[Dixielandjazz] FW: LIVE vs STUDIO

[Jim Kashishian]

>methinks that most listeners prefer listening to 'live' or 'recorded live'
music ..........
gordon of northridge.

I agree with you entirely, and 3 out of our 4 recordings are live.  When
selling the CD's at concerts, people are happy to learn that they will hear
what they just heard in the concert, audience & all.  I dislike the "vs" in
the discussion between live or studio, as both have their merits.

However, that was not the original discussion.  The original discussion was
should either type of recording, live or studio, be tampered with (referring
to post production).  I began the discussion speaking as a professional in
that field, but have had offerings from people who have spent little or no
time whatsoever in a studio saying that it is a no-no.  How foolish, when it
is so common as to say that very few recordings reach the market place
without having been "worked on".  And, those few that haven't been probably
should have been!

As Bob mentioned, even some studio recordings are "made to be" live by
adding audience.  I myself have been contracted to do this with various
well-known (Spanish) bands.  In fact I told Warner Bros once that they
shouldn't hear anything that I had done on the recording if I had done it
correctly.  That is:  they paid a lot of money not to be able to notice
anything special about a studio recording that was sold as "live".
(Actually, some of the songs were live, and others not, and my job was to
make it all sound live, which requires a great deal of creativity, I might
add!)

Gordon also mentions "'perfect music created in a studio" which I agree is
terrible.  When we recorded our first album in the studio we put the band up
just as though we were playing live, and recorded all at once.  Naturally,
everything went down on tracks, and that allowed eq, compression, reverb to
be treated differently on each instrument as required, but the feeling of
playing together was maintained.  Ha!  'twould be hard for our band to be
"perfect"!!  :>

So, a studio recording doesn't necessarily mean perfect, and a live
recording is not necessarily the best solution for a particular band.
Depends on the aim of each project.
And, the suggestion that a good engineer/editor/mastering engineer will take
your recording & make it something it is not should not happen. Technology
should always be used tastefully, and not just used for technology's sake
alone.  It is the person behind the technology that will make the decisions
& the difference. Technology is not a bad word.

Jim