Recently, I did a recording for the 3-piece Bulgarian-style choir group Dremka here in the studio. We settled for the M/S recording technique, using a Golden Age R1 ribbon mic for the sides, and the Blue Baby Bottle for mid, amplified by Telefunken V76 and Siemens V72 pre's. After the warm up, they noticed that the dry acoustics were a challenge, since they is more accustomed to halls and larger venues.
We remedied this to some extent by simply opening the door to the hallway, which adds a low-level tail of another second or so. It was a real pleasure when I matrixed the soundfiles, and dialed in the right width. M/S is really amazingly detailed. At that point I just added some artificial reverb, and a light touch of compression and three songs were ready, since the acoustic nature of the choir group requires only to make a natural impression.
Dremka played together with Balkan Beat Box who visited for a concert, at Storan and made friends. There is now talk of collaboration for the next BBB album.
Recordings like this are a real treat, and I wish every session left me as relaxed, one can only dream (Dremka means Dreamer).
This week I have been working on a few bits of score for an upcoming feature film. It is a Swedish/Russian co-production and has been filmed in both countries.
There is a lot to know about composing for film. Some things that come to mind are; mixing levels with calibrated monitoring, frequency response of the playback systems (which will vary from laptop speakers to full range cinema systems) and the general direction that film music demands, serving the film and helping to drive the plot forward.
Mastering, and slamming levels for impressive playback is a total no-no in this scenario, and technicians at broadcasting stations are known to frown when presented with pre-slammed recordings, which sit really poorly with dialogue and background serving as natural reference points. Film is really one of the last outposts of somewhat natural dynamics, though of course there is a lot of enhanced detail and moment to moment fades going on, to make for an exciting experience.
Turn Me Up! is a non-profit music industry organization campaigning to give artists back the choice to release more dynamic records. To be clear, it's not our goal to discourage loud records; they are, of course, a valid choice for many artists. We simply want to make the choice for a more dynamic record an option for artists.
Today, artists generally feel they have to master their records to be as loud as everybody else's. This certainly works for many artists. However, there are many other artists who feel their music would be better served by a more dynamic record, but who don't feel like that option is available to them.
This all comes down to the moment a consumer hears a record, and the fear that if the record is more dynamic, the consumer won't know to just turn up the volume. This is an understandable concern, and one Turn Me Up! is working to resolve.
2009 is here, and so is the new Mothership Mastering site. The last three years of work to get the studio ready for professional use is nearing completion, with installation and tweaking, sourcing vintage goodies, recapping and cleaning, rebuilding completely in some cases...Gear. Vintage analog gear. Some of you will know exactly why I stop and ponder at the meaning of those words. With modern day developments and the direction things are heading, those words are gaining more meaning every day. Granted, few of those pieces I obsess over were ever meant to be portable...and by portable in the days of the early recording equipment, there was still attached the notion of a vehicle. Not a bag slung over one's shoulder, more like a crew still had to offload the precious cargo at the end of the haul.
My years of constant travel are in direct conflict with these concepts. I enjoyed travelling, very much so...but as the years passed, and I had spent all my energy keeping my few belongings and my growing music collection together...the one nagging issue was one to do with creativity. I was too restricted by the limitations that a nomadic lifestyle bring.
A friend of mine travelled with his Mercedez full of beat up old suitcases, all containing analog synths, a rather impressive collection, and one he could get really great sounds out of. Now, supposedly, all that flavor resides in a folder on one's laptop, to be summoned at a whim, presets at the ready. I appreciate that immediacy quite a bit. But deep inside I long for the clunky wooden panels, and the direct interfacing, complete with a certain personality that each synth had.
With most "developments" there is a healthy degree of caution required, in order to become advancement, which brings the essence of that which has been learned, and challenges the intended "improvement" before simply accepting the added convenience as the result, thereby disregarding the reason why the technology existed in the first place.
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