The art of production

archon

forgive my self indulgent outburst but i experienced a most profound epiphany this afternoon.

I realised that the art of production is akin to the art of sculpture, in that it is not what you add, but what you take away from the rough hewn stone before you that reveals the truth within....

discuss.














yeh - i know - im easy to hate = blow me! 8)
= its true though - its better to record too much audio and have duff notes and lots of ideas and things that dont work and then gradually strip away, simplify and fine tune until you find the track that's hidden inside trying to get out - trying to 'add' ideas in the production stage doesnt work - you should just jam and get all the ideas recorded and then sort the wheat from the chaff afterwards...

archon

well i blame you iliace cos you're logged in

iliace

\archon\ wrote:

well i blame you iliace cos you're logged in

hehehe
:twisted: :twisted:

thehootman

Well, i sort of agree, but often many bands and artists spend many years out of a studio, playing in pubs etc with great songs before a record company signs them.

PS this sounds like a HSC (higher school cert. - major exams at end of Aust. high school) english question!

WOGS858

arcon
there must be many ways to do it . Some ways work for you now and diff one later

some times you can't get it all out the first time.
that being said I record many jams like you said.

iliace

I'm all about subtractive mixing.

archon

i think its different if you record a group or you have material that you have been playing live and working on - but for the solo musician/producer if you want to get some kind of sponteneity into the track i like to just jam tons of ideas - then at saturation point i just say enough! and i start chipping away until i get something i like - funnily enough the ideas i was building when recording often get ditched as i discover other, better, bits hidden in the track or other ideas that work better without a certain track in the way - i guess that's what a producer does - he comes to the track with fresh ears and hears potential ideas that the band never noticed before.

great musicians will always tell you its not what you play but what you DONT play that's important - recording in the way i have diescribed is the easiest way to do this because you're basically cheating always record too many notes and then you can create space in the track by deleteing drum parts or sections of bass line - you record a big complex monstrosity with too much happening and reduce it down to something simple and airy.

check this out i made yesterday - i think it has a real live feel, i was trying to get the impression of a bunch of guys jamming in a room - some of the playing is a little rough as it was all made up on the spot but when i recorded it it was kind of heavy and busy - by the time id stripped it down i think i got something pretty original and a nice live effect;

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=372693&songID=4171167

i used the GNX as a soundcard/mixer - all of the guitar parts were my epi les paul playing through a Marshall MG10CD amp and mic'd into the GNX on a direct patch = even the bass was played through the marshall on the clean channel (i just think mic'd amps sound much more 'alive' than di). I used jamstix for drums and the Behringer UMX49 to play some simple piano and then i got busy with editing and plug ins and stuff - not quite finished, im thinking of getting good and drunk and sticking some strange jim morrison like words on top like the soft parade or something

iliace - you really gonna have to watch that power mad thing you got developing - editing leads to the dark side my friend!!

WOGS858

ok now I get what youre sayin you record all your ideas and jam a while and then using the computer you edit all that you want out.---I've never done that---can you do that with protracs? That would make life much easier. There have been many times that I have jamed while recording and found something good ---only when I reproduce it --it sucks -the emotion is gone or something in the dynamic is gone --so tell me more-I know you guys w/ the gnx3000 do all puter recording-I have a gnx4

I listened to your tune and I like it---it does have a live feel to it

Tal Rules

Don't know much about mixing...
But I can tell you this...
\"Tiberia\" is bitchn' dude...
Just Loved it...
Whatever you're doing keep on keepn' on...


See Ya,
Tal.. 8)

shando

Hi,

I agre, that tune rocks 8) I can see where your heading with the Jim Morrison style mutterings too. Let us know when you've completed it. Can't wait to hear it with the vocals.

TY

shando

archon

thanks for listening and saying such unexpectedly nice things!

i tried singing morrison style - but you either got it or you aint - and i most definately aint! might have a go in a captain beefheart style though..

WOGS858: yeh! i use sonar and thats basically the same software. Use volume envelopes and groove clip editing to take out bits you dont like