay of the frequencies you boost and cut, emphasize and de-emphasize, that triggers some subliminal reaction.
Digital recording can give you the clean, clear, "definitive" audio--but that's not the same thing as something that's soothing and enrapturing. No, no, no.
- joelpatterson
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It's a dynamic range issue really. Digital has great dynamic range, analog tape does not. Tape fills in that most disarming space.
A similar experience is remembering that song you haven't heard in years and then revisiting again and realizing what it is you were actually hearing. Perhaps hearing more than you remember or perhaps less. I've been floored by some things. Guitar lines that I remember, but yet were not 'focus' parts of the song. Harmony vocal balance too. Pretty weird.
A similar experience is remembering that song you haven't heard in years and then revisiting again and realizing what it is you were actually hearing. Perhaps hearing more than you remember or perhaps less. I've been floored by some things. Guitar lines that I remember, but yet were not 'focus' parts of the song. Harmony vocal balance too. Pretty weird.
- inverseroom
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Joel, that is an awesome post.
My own technique has over the years evened out to: good mics, good tube and other analog pres, decent analog hardware compressor, into digital medium. And then editing, adding effects, sequencing, etc. in the box. The best of both worlds, with the "character" of tubes and transistors mixed with the versatility of DSP.
Of course maybe my music sounds like crap.
My own technique has over the years evened out to: good mics, good tube and other analog pres, decent analog hardware compressor, into digital medium. And then editing, adding effects, sequencing, etc. in the box. The best of both worlds, with the "character" of tubes and transistors mixed with the versatility of DSP.
Of course maybe my music sounds like crap.
- joelpatterson
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- inverseroom
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- joelpatterson
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