By Rodney Jones
Now the fun began.
I took home rough CD's of all the music that was recorded, so that I
could check the takes out for errors in the performances and make notes
for overdubs and fixes. There were none! Aside from making some
adjustments to the tone and really pumping up the presence so that the
music would jump out at you when you play it on your CD player, there
was not really much to do.
I must have played those rough CD's for everyone I knew. Although
part of the reason for doing this was just sheer excitement, another
part was to have the music heard by some fresh ears. When you are part
of a recording and you are so close to the music, there is a tendency to
get too close to the music and start getting ear fatigue. Because you
have heard the music so much, you start to not know how the music
sounds, but only know how the music sounds to you! This is one of the
primary reasons that when musicians produce, record and, mix their own
music, they often get uneven results.
I always have at least two people I trust listening to and monitoring
what is going on during all stages of a record's production. Ear fatigue
is something that can happen to anyone. When your ears are bombarded by
too much sound for too long, a dulling effect takes place. I have
experienced this myself. One day I heard the tone of my guitar one way,
and then the next day I listened again and thought to myself, "What was
I thinking?"
I also like "average" listeners to hear the music, since they make up
most of the people who will end up hearing the music anyway. Often they
hear things that a trained musician might dismiss or not value. In
short, the more ears you can rely on to hear you music, the greater the
palette of information you have. But when making your mix down
decisions, of course, always trust your instincts and your heart above
all else!
The primary comments that I got from the people who heard the rough
CD's were to really pump up the drums and bass and have less of the
chords. I took those comments to heart during the mix down of the cd.
Mix Down
The CD was recorded at Sound on Sound studios in NYC. Sound on Sound is
a great place to work, because they have very well-trained staff and
well-maintained equipment.
Let me take a moment to talk about the formats used when making recordings.
Direct to Two-Tracks
The direct to two-track method is often used by musicians who are
just getting started, because it is the cheapest way to go. When using
this method, the live performance by the musicians in the studio is
captured to tape in basically the same way as if you were recording it
with a stereo cassette recorder. The engineer on the date mixes the
session live as it is happening. With this method you are not able to
perform any fixes or overdubs, as all of the individual instruments are
mixed down to two stereo tracks. This is the "what you hear is what you
get" approach. It is fine for demos, but almost no modern day
professional recordings are made this way. In years past, however, most
of the great classic jazz that you and I enjoy were made this way. It
really depends on the engineer!
ADATs or DA-88
ADATs and DA-88 are two multi-track digital recording devices. Each unit
is capable of recording up to 8 separate parts and the machines may be
linked, so in theory one could record up to 96 different tracks at once.
These two formats really revolutionized the recording industry because
they brought professional quality equipment within the affordability
range of many small studios and individual musicians. Now, for rates of
between $25.00 and $75.00 per hour, anyone can make a digital multi
track recording with many of the same features of studios charging
$200.00 to $400.00 per hour. This method does require mix down to put
all of the tracks together, so more studio time is required. Still, the
low hourly rate makes this the method of choice for most aspiring and
young professional musicians.
Analog 24 Track
Just like so often happens in life, people look back fondly on days past
and say, "Those were the good old days." In the case of recording
techniques it may actually be true! Many professional musicians will
spurn the latest digital technology and use good old analog tape.
Analog tape sound offers warmth and character. It is hard to define--but
like soulfulness in music, you know it when you hear it.
Before digital technology became the standard, virtually all
professional recordings were made this way. This is the sound that most
people over 20 years old are used to. The rates for this type of
recording are moderately priced due to the demand for digital.
Combinations
This is the approach I used on Soul Manifesto. I recorded all of
the music to 24-track analog tape. Then I "bounced" (which means
transferred) it to the digital format for mixing. Then when I was done
mixing, I transferred it back to analog tape for mastering. In this way
I was able to have the best of both worlds.
After all of the tunes were transferred from the 2-inch analog tape
into the digital format, we began to mix the record. We mixed
tune-by-tune, and in most cases began by working on the drum sound. We
would then go instrument by instrument and work on its sound and then
add each one into the mix. After all of the instruments were added, then
we began to think about the overall balance of the tracks, changing the
volume levels of instruments as the solo and just enhancing the natural
dynamics that took place during the recording. Just to give you an idea
of the time required, I think I used over 100 hours mixing this CD. By
jazz standards, that is a lot! By Pop standards, that would be about
one-third of one tune! Oh well...
After we mixed the CD we spent some more time listening. I played all
of the mixes for people and got their feedback, which was generally very
positive. Peter Darmi is amazing in that he has the ears of a musician
and the technical expertise of a scientist. He was crucial to the
success of the mixes.
Well, now that the mixes were done, the next step was sequencing and mastering.
Share your questions and comments with your fellow AAJ readers.
