[Dixielandjazz] Live Recording - Ethics

[Edgerton, Paul A]

Bill Gunter said:
"The quality of such recordings is generally so poor that such things
are not considered 'serious' recordings."

That depends on many things. While the resulting recordings will never
be "studio quality," they can be quite good.


"It's usually embarrassing and invariably interesting to hear what we
may have sounded like from 'out front.'"

My experience is usually the opposite: Things rarely sound as bad "out
front" as I fear they will.  This is probably more a function of one's
internal critical process than of the recording technology.  YMMV


"ps - I never have, and doubt that I ever will, expected that our
recordings would bring in big bucks to the band... the sort of money
that would let me buy that condo on Maui.  Should that ever happen,
however, I might start to get nervous about Sony Walkman recorders at
the gig."

For some bands, the revenue from CD sales exceed their fees for playing
the gig!  The fans are always looking for the latest recordings, which
means you have to keep recording and releasing new CDs, which means you
need cash flow, which means you need $ALE$

I usually won't object to somebody recording my performance, but I think
the considerate thing to do is offer the artist a copy.  I *expect*
recordists to buy a CD if one is available.  Artists go to a great deal
of trouble -- and expense -- producing their recordings.  They need
sales to justify that effort and expense.  If you can afford to buy a
recorder, you can certainly afford to buy CDs!

I guess I'm saying that I tend to view people who record my performances
without asking permission, without offering me a copy and without buying
the CD into which I have put so much of my time, talent and treasure as
being rather parasitic.

Music, being a lively art, exists in real time.  Recordings attempt to
capture a certain view of those performances, and some succeed rather
well.  Still, the performance is the thing, not the record of it.  Any
good Jazz musician will give a different performance every time.  Make
it you business to hear as many of these performances as you can rather
than focusing on just the one performance selected for the CD, or your
own luck-of-draw live recording.  More listeners mean there will be more
performances, which means there will be better performers :)

-- Paul Edgerton

-- Paul Edgerton