At the recent AES trade show in New York City, top recording engineers and producers got together for a industry panel discussion about various aspects concerning them in today's current music recordings. Auto-Tune, Audio Compression, new recording technology, record company pressure for hits, were some of the topics discussed.
As reported by Steve Guttenberg at CNET
The panelists were all prominent record producers and engineers: Tony Brown (Elvis Presley, Emmy Lou Harris); Jimmy Douglass (Jay-Z, the Rolling Stones); Dave Hewitt (Simon and Garfunkel, U2); Ryan Hewitt (Avett Brothers, Red Hot Chili Peppers); George Massenburg (Linda Ronstadt, Lyle Lovett); Ann Mincieli (Alicia Keys, Whitney Houston); and Russ Titelman (Stevie Winwood, Eric Clapton). These people know from where they speak!
It seems like the main problem comes from record company pressure to make perfect recordings. Vocalists' off-pitch and out-of-time singing is tweaked with Auto-Tune; music-making is largely technology-based. That is, technology has replaced musical talent, and singers like Britney Spears were cited many times as to where it's all headed. Not so musically talented, her music has to be patched together in the studio. There's not a lot of there there.
Jimmy Douglass talked about the overuse of dynamic range compression, admitting that since most music is listened to over crappy computer speakers or cheap earbuds, compression is required to make it sound acceptable. Sad, but true.
For better musicians, technology can inhibit spontaneity. For George Massenburg, "It's all about authenticity," his goal in the studio is to simply capture a moment. And when recording engineers do that, the emotional power of the music has some chance of connecting with the listener.
Read the whole article here:
CNET: Top recording engineers explain why music sounds awful
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