Yeah...nice post. I miss the old days when I had young ears and only used them vaguely...used to just crank up my amp if I wasn't getting enough bite.
Oh, I used the tone controls on my guitar...and pickup switches to get very general "bassy, mid, or trebly" sounds...but no more than that.
God it was so easy. Now I have these ancient ears that ring a good deal of the time, and sit for hours trying to get "that tone I want"...heh..
On the other hand. I recently have noticed some things that give hope. I (will post a link when I upload it though it isn't really much of a synth song) recently recorded a cover of "Let it Bleed" and to program the drum machine I really, really listened to the song. I started noticing a few things.
1) The acoustic guitar is recorded horribly....bassy, muddy, too overdriven...oh....and PERFECT for this song and overall sound of the song. How does that work :-)
2) Piano playing....terrible. Whoever was on the piano was maybe three lessons better than me and I really am no pianist at all. He does what I do a lot...accidentally often hits adjacent keys unintentionally...playing "clumpy" chords, just basically noodling around three or 4 riffs. BUt PERFECT for the song and overall sound...plus some "fader editing" by bringing it down in the mix when he hits klunkers...but still hearable, and bringing it forward when okay && appropriate.
3) Drums, somewhere in the middle of the song, you can hear a tape splice going by the tape heads...i mean "bang..bang...bang..<Thumple--blurb-blubb> bang.bang.bang" where the drums suddenly sound different (suspect different mic placement) and the drums are at a slightly different tempo. But PERFECT for the song.
See, that's the thing. All these "non-professional" sounds in a professional, expertly mastered, record given out by a major record label. And the song is fantastic. It works. Yet we sit and tweak, and tweak, and tweak...sometimes I think we dissect way too much. Of course...I still am amazed at the quality of "Dark Side of the Moon", and other beautifully mastered and recorded records...but this is as valid.
Also listened to "Whiter Shade of Pale" and heard that Procol Harum actually said it wasn't planned for that sound...it was just the studio and the mic placement and that they chose to go with the sound. I mean if you get really picky, there are a lot of "bad" recording decisions there, but that sound...man...you just hear the opening chords in all their muddy, too reverbed, bliss and you know this is a perfect record.
These things are alive....so sometimes I record by simply turning up my guitar and throw some drums and piano on it, and bass, and see what happens.
Good luck!
jim
----- Original Message -----
From: Ed Edwards <edward.edwards@...>
To: <AN1x-list@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 5:13 AM
Subject: Re: [AN1x] From the Prophet 5 to AN1X
> > My main complaint about the AN1X is the EQ. It's always on, and the
> > presets boost the highes (and at times the bass)way too much. It's
> > not a big deal, but I find myself going through all the presets and
> > resetting the eq. I also find myself lowering the filter keytrack
> > value-the programmers really like to hype the highs.
>
> Aha...
> This becomes the genius of the "well rounded musician" in the 21st century.
> It's not just about technique and feeling anymore - it's also about fitting
> correctly in the mix. Jim Acker has a great point about this problem. In
> the old days, the producer or engineer was responsible for getting a good
> sound. Now we are each expected to provide the correct sound for the
> occation. Pure volume used to suffice, but now we who use electronic
> amplification need to be tasteful and polite with our tonic release.
>
> Every gig differs in the location's requirements for a quality sound. The
> best we can do as musicians is provide a quality sound to the mixing
> equipment/soundperson.
>
> Ed Edwards
> Leader: Ezekiel's Wheel »»»»Retro-Progressive Rock««««
> http://www.untiedmusic.com/ezekiel
> http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/227/ezekiels_wheel.html
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