Another kind o feedback loop (how to make a great recording)

[Yosh]

Let's look at what happens in a room when musicians are making a recording. Specifically I want to examine some of the factors that contribute to a great performance, and by extension, a great recording. First, what is a great recording? There are plenty of ways of quantifying this, but what I always come back to is that what plays out of the speakers is something that engages me and provokes an emotional response; it's compelling and I believe it. It might not be my favorite genre, or whatever, but there's something undeniable about it. I know that so much of this is the song and the writing, but at this moment I want to focus on the part that captures my attention and energy in the studio which is anything and everything I can do to help the musicians create a great recording. Part of this is choice of microphone and placement, preamps, etc. but this is talked about often, so I'd like to look at the other parts that we talk about less often.

How do we foster a great performance? This is something I think about constantly when I'm in the studio and even often when I'm not. There's a number of answers that may be more or less obvious. We can make the musicians comfortable, by making the environment comfortable and doing our best to make the interpersonal dynamics between all present comfortable and engaging. We can try to identify and minimize anything that gets in the way of a great performance. We can set the mood of the space even for the song. Turn on that extra lamp, or shut off those other ones. Can everyone see each other well? What about hearing each other? Which brings me to the feedback loop. When musicians are recording in many cases they are hearing a version (albeit with limitations) of the recorded song, which is the thing that I can listen to in order to determine if I feel it's a good recording. The musicians are in the unique position of being influenced in real time by the (semi-) finished product. There is a feedback loop between the quality and feel of the recording as it's going down and the performance of the musicians as they hear the sounds that they are making. This seems like a big deal to me. There seems like so much potential here to make or break the recording. If the players can hear things that inspire them then the chances of a beautiful recording seem greatly increased. Yes, there are mic choices to be made, but what about headphone choices? What about headphone amplifiers and mixes? What about whether the musicians feel connected to each other as a single unit as they are playing? All these things seem to me to have a huge influence on how a recording turns out: anywhere from robotic and forced to emotional and effortless. More often these days I'm trying to put myself in the place of the musicians and checking to see what I think could make them more comfortable and improve their listening experience because isn't that what we're after in the end? A great recording is marked by an amazing listening experience.

What do you think? I'm interested to hear some perspectives of others on all this.

[JWL]

Good musings here for sure.

I agree making musicians comfortable is important.... except sometimes making musicians uncomfortable works better.

Don't mean to be contrarian but every session & group of musicians is different. Part of the job of a good engineer or producer is to adapt the flow of the session around what the session needs.

[Yosh]

Good musings here for sure.

I agree making musicians comfortable is important.... except sometimes making musicians uncomfortable works better.

Don't mean to be contrarian but every session & group of musicians is different. Part of the job of a good engineer or producer is to adapt the flow of the session around what the session needs.

Oh, I couldn't agree more. Every session is different and while I think that comfortable is often at least a good place to start, it's not always best for a situation or song. I think that's part of why I still like to record music. It's a puzzle to figure out how the musicians and song and ultimately the recording are best served by the environment and monitoring, etc. and the answers are constantly changing.

[joninc]

interesting thread...

there are so many variables!

I think in some ways a lot of artists need to be challenged to do better work. to bring their A game and not just take the obvious route. to step back and remember where the song came from - what's is about at it's emotional core and then to magnify that. it's too easy to phone it in and have it "sound good" but lack feeling.

also - if you have any say in the players involved (ie: more of a solo artist thing as opposed to a band) - bringing in really great musicians will raise the bar considerably and inspire everyone to meet that level of quality.

also - i love the idea of having a lot of gear set up and ready to go when inspiration strikes (like stations - keys / gtr amps / vocal mics / acoustic station etc). nothing kills the flow of inspiration like waiting around, auditioning 5 different mics for a vocal
overdub etc... I read that some producers don't want the band to show up until things are set up and ready to hit record. i like that idea a lot.

or - if you need to comp some stuff - tell the band to take 20 minutes and come back for a listen. don't let them get bogged down with sitting through all the technical stuff - it should be about the music/performance for them - not about the "how".

[Theo_Karon]

Taking care to ensure that the monitoring situation is dialed, pleasant & compelling for the musicians (especially when tracking live with isos!) is a huuuuuge part of the process that is all too often neglected - it's an extra 10-15 minutes during setup to go around and listen to each headphone mixer yourself, and will have a tremendous impact on both the experience the client has out in the room all day and the quality of their performance. Really good to pay attention to this and give it due attention.