[Dixielandjazz] Recording Jazz, Live amplification

[Bigbuttbnd at aol.com]

You're both right! You're both wrong! Hah!

This thread keeps moving in 2 directions at once. Let's "isolate" the two.

RECORDING: Why do the engineers want to isolate everyone in the studio? For 
years the pet peeve of all recording musicians was to play a hot recording and 
find that somebody (probably the clarinet player!) made a little mistake on 
their part somewhere in the middle. If only we could go back in and fix that one 
little note! Instead, EVERYONE has got to play it again.

The second time maybe the clarinet got it right but the bass player screwed 
up... and on and on it continues, retake after retake until the ultimate 
compromise is found... the one take that has the fewest mistakes... and often that 
is NOT the one with the best energy or the best ideas... just the fewest 
mistakes. Then, finally, technology came to the rescue with the advent of multitrack 
recorders. If we can isolate tracks from each other then we could have kept 
all of those first performances from take 1 where the energy and tempo and feel 
were so good and let the clarinet player go back and fix his one mistake. 
Then we have the best recording in 1 take... we've also saved 2 reels of tape and 
2 hours of frustration. We can record 4 more songs in those 2 hours! We're 
saving money! Without being isolated sonically that little clarinet miscue would 
show up on everyone's track.

With every technological innovation comes a new way of working. Those of us 
who have done considerable studio work have learned to "see" with our ears. 
Wearing headphones and listening carefully allows unbelievable clarity and 
understanding as to what the other musicians are doing and we can play together just 
as tightly by listening as we ever could by watching and listening together. 
It's a different way of working but just as effective.

Someone on the list commented that they could hear a SONIC difference between 
a modern multitrack recording and an older one recorded on 1 or 2 mics live. 
Only if the engineer had his head up his butt! With the increased opportunity 
for placement within the stereo audio field that modern technology allows only 
a moron would mix a recording down that sounded FLATTER than something done 
in the 30's or 40's... blame the engineer and not the process. Besides... who 
should be MIXING your recording? YOU. Of course, you can't be in 2 places at 
once... you can't play and mix live.. so multitrack recording allows YOU (the 
leader) to record and then MIX your recording exactly the way you want it to 
sound.  Too much bass or drum? YOU can fix it in the mix! Otherwise, you're 
relying on the engineer (who probably never heard a dixieland recording in his/her 
young life!) to mix your baby... bunk! Isolate your tracks and then mix it to 
YOUR taste.

As an aside, let me point out that with each new technological innovation 
someone always gets the idea to use the technology in ways that were not thought 
of when developing the technology. EXAMPLE: Vinyl records were invented as an 
analog method of reproducing the sound of a performance. No one imagined that 
some kid in the future would take those vinyl discs and spin them by hand on a 
record player, producing a SCRATCHY sound... and then use that sound as a 
percussive instrument either live or in another recording! That use couldn't be 
anticipated. Yet today, as digital CDs have replaced vinyl, most kid's only 
link to vinyl is seeing a dj "scratch" between 2 turntables!

The same can be said for multitrack recording. Back in the day (and probably 
currently for most of you) you arrived at the studio WELL REHEARSED. You knew 
what songs in what keys and what arrangement you were going to play for your 
recording session. Most of you in OKOM don't WRITE your own material. Most of 
you have already played your material LIVE before recording it. That was the 
way things were done before multitrack recording. This technology, however, has 
spawned new uses that weren't anticipated in the beginning. Many recording 
artists use multitracking as a hi-tech notebook where they can try out various 
ideas, write, arrange, experiment, etc. They can begin the recording process 
before they know how it's going to end. They can begin to build the house before 
the plans are drawn up, so to speak.

Before you condemn this practice stop and think. This opens a whole new door 
in creative thinking. In one application it allows creative people who may 
have wonderful ideas but have not developed POLISH in alot of areas to make a 
contribution. This allows collaboration between folks with different musical 
backgrounds and even expertise. And it also reaches across geographic divides. 
Many recordings have been made with vocalists singing together that were never 
together in the same room. (Heck, it allowed Natalie Cole to sing with Nat King 
Cole!) The possibilities boggle the mind. The fact that most OKOM players 
don't take advantage of this technology speaks to more of a problem in the OKOM 
community than in the modern recording community.

LIVE SOUND AMPLIFICATION: As I said above... the perfect situation is for YOU 
to mix YOUR own sound... after all, YOU know what it should sound like! If 
you can manipulate your own sound so you can MONITOR what the audience hears (as 
Kash demonstrated in his posts) then you can mix your own sound effectively 
from your position on the stage.  

The day will come, however, when you are in a venue where you MUST use the 
services of a sound man and all you can do is relent. In those situations, when 
possible, speak to the sound man before the performance and explain the nature 
of your group (ensemble followed by soloists followed by ensemble out, etc.). 
Ask the sound man to set your sound so that each mic is set for the loudest 
playing you will do. Then have your musicians "shade" themselves to their mics 
based on the nuances of the performances... get closer when you need to be 
louder, back away when you need to be softer. Most OKOM players have learned this 
and it is common practice... this keeps the sound man from having to "ride" 
the faders constantly. Be sure and tell him/her that you're going to do this... 
most of the time they will appreciate the heads up from you. This usually 
makes their job easier.

This necessitates you having to adapt to what you will actually HEAR from 
your position on the stage. Sometimes the sound from the speakers will bounce 
back at you with a volume that surprises you. Sometimes the delay in that bounce 
can confuse you as to timekeeping. Sometimes the delayed sound coming back to 
you is LOUDER than the sound you produce on the stage. Each musician/group has 
different ways of handling it. I've played often in football stadiums, before 
and during the games, without any monitors and you have to tell yourself 
ahead of time not to listen to your bounced sound. Sometimes the bounced sound is 
louder than the other musicians standing next to me. It takes a lot of 
listening and concentration to play properly in those situations... and the kind of 
concentration is not the same as the type I use when playing a jazz concert for 
several hours. In a concert situation I would prefer a monitor that makes it 
easier for me to hear myself (and everyone else) well. Although I've played 
tunes in the football stadium setting without a monitor, it was not a relaxed or 
even pleasant situation.... I think brother Steve Barbone would want a 
monitor under some conditions even though he may be quite comfortable without one in 
other situations.

Thankfully, sound technology has improved to the point that there are many 
options available for all of us both live and in the studio. Please don't limit 
yourself to doing things the way they were done in 1925... because the folks 
in 1925 were using the technology of their day to its fullest (it's a good 
thing, too... they produced recordings that can still be heard today!) and, if 
living today, the stars of that era would be pushing today's envelope just as 
they did in 1925.

~Rocky Ball
Banjo
Atlanta